American Morning
Gay soldier appeals to Obama
Some of the demonstrators President Obama heard while in Los Angeles yesterday were demanding he make good on a campaign promise to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. You met the gay soldier who's leading the movement for change on "American Morning," and as CNN's Ted Rowlands tells us, he was there trying to get some face-time with the president.
California high court upholds same-sex marriage ban
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) - The California Supreme Court upheld Tuesday a ban on same-sex marriages that state voters passed in November, but it allowed about 18,000 same-sex marriages performed before the ban to remain valid.
The 6-1 ruling was met with chants of "shame on you" from a crowd of about 1,000 people who gathered outside the court building in San Francisco.
"It's nice that my marriage is still intact, but that's not the point," said Kathleen White, who married her partner in 2008.
Opponents of the ban argued that the controversial Proposition 8, which state voters passed 52 percent to 48 percent in November, improperly altered the California Constitution to restrict a fundamental right guaranteed in the state's charter.
But the court - which had allowed same-sex marriages in a 2008 decision - found the measure was narrow enough to pass legal muster.
Attorneys for the opponents also said the proposition, which removed the "marriage" label from same-sex unions, effectively deprived same-sex couples of a fundamental right guaranteed them under the equal-protection clause in the U.S. Constitution.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
From CNN's Carol Costello and Ronni Berke
It's a promise President Barack Obama keeps on making: “Don't Ask. Don't Tell” will go away. In February 2008, he told a crowd: "I'm going to do it by putting together a military panel made up of people like General [John Shalikashvili]."
The president said that as a candidate last year. So far no panel of any kind has been convened to discuss the best way to allow gays to serve openly. Critics say Mr. Obama hasn't even issued an executive order prohibiting the military from firing gay soldiers like Lt. David Choi, until that "panel" is born.
"I want to serve," Choi told CNN. "I want to fight, I want to serve my country but because I'm gay and nobody wants to do anything about it right now of course that's supremely frustrating."
Nobody is doing much about it right now because, despite presidential support, there is still some opposition to repealing the measure.
Some, like retired Army Lt. Colonel Robert Maginnis, oppose repealing the law. “You have forced intimate situations where you say, look, you know, you're going to room with this person, and that's an order. Then, in fact, you can begin to have the residuals, the morale issue, the whole issue about retention and recruitment come up.”
The Pentagon says they can't move on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" until Congress does first.
“This building views 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' as the law of the land until Congress acts otherwise,” says Defense Department Press Secretary Geoff Morrell. “We can't willy-nilly choose which laws we wish to abide by and those we don't.”
Banned from Harvard
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/19/costello.harvard.rotc.art.jpg caption="Some students want the Reserve Officers Training Corps to be recognized at Harvard, forty years after it was banished from campus."]
From CNN's Carol Costello and Ronni Berke
A small group of dedicated Harvard undergraduates could be America's future leaders; not in its boardrooms or briefing rooms, but on the battlefields of Iraq or Afghanistan.
For the moment, these young military cadets are fighting a different kind of battle. They want the Reserve Officers Training Corps, or ROTC, to be recognized at Harvard, forty years after it was banished from campus. One thing standing in their way: the U.S. military's policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on homosexuals.
In April, 1969, student demonstrators set fire to an ROTC classroom and campus sentiment against the Vietnam War led to the Harvard faculty's banning the organization. Forty years later, the ROTC is still banished from Harvard.
Today, neither Vietnam nor the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan keep the ROTC off limits at Harvard. According to the University's student handbook, the military's policy on gays "...is inconsistent with Harvard's values as stated in its policy on discrimination."
The 29 Harvard students enrolled in the ROTC must take their training courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their ROTC courses do not give them academic credit and they are not given financial aid to cover them.
Joe Kristol, a graduating senior and marine cadet, says it's time for Harvard to change.
"I think that what we're looking for is the college to separate the issues and be able to recognize and support ROTC on the one hand; on the other hand do whatever they want to protest policies they may not agree with, but not to punish the students and use them as their tool to make that political statement."
Kristol and three other cadets - Roxanne Bras, Shawna Sinnott and Christi Morrissey - say the policy is not in line with how most Harvard students feel about the ROTC.
Sinnott says most students actually do favor bringing ROTC back to campus. "I think a lot of that does have to do with the presence we've had on campus even though there's less than 30 of us, we're still able to provide that bridge between military and academia."
"For a lot of people you're sort of a novelty," she adds.
But not all students want the ROTC to return without a change in the military's policy on gays. Marco Chan, one of the co-chairs of the Harvard College Queer Students and Allies, acknowledges that the cadets are inconvenienced by the university's ban.
At least, he says, they have the choice to serve in the military. "What's not often covered is the fact that queer students don’t have that choice at all. There’s not a choice of oh, I guess I'll be inconvenienced and participate in this program. They simply can't."
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Gay soldier: Don't fire me
Editor’s note: Lt. Daniel Choi is a founding member of Knights Out, an organization of out Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) West Point Alumni. An estimated 65,000 LGBT Americans serve in the armed forces. The views expressed here are Dan Choi’s personal views and not those of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/11/art.dan.choi.jpg caption= "Lt. Daniel Choi is an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic."]
By Lt. Daniel Choi
Special to CNN
Open Letter to President Obama and Every Member of Congress:
I have learned many lessons in the ten years since I first raised my right hand at the United States Military Academy at West Point and committed to fighting for my country. The lessons of courage, integrity, honesty and selfless service are some of the most important.
At West Point, I recited the Cadet Prayer every Sunday. It taught us to "choose the harder right over the easier wrong" and to "never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won." The Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort.
Following the Honor Code never bowed to comfortable timing or popularity. Honor and integrity are 24-hour values. That is why I refuse to lie about my identity.
I have personally served for a decade under Don't Ask, Don't Tell: an immoral law and policy that forces American soldiers to deceive and lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception and lying. These values are completely opposed to anything I learned at West Point. Deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.
As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates. I demand honesty and courage from my soldiers. They should demand the same from me.
FULL POST
Filed under: Commentary • Gay Rights • Military