DADT dust

I don't pretend to understand politics. Why is it, for example, that I get the distinct impression that people I know are Republican because they are against abortion instead of because they care whether the federal government or the states put down the laws?
Or how can it be that the repeal of DADT passed the House and Senate and was signed by the President months ago and is only now going into effect?
*sigh* Oh, well. I'll probably never be a lawyer. At any rate, we can celebrate because DADT is now completely and totally in the dustbin as of today. Hooray!
Here's an article about those people who think the repeal is a bad thing. It's not exactly objective, but it puts voice to those feelings of "What? But that's obviously ridiculous!" that are so bad at making points.
Now I could join the military if I wanted, because I would have no intentions of going into a field where I had to hide. Please. Did enough of that in high school, right? I probably never will. Military isn't my style. But to all those whose calling is overseas--the world is your oyster.

Finally.

It passed the House--for the second or third time.
It passed the Senate--for the first time.
Now we're still waiting for Obama to act on the repeal of DADT.
I got four emails on Saturday with the news.
Unfortunately, as the Post said, repealing DADT was a solid, less controversial issue (as ENDA really should be--but I'm not seeing a whole lot of action going on there) . Marriage is going to take a lot more oomph to pass.
Harvey Milk once said, "Come out, come out, wherever you are." meaning come out of the closet, of course, in hopes that those who formerly were against gay rights, finding that they know someone who's GLBTQ, will change their minds and support their friends and family. This is insanely difficult, I know. But it could help.
On the right and below are some pictures of the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy in San Francisco.

We are not free.

It's Memorial Day today in dear old America. And yesterday, at church, I heard something during the Intentions that kind of threw me, something about all the brave soldiers that died to protect our freedom.
But we aren't free.
Don't get me wrong. Those men and women who died were very brave and deserve recognition, and they died for many freedoms we should all be grateful for. We have freedom of religion, of the press, equal rights for all races and both genders, and even the right to elect our own leaders. These freedoms are precious and should not be taken lightly.
But we won't be completely free until gender identity and sexual orientation matter as little as biological gender or skin color.
We will not be free until laws allowing same-sex marriage, allowing gay people to serve in the military openly, preventing employers from firing people because they are gay or transgender, are made federal.
We must fight for our freedom. We might not be soldiers on the battlefield, but we can still fight.

If you want to tell the Democrats all this, you might read and sign the Courage Campaign's letter.

Please help end DADT!

When you sign a petition from the Courage Campaign, they ask you to send an automatic email to your friends. Here's one.

I just signed on to a letter from Gov. Howard Dean to President Obama asking him to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this year.

With DADT repeal legislation being delayed indefinitely, it is now more important than ever that President Obama use the power of his office to repeal DADT as a part of the Defense Authorization bill currently under consideration in Congress.

Will you join me in signing Gov. Dean's letter to President Obama? Just click on the link below to add your name:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/DontWaitDontDelay

Thanks!