Written: 9/23/2012

It’s been a year since the repeal of DADT.  I had hoped that it could have brought about a change in the BSA as well, but even though it hasn’t, it’s a great time to celebrate the progress.

Good As You has a great feed of problems reported since the repeal, updated in real time.  Hint, there’s nothing on it.

Opponents screamed and yelled that troops would leave in mass numbers because of the repeal.  So far, the total comes to two.  Seriously.

Even though no harm has come, and the repeal has actually made it easier for the Pentagon to pursue it’s mission, opponents are convinced that the sky is still falling…we just have to wait 20 years to see it happen.

One of the architects of the repeal, and Iraq veteran, former Pennsylvania Senator Patrick Murphy reflects about the anniversary here, and the SLDN reacts here as well and a retired Marine wishes he had been able to serve without DADT, to know his brothers and sisters more honestly.

And yes, it is a big accomplishment, but there is still more work to do, to make it possible for transgendered individuals to serve:

But just remember, those on the other side of the aisle, even though no harm has come, the military is better off and people are living honestly, want to roll back to a time of DADT if Romney is elected.

So I’ll close with this image from Facebook, which popped up in some unexpected places, more proof that the world is changing in good ways, we just have to keep moving forward:

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 9/23/2012

This comes as a surprise (granted, I’ve been busy lately, and haven’t been following the information as closely as I should I guess).  Intel has pulled their support of the BSA, after Zach Wahls and his organization petitioned them to follow their own charitable giving guidelines. 

Due to significant growth in the number of organizations funded, earlier this year we revisited our policies associated with the program, and applied new rigor that requires any organization to confirm that it adheres to Intel’s anti-discrimination policy in order to receive funding.

And it appears that almost half of the top 50 foundations have given money to the BSA.  Looks like Scouts for Equality has a lot of work ahead of them.

I think that this is a great angle, and one that I did not think about before.

The BSA has doubled down with the support from the Mormon Church.  The LDS Church controls most of the National Board, and back in the 90s, when the first decision came out, the thinking was that they would lose more chartered partners and resources by embracing equality than by following the LDS church.

Now, the tactic is to make it hurt for the BSA to not embrace equality.  I think it’s a great strategy, a viscous one, and I think with enough time, it will work.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 9/23/2012

The Good Men Project has a great poster they’ve shared:

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 8/26/2012

Hugh Hefner came out with this amazing quote:

“The fight for gay marriage is, in reality, a fight for all of our rights. Without it, we will turn back the sexual revolution and return to an earlier, puritanical time. Today, in every instance of sexual rights falling under attack, you’ll find legislation forced into place by people who practice discrimination disguised as religious freedom. Their goal is to dehumanize everyone’s sexuality and reduce us to using sex for the sole purpose of perpetuating our species. To that end, they will criminalize your entire sex life…This is a religious nation, but it is also a secular one. … No one should have to subjugate their religious freedom, and no one should have their personal freedoms infringed. This is America and we must protect the rights of all Americans.”

Also, on a related note, I just finished the book by Zach Wahls, and he did mention that his moms bought him a subscription to Playboy when he was in high school, with the caveat that they had to read it first (which they did once, and that was it).  Kind of strange, yet progressive.  Although I guess at the time he was growing up, with the access to the Internet, it was a good way to allow access but approve of the source.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 8/26/2012

Once more Lebanon is in the news, and not for good reasons, two men have been arrested for having “immoral relations.”

Anonymous attacked the website of the PM of Uganda to call out the rampant homophobia.

Even though there is so much homophobia in the world, we have to fight the injustice where we can (often a right-wing talking point that we should be fighting homophobia oversees instead of here, giving them a free pass for a while), so we continue to fight where we can.

All my best,

The King of Spades