NYC GAINS MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Yesterday my spouse and I celebrated our 15th anniversary! It was also our first anniversary since we got married in Connecticut. I know this is a short post....I just wanted to annotate the fact for history and all of my fellow LGBT! This post will be expounded upon...for now ..my spouse and I are headed out to the village to celebrate!

Share |

DADT is repealed by Congress

Today, Dec. 18, 2010 the discriminatory and unfair law instituted 17 years ago, "Don't Ask Don't Tell" was repealed by Congress. DADT has been repealed by a (cloture) vote of  63 to 33.The final vote to repeal ended with 65 to 31 and  was held 3:30  pm. The House had passed the bill by a vote of 250-175 on Wednesday. Although the Senate’s Republicans have tried to block the vote at every turn, the latest tax deals Republicans have made, has left no them no choice. Now all that is needed is for President Obama to sing off on the final part of repeal. He has vowed to do so immediately.

There was much pre-celebration this morning as Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted:

I urge my Senate colleagues today to join the House in honoring American values by passing #DADT repeal & #DREAMAct!

The Dream ACT of course being the bill that would allow some undocumented individuals to become citizens. Both bills were being debated alongside each other.

While it was largely believed that Senator Harry Reid had caledl the DADT Repeal up for repeal because he knew it would not pass, this was apparently not true. Senator Reid also joined in tweeting for repeal:

I urge my colleagues to vote for the #DREAM Act and to repeal #DADT to strengthen our country and end discrimination in our military.

This weekend will no doubt go down in history for  Democrats and  Republicans,but most importantly for those who are serving or have served honorably and have safeguarded this country’s borders. Today marks the end of a long road to repeal an unjust law implemented in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton. A day long over due. Time to celebrate!

Share |

House Passes DADT Repeal Making Total Repeal Likely

The U.S.  House of Representatives has just passed DADT Repeal by an overwhelming vote of 250 - 175. The final hurdle will be when it reaches the Senate to be voted on. Today’s vote was filled with many allegations of Democrats trying to rush the bill through by Republicans. In what was one of the most homophobic and blatantly bigoted moments Rep. Dunkin Hunter (R-CA) uttered these words:

The United States military is not the YMCA. It's something special

Although there were other instances of such outright displays of anti-LGBT equality, there were even more pro- equality moments. One of the best moments were given by Rep. John Lewis who emphasized the real issue of DADT by saying:

On the battlefield it does not matter who you love. Only the flag that you serve

Openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D- MA) had a few strong words which you can hear in this video:




It has been a long 17 years of DADT. It’s time is near an end. What remains now is for the Democrats who hold 58 votes in the Senate, to get at least two Republicans on board. What came as a big surprise in today's vote was the yes vote of 15 republicans. Lets hope we get this discriminatory law repealed with extra votes to spare! My thanks to everyone who is helping to make this a reality.

Share |