So Stupid It Kills

Today, Obama fired his first Arabic linguist from the Army for being gay. People are dying because of this insane policy, and still we plod forward with our palms pressed against our eyes. That point is so obscene it bears repeating: This policy of discrimination for discrimination's sake has unequivocally led to the death of U.S. service men and women. As of two years ago more than 58 Arabic linguists had been dismissed because of this policy. Since 1994 more than 13,000 service members have been dismissed, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in training and recruitment. The public doesn't even support it.

The President that I voted for, went door to door for, and who campaigned on ending this policy (and who could follow through on that promise by signing a piece of paper) allows it to continue. How many more people have to die before that changes?

Write the White House and tell them it's unacceptable. We should all be outraged by this.

The Human Rights Campaign is a Feckless Organization

Leave it to the Human Rights Campaign to focus on what's important. This is what they had to say about Obama's decision to have bigot Rick Warren perform the invocation at Obama's inauguration:

“Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans,” the president of Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama Wednesday. “[W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.”

A "genuine blow" you say? What a "deep level of disrespect" indeed. While we're at it, let's make a list of other genuine blows and deep levels of disrespect facing the LGBT community in the United States:

1) Don't ask don't tell.
2) An inability to get married in 48 states.
3) Presence of DOMA.
4) An inability to adopt children in Florida and Arkansas.
5) No employment protection in multiple states.

Rick Warren still seem like a big deal? Maybe the HRC, for decades the biggest and wealthiest LGBT lobbying organization in the US, should get an honest to god policy success under their belt before getting hot under the collar over which pastor reads a biblical verse or two at a ceremonial event. If they want to direct anger at Obama over something consequential, maybe they should hold his feat to the fire over his reported shelving of repealing DADT (a stance he's long advocated and campaigned on...in the primaries of course, not the general).

Note number 1: I think Rick Warren is a terrible pick as well, for all the reasons everyone else has put forward. I simply think the HRC has much bigger fish to fry.

Note number 2: I've given him an extremely rough time of it recently (witness here and here), but Andrew Sullivan has done by far the best job of anyone I've read in trying to hold the HRC accountable for being such an ineffective organization. I really urge anyone interested in LGBT issues to do a search for HRC on his blog for tons of great perspective and analysis on the organization.