Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office
This user hasn't shared any biographical information
Homepage: http://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice
Posts by Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office
Army Comic Book Highlights the Absurdity of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell"
originally posted by Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office for Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union [click here]
July 16, 2010 - 9:09 am
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
Earlier this week, the online collection Comics with Problems released the ironically titled "Dignity and Respect: A Training Guide on Homosexual Conduct Policy." The colorful, wordy comic from 2001 was published by the Army to educate so…
New National AIDS Strategy Will Address Discrimination Against Those Living with HIV/AIDS
originally posted by Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office for Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union [click here]
July 12, 2010 - 2:04 pm
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
The Obama administration will unveil a first of its kind national AIDS strategy on Tuesday, which took 15 months of work to complete. In a preview in Monday’s New York Times(which has obtained an advance copy of the national strategy), the admini…
Ms. McMillen Goes to Washington!
originally posted by Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office for Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union [click here]
June 23, 2010 - 2:40 pm
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
It was quite the day in Washington, D.C., yesterday for ACLU client Constance McMillen. Constance made headlines this spring when her Mississippi high school took the extraordinary step of canceling the school prom rather than allow her to go with …
Two Men Named Wes and the Challenge to Fix the Juvenile Justice System
originally posted by Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office for Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union [click here]
June 14, 2010 - 11:53 am
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof used his space in Sunday’s paper to highlight a new book called The Other Wes Moore, which tells the story of two young men from the decaying, inner-city streets of Baltimore named Wes Moore. One went on t…
Blood Donation Ban for Gay and Bisexual Men Under Review
originally posted by Ian Thompson, Washington Legislative Office for Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union [click here]
June 10, 2010 - 2:27 pm
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
Current FDA policy permanently bars any man who has ever, even once, had sex with another man since 1977 from donating blood in the United States.
That’s all gay and bisexual men regardless of their individual sexual histories or HIV risk. For exa…
DADT Repeal – Where Do We Go From Here?
June 4, 2010 - 10:29 am
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
Following the recent votes by the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee to allow for a repeal of the discriminatory and counterproductive policy known as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," (DADT) you may be asking yourself, "Where do we go from here?"
The next showdown over the issue is likely to take place on the floor of the Senate, where opponents of repeal, led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have vowed to try and strip the repeal language currently contained in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) from the legislation, or offer a "poison pill" amendment to make it difficult or impossible to actually move forward with a policy of open service for those who are gay, lesbian and bisexual.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) just published a very helpful document explaining all of the steps that remain before DADT becomes an ugly artifact of history. It is important to know that while we have had some amazing successes in recent weeks, critical votes remain on the horizon and challenging obstacles will need to be overcome before we arrive at our ultimate goal — repeal of DADT and open service for gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. We are as close as we’ve ever been, and closer than our opponents ever thought possible, but we still must remain vigilant in our pursuit of justice and equality.
The Center for American Progress has a DADT by the Numbers page on their website, which offers further damning evidence of just how destructive a law DADT is. In particular, I find two numbers very persuasive — 1.3 billion and zero. Since 1980, the U.S. government has spent an estimated $1.3 billion banning openly gay individuals from military service (and kicking out more than 13,500 since DADT went into effect). Clearly this senseless discrimination has costs that extend beyond those directly impacted by the policy. Zero represents the number of studies that have shown that repealing DADT would do actual harm to the military. Research conducted by the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that "No reputable or peer-reviewed study has ever shown that allowing service by openly gay personnel will compromise military effectiveness."
While it’s clearly obvious that the facts are solidly behind us, it’s also very important for supporters of repealing DADT to make their voices heard. Please join the ACLU in urging senators to stand on the right side of history and oppose any effort on the Senate floor to strip the DADT repeal language from the defense authorization bill.
Military Wife Speaks Out on DADT Repeal — “Good Riddance”
June 1, 2010 - 1:14 pm
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
Lily Burana, author most recently of I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles, and married to an Army intelligence officer, had a terrific column in Tuesday’s Los Angeles Timesin support of efforts currently underway in Congress to repeal the discriminatory and counterproductive policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).
For once, the Department of Defense asked me, as a military family member, what I think — specifically about the "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy, via an online questionnaire. Since I’ve got the DOD’s ear, here are my two cents — or rather, my two words — on the matter: Good riddance.
I come to this view not just as someone who married an Army intelligence officer in 2002. My closest military friend, now deployed, is a lesbian soldier. I, like her other friends in the community, show my love for her in varying degrees of plausible deniability. We get that we can never publicly mention the girlfriend — not at an Army event, on Facebook, certainly not in an e-mail sent to her AKO address. She goes to even greater lengths: no public displays of affection with her partner, constantly qualifying herself as a "confirmed bachelorette." Covering up requires a shamefully large amount of brain share — mental energy that could be better spent on her duties as a soldier.
Is she distracted by this charade? No. But she is burdened. When I dropped her off for her deployment, I said to some soldiers from her unit that I was "just doing my Army wife duty," and she quickly stressed, "But she’s not my wife." DADT requires such CYA (cover your ass) measures. She is the proud soldier of a nation built on diversity’s bedrock. Can’t we do better than this?
In just a few paragraphs, Lily succinctly captures what is so fundamentally wrong and backwards with our current policy. Everyone understands that there are gay people serving throughout our armed forces; there always has been. In fact, the Urban Institute has estimated that there are at least 65,000 gay and lesbian individuals currently serving on active duty. DADT forces these service members to jump through elaborate hoops of deception simply in order to serve their nation. As Lily writes, wouldn’t it be better to have these dedicated individuals actually using their mental energy on their duties as a soldier, sailor, airman, marine, coast guardsman or reservist?
In writing her column, Lily is no doubt giving voice to the views of many other spouses, children and family members of those very brave men and women who willingly risk so much to protect all of us. It would seem that the least we could do for those who both wear the uniform and happen to be gay is to stop asking them to lie about who they are and forcing them to deny their families in order to serve.
This Memorial Day – In Honor of Brian and Dave
May 30, 2010 - 9:00 pm
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
Following the adoption of an amendment in the Senate Armed Services Committee to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on Thursday, committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said that the policy should be ended because it is a disservice to all the gay service members who are buried in our military cemeteries from every war this country has ever fought. In honor of Memorial Day, the ACLU presents a love letter from one World War II veteran to another on the occasion of an anniversary they shared. The letter comes from the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives and was published as part of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network’s Stories from the Frontlines series. The letter first appeared in ONE Magazine in September of 1961.
Dear Dave,
This is in memory of an anniversary – the anniversary of October 27th, 1943, when I first heard you singing in North Africa. That song brings memories of the happiest times I’ve ever known. Memories of a GI show troop – curtains made from barrage balloons – spotlights made from cocoa cans – rehearsals that ran late into the evenings – and a handsome boy with a wonderful tenor voice. Opening night at a theatre in Canastel – perhaps a bit too much muscatel, and someone who understood. Exciting days playing in the beautiful and stately Municipal Opera House in Oran – a misunderstanding – an understanding in the wings just before opening chorus.
Drinks at "Coq d’or" – dinner at the "Auberge" – a ring and promise given. The show 1st Armoured – muscatel, scotch, wine – someone who had to be carried from the truck and put to bed in his tent. A night of pouring rain and two very soaked GIs beneath a solitary tree on an African plain. A borrowed French convertible – a warm sulphur spring, the cool Mediterranean, and a picnic of "rations" and hot cokes. Two lieutenants who were smart enough to know the score, but not smart enough to realize that we wanted to be alone. A screwball piano player – competition – miserable days and lonely nights. The cold, windy night we crawled through the window of a GI theatre and fell asleep on a cot backstage, locked in each other’s arms – the shock when we awoke and realized that miraculously we hadn’t been discovered. A fast drive to a cliff above the sea – pictures taken, and a stop amid the purple grapes and cool leaves of a vineyard.
The happiness when told we were going home – and the misery when we learned that we would not be going together. Fond goodbyes on a secluded beach beneath the star-studded velvet of an African night, and the tears that would not be stopped as I stood atop the sea-wall and watched your convoy disappear over the horizon.
We vowed we’d be together again "back home," but fate knew better – you never got there. And so, Dave, I hope that where ever you are these memories are as precious to you as they are to me.
Goodnight, sleep well my love.
Brian Keith
Unlikely Allies Support DADT Repeal
May 27, 2010 - 1:06 pm
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
Rachel Maddow had two guests on her show last night expressing their support for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) this year. You may be asking yourself what is so surprising about Rachel Maddow having guests on her show who support repealing DADT. I mean, she’s gay!
Well, both Jim Hanson and J.D. Johannes are former members of the armed forces and are now prominent military bloggers. They joined with more than a dozen other military bloggers in signing a joint statement supporting efforts to repeal DADT. The statement reads in part:
Today, it appears inevitable to us that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and law restricting those displaying open homosexual behavior from serving will be changed. And yet, very little will actually change. Homosexuals have always served in the US Military, and there have been no real problems caused by that…The US Military is professional and ready to adapt to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell without compromising its mission. Echoing Sec. Def. Gates and ADM Mullen, we welcome open and honorable service, regardless of sexual orientation.
The statement, which is available on blackfive.net, is a powerful recognition of the fact that those who are gay and lesbian are already serving in the military, as has always been the case.
Hanson sums up the nonissue of open service by succulently stating:
If I am lying by the road bleeding, I don’t care if the medic coming to save me is gay. I just hope he is one of those buff gay guys who are always in the gym so he can throw me over his shoulder and get me out of there.
As Congress approaches votes in both the House and Senate on repealing DADT, the statement by these prominent military bloggers offers further evidence that ending this counterproductive and discriminatory policy will not cause the sky to fall. What it will do is make for a stronger military and a fairer, more just nation.
Gays in the Military: Blah, Blah, Blah
May 13, 2010 - 1:58 pm
Posted in Uncategorized | No comments
Obviously it will mark an important milestone in the long road of equality and justice when the day finally arrives when gay men and lesbians can serve their country openly and with pride. That gay and lesbian service members are currently forced to live a lie and deny their loved ones and families is a reminder that the struggle for equal rights for all very much continues.
A common point of opposition to repealing the discriminatory and counterproductive “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy is that lifting the ban will lower troop morale and weaken unit cohesion. This of course ignores the attitudes of service members themselves. According to a 2006 poll, 73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays. Further, one in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan and Iraq personally knows a member of their unit who is gay.
And now, a video spoof of the Kesha song “Blah, Blah, Blah” made by troops serving in Iraq is spreading around the web. In it, troops do a pretty funny take reacting to news that gays and lesbians can finally serve openly. Quite frankly, I had no idea so many service members were such…talented dancers or so good with glow sticks!
Of course all of this was done in jest and it is very likely that none of the troops featured in the video are gay. What it does show is that all of these phantom fears about morale and cohesion being threatened by open service are completely misplaced. I once heard someone say that DADT is a policy that was written and supported by men who were born in the 1930s and 40s and who came of age in the 1950s and early 60s and whose impact falls on troops who were born in the 1980s and early 90s and came of age in the early part of the 21st century. It is in many ways a relic of the past that continues to do actual harm in the present day. It’s time for it to go!