Tag Archives: DOD

After a similar full-page ad was published last week in the New York Times, Log Cabin refused requests to disclose the funding source of their campaign against Hagel.

“At Chuck Hagel’s request, we looked into the ‘totality’ of his public record on gay rights, and it did nothing to assuage our concerns that his anti-gay record makes him the wrong choice to oversee the ongoing integration of gays and lesbians in the military. Until his name surfaced as a potential nominee for Secretary of Defense, he has stood …

Politico reports that President Obama will formally nominate former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense today. The choice of Hagel, who opposed his party on the Iraq War as a senator, is likely to ignite a raucous confirmation battle because several Democratic interest groups and prominent Republicans have voiced strong opposition since Hagel’s vetting for the job was …

“President Obama has utterly failed the first test of his second term, even before inauguration day. His signature means indefinite detention without charge or trial, as well as the illegal military commissions, will be extended. He also has jeopardized his ability to close Guantanamo during his presidency. Scores of men who have already been held for nearly 11 years without …

Last night President Obama signed the funding authorization bill for the Department of Defense which includes “protections” against the punishment of military members and clergy who harass gay soldiers. Those so-called protections, sponsored by Rep. Todd Akin, were discussed here last month and were backed by GOP House members opposed to the repeal of DADT.  The president included a signing …

“Then-Senator Hagel’s aggressively bigoted opposition to President Clinton’s naming the first openly gay Ambassador in U.S. history was not, as Sen. Hagel now claims, an aberration. He voted consistently against fairness for LGBT people and there does not seem to be any evidence prior to his effort to become Secretary of Defense of any apology or retraction of his attack …

See the full ad.

Rep. Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin got booted out of Congress last month, but he’s not leaving without one last attempt to insert a clause into the Defense Authorization Act that would allow anti-gay members of the military to harass gay soldiers without retribution. Via Chris Johnson at Washington Blade: Under the language, the U.S. military would have to “accommodate the …

Yesterday the Senate approved its Defense Department funding authorization bill without the amendments inserted by anti-gay GOP members of the House. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network recaps those House amendments: The House passed its version of the NDAA on May 18 and included two harmful amendments put forth by opponents of LGBT military equality. The first would give so-called “conscience protections” …

Some of the most interesting items pop up on the Department of Defense’s official YouTube channel. Clip description: Scientists at the Uniformed Services University say a bug dubbed Conan the Bacterium holds the key to creating vaccines for numerous deadly diseases such as HIV and cancer. Conan has already proven effective in killing MRSA in mice at NIH.

The Department of Defense has announced that they will recognize gay pride month. Last summer, gays in the military dared not admit their sexual orientation. This summer, the Pentagon will salute them, marking gay pride month just as it marks other celebrations honoring racial or ethnic groups. Officials said Thursday that they’re planning the first-ever event to recognize gay and …

Two members of the U.S. House, one from each party, are seeking to lift a decades-old ban on distributing pro-America propaganda campaigns within the United States. Congress passed bills in 1948 and again in 1987 to protect American audiences from disinformation campaigns created by the U.S. government for use overseas. The bi-partisan amendment is sponsored by Rep. Mark Thornberry (R) …

Mother Jones says: “And you wonder why we’re broke?” It should be noted that as a percentage of overall GDP, the United States spends less than Israel and Saudi Arabia. But still.

Over the loud objections of many progressives, today President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which, among many other things, includes a GOP-authored provision for the indefinite and untried detention of terrorism suspects. Obama had threatened to veto the bill because of that issue, but today said: “The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not …

Note that Tony Perkins credits PETA.

The Washington Blade reports that the military ban on sodomy will not be repealed by an amendment attached to the National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate version of the bill included a repeal, but that item did not survive the reconciliation with the House version. Anti-gay hate groups had found themselves in an unusual alliance with PETA in opposing the …

Via press release from Freedom To Marry: “Anti-gay attacks and infusion of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act have no place in legislation designed to support all the brave men and women who fight to defend this nation. Gay and lesbian servicemembers risk their lives every day and Freedom to Marry is pleased that the conference committee agreed with us …

Yesterday the Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act without any infamous DOMA repeal attachment. Virtually every national hate group has been raising money on the falsehood that Sen. Dianne Feinstein would insert the repeal of DOMA into the bill. The version already passed by the House also does not include a DOMA repeal. Instead it contains …