Post(s) tagged with "military"
More monumental than making the news is that this lovely photo was also posted to the Navy’s own website. I look forward to the day this is not news, but it is wonderful to see and such a lovely message to all LGBT troops right before the holidays.
Thank you for your service ladies!!
In first, lesbian couple get first kiss at Navy homecoming
VIRGINIA BEACH It’s a time-honored tradition at Navy homecomings – one lucky sailor is chosen to be first off the ship for the long-awaited kiss with a loved one. Today, for the first time, the happily reunited couple was gay. The dock landing ship Oak Hill has been gone for nearly three months, training with military allies in Central America. As the homecoming drew near, the crew and ship’s family readiness group sold $1 raffle tickets for the first kiss. Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, 23, bought 50 - which is actually fewer than many people buy, she said, so she was surprised Monday to find out she’d won. Her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell, 22, was waiting when she crossed the brow. They kissed. The crowd cheered. And with that, another vestige of the policy that forced gays to serve in secrecy vanished. “It’s something new, that’s for sure,” Gaeta told reporters after the kiss. “It’s nice to be able to be myself. It’s been a long time coming.” For the historical significance of the kiss, there was little to differentiate it from countless others when a Navy ship pulls into its home port following a deployment. Many onlookers waiting for their loved ones to come off the ship were busy talking among themselves. The money raised by the first-kiss raffle was used to host a Christmas party for the children of sailors. David Bauer, commanding officer of the Oak Hill, said the crew’s reaction upon learning who was selected was positive. “It’s going to happen and the crew’s going to enjoy it. We’re going to move on and it won’t overshadow the great things that this crew has accomplished over the past three months,” Bauer said. The crew of more than 300 participated in exercises involving the militaries of Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia and Panama as part of Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station 2012. Both women are Navy fire controlmen, who maintain and operate weapons systems on ships; Snell is based on the guided missile destroyer Bainbridge. They met at training school where they were roommates and have been dating for two years, which they said was difficult under “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “We did have to hide it a lot in the beginning,” Snell said. “A lot of people were not always supportive of it in the beginning, but we can finally be honest about who we are in our relationship, so I’m happy.” Snell said she believes their experience won’t be the last one for gays and lesbians in the military. “I think that it’s something that is going to open a lot of doors, for not just our relationship, but all the other gay and lesbian relationships that are in the military now,” she said.
Love it!
Source: hamptonroads.com
Congress Drops Antigay Provisions in Defense Bill | News
(via The Advocate)
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers have dropped antigay provisions in the $662 billion annual Defense spending bill, including an amendment that would have barred military chaplains from performing same-sex weddings in their official capacities. SLDN expressed disappointment that an outdated provision called Article 125 was not repealed in the conference report despite the Senate including repeal in its version of the bill. Article 125 bans certain sex acts between adults, including sodomy, but had become a lightning rod for attention from religious right-wing groups.
Several antigay amendments had been included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 passed in May. The bill’s conference committee, tasked with reconciling differences between the House bill and the Senate bill that passed earlier this month in a 93-7 vote, dropped the chaplain antigay amendment introduced by Rep. Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican, in favor of a Senate amendment offered by Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker that specifies that chaplains who object to gay unions and do “not wish to perform a marriage may not be required to do so.” Completion of the bill conference report was announced late Monday.
Introduced in November, the Wicker amendment to the Senate bill was deemed by many advocates to be an acceptable political compromise that would not jeopardize the rights of chaplains or gay service members seeking to wed. After months of legal review, the Department of Defense announced in September that military chaplains may officiate in same-sex wedding ceremonies of service members in states where such unions are legal — a decision that drew anticipated backlash from social conservatives fiercely opposed to repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
“The Wicker amendment — while in my mind redundant and thus unnecessary — recognized what is already true under the First Amendment, that no military chaplain is required by any law or government official to perform any marriage ceremony that does not comply with the teachings and tenets of the military chaplain’s denomination or faith,” wrote Reverend Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance, in an op-ed last week.
Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said earlier this month that the Wicker amendment is “a restatement of the protections and guarantees that have always been there.”
Two other antigay amendments also died in conference: One that would have superfluously affirmed the Defense of Marriage Act in Defense Department policies, and the other, now moot, that would have delayed implementation of DADT, which went into effect on September 20.
According to the Associated Press, lawmakers hope to complete the bill on Wednesday, then send it on to President Obama.
Controversial provisions on detention of suspected terrorists, which threatened a presidential veto, were revised to provide “a number of additional assurances that there will be no interference with civilian interrogations or other law enforcement activities,” Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin of Michigan said in a Monday statement.
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Source: advocate.com
Gay Sailor Jase Daniels Returns To Active Duty After Two DADT Discharges
(via On Top Magazine)
Gay sailor Petty Officer 2nd Class Jase Daniels (born Jason Daniel Knight) was reinstated in the U.S. Navy on Monday after twice being discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the recently repealed policy that for 18 years banned gay and bisexual service members from serving openly.
Daniels, a 29-year-old Hebrew linguist, was discharged for violating “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in April 2005 and again in March 2007.
“Today, I took an oath and affirmed to defend the Constitution of the United States of America. I am humbled as I am reinstated to the job I love and by the enormous support I have received on this momentous day,” Daniels said in a statement. “I look forward to returning to the Defense Language Institute, my career in the military.”
Daniels first entered the military in 2001. On his July, 2004 wedding night, Daniels accepted that he’s gay and moved to get his marriage annulled. In explaining his changing circumstances to the Navy, Daniels acknowledged his sexuality and was subsequently discharged.
Two years later, the Navy recalled Daniels and he served in Kuwait for a year with the U.S. Navy Customs Battalion Romeo before he was discharged a second time after he spoke to Stars and Stripes about serving openly in the military.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) represented Daniels and two other service members in a 2010 lawsuit seeking their reinstatement to active duty.
“The reinstatement of Petty Officer Daniels into the United States Navy underscores that all qualified and needed service members are now officially welcomed back into the ranks,” said SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis. “The new policy and regulations in this post-repeal era make this historic occasion possible. We continue to work with our clients and the services to facilitate more reinstatements and help process applications for those discharged under DADT, who wish to serve their country again, whether it be on active duty, in the reserves, or in the guard.”
Source: ontopmag.com
AP Exclusive: World War II vet, ousted for being gay, finally receives ‘honorable’ discharge
SAN DIEGO — Nearly 70 years after expelling Melvin Dwork for being gay, the Navy is changing his discharge from “undesirable” to “honorable” — marking what is believed to be the first time the Pentagon has taken such a step on behalf of a World War II veteran since the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The Navy notified the 89-year-old former corpsman last month that he will now be eligible for the benefits he had long been denied, including medical care and a military burial.
Dwork spent decades fighting to remove the blot on his record.
“I resented that word ‘undesirable,’” said Dwork, who was expelled in 1944, at the height of the war, and is now a successful interior designer in New York. “That word really stuck in my craw. To me it was a terrible insult. It had to be righted. It’s really worse than ‘dishonorable.’ I think it was the worst word they could have used.”
For Dwork, victory came with a heartbreaking truth: Last year, when the Navy finally released his records, he learned that his name had been given up by his own boyfriend at the time.
WASHINGTON — Defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta will certify that gays may serve openly in the armed services. News of his decision comes two weeks after top military leaders agreed that repealing the 17-year-old ban will not hurt military readiness.
The decision is not unexpected. The Pentagon has conducted months of internal studies and training to gauge how troops would react to the change triggered by a law passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in December.
The Pentagon announcement is expected Friday, and Obama is expected to endorse it.
Repeal of the ban would become effective 60 days after certification, which could open the military to gays by the end of September.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been made public.
Frontlines, The SLDN Blog | Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
“Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law. We are urging the President to include repeal in the Administration’s defense budget recommendations, but also to voice his support as we work to muster the 15 critical votes needed on the Senate Armed Services Committee to include repeal. The Defense Authorization bill represents the best legislative vehicle to bring repeal to the president’s desk. It also was the same vehicle used to pass DADT in 1993. By working together, we can help build momentum to get the votes! We ask that you forward and post these personal stories.
Source: sldn.org
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