That was then and this is now. No, this is now, and that was wrong. No, wait, that was then and this is a week ago last Thursday... or something...

Don't Ask. Don't Tell

Or do, or not, maybe.. wait, what day is it?

I have been writing this in my head for over a week now, and every time I think I get my wee bear brain wrapped around where our Government and President stand on allowing openly gay and lesbian people serve their country, something changes. Today, Thursday, October 21st, about 11:00 am, they can not. Twenty four hours ago, they could. Really....

Let's try and at least get a time line out of this mess.

• 1992. Happy days are here again! or Ding Dong the Witch is dead! Bill Clinton sweeps into the White House on a wave of GLBT support, we are here , we are queer and after the last 12 years of Reagan/Bush, we are STILL ALIVE! I have told this story on here a few times, but the conga line at the OFFICIAL Clinton-Gore victory celebration in Atlanta was led by a very lovely ,( very tall) winsome blond, carrying a sign over her head that said " Gays and Lesbians Vote " totally radical for the early 90's. President Clinton tried to stick to his guns with us, for about a week, and then Congress , led by Georgia's own, Sam Nunn, smacked his hands, reminding him that gays are icky, and he was pretty much forced to sign DADT. WHICH! at the time seemed like a win for our side. Hey, they wont ask if you are gay, just don't were the tutu on base, or something like that. They did not ask for about as long as it took for President Clinton to give in to the right wing. They ask, they tell, they did and do go  through any personal stuff you have, they look and they look hard. 
• On May 27, 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Murphy amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 on a 234-194 vote that would repeal the relevant sections of the law 60 days after a study by the U.S. Department of Defense is completed and the U.S. Defense Secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the U.S. President certify that repeal would not harm military effectiveness. On the same day the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee advanced the identical measure in a 16-12 vote to be included in the Defense Authorization Act. The amended defense bill passed the U.S. House on May 28, 2010. Blah, blah, blah... maybe this time , sorta, we will see. BUT, it was a huge start to the process....Kudos Mr. President and Sec. Gates.
• On September 9, 2010, a federal district judge declared the policy to be unconstitutional in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America. This decision was handed down by Virginia A. Phillips a Federal district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. I have written about this one, I think. GOP advancing some gay rights, up is down, down is up, cats and dogs....The only named plaintiff in this case is a facebook pal of mine and has now become a major media darling, and We won!!  Happy Days are....
• Still in September, once moderate, now King of the Dicks, Senator John McCain has a tea bagger crawling up his tail out in Arizona, so doing a fast 180, Mr. McCain , MUCH to his moneyed wife's horror, now hates all things gay and all things brown. God Bless America. Senator Dick throws a little old man temper tantrum and filibusters the bill in the Senate. Get off my lawn  out of my Army, you Gays! HERE he is in his GRUMPIEST OLD MAN voice, getting is wrong. He wins his GOP primary out in Arizona.. ( see Matthew 16:26 ) DADT DOA on arrival in the Senate.
• On October 12, 2010, Federal Judge Virginia Phillips granted a worldwide, immediate injunction prohibiting the Department of Defense from enforcing or complying with the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy, and ordered the military to suspend and discontinue any investigation or discharge, separation, or other proceeding that have been commenced under the policy: DON'T ASK DON'T TELL IS DEAD. Raise High the Roof beams Carpenters! Dancing in the streets breaks out! President Obama gets his wish!  LGBT Americans are free to serve their country just like everyone else! Glory, Glory.

President Obama's Department of Justice responds with an appeal for a stay of enforcement . It's Halloween baby love, and like Frankenstein or Dracula, this law will not die, that easy....

• HUH ? Wait...... All line towing good guys, Your President, your Sec. of Defense, your Generals and such have come out and said that DADT is bad, and needs to go, and yet... " OUR " President is fighting to keep it in place. ??? Something must be wrong here." Well the President's hands are tied! " Parrots the Pride of Auburn Alabama, Press Sec. Robert Gibbs. Wrong, just wrong. A rabid anti gay Congress passed a law, back when ever - making it illegal for anyone HIV positive to serve in the military, a Federal judge tossed it out, Bill Clinton chose NOT to appeal this law, end of story.There is A LOT that President Obama could have done or could be doing, and YES, Dear God in Heaven, the man is busy, but really, Mr. President, if you cant throw us a life preserver, can you at least stop chucking anvils into the water??? None other than TED OLSON weighs in today.: “It happens every once in awhile at the federal level when the solicitor general, on behalf of the U.S., will confess error or decline to defend a law,” said former George W. Bush administration solicitor general Ted Olson, who is leading the legal challenge of California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state attorney general have both declined to defend the law in court. “I don’t know what is going through the [Obama] administration’s thought process on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Olson said. “It would be appropriate for them to say ‘the law has been deemed unconstitutional, we are not going to seek further review of that.’
• October 18, 2010 Judge Phillips writes "BITE ME, CAN'T YOU FOOLS READ?" on the request for a stay, making the WHITE HOUSE and DOJ go over her head to the 9th Circuit of Appeals ( the one that stayed Judge Walkers ruling on marriage) and gets their stay...BUT:
• Not before the Army, Navy, Air Force etc, has to start obeying Judge Walker's ruling and start letting the rainbow set into the Armed Forces. Our hero DAN CHOI heads over to the Times Square recuritment office and signs up, AS a gay man ( yeah, sure, it was a whim, he was in line at TKTS for PROMISES PROMISES tickets and saw the booth...). He was allowed to do so, but no one really knows where that stands now. ( that was then, this is now....)

WHEW! 
The Army and Project Runway, one day you are in the next you are out, 
for being out......

are you still with me ?

So, what all this means, is like, for a week, Gays and Lesbians could serve their country with out the fear of being found out, hunted down, kicked out, hounded. The Army did not crumble to dust, all the fighter jets did not crash, not a single boat sank. WITH OUT President Obama's direct action, DADT would be over, stopped , dead. But it is alive and well . Our Fierce Advocate has become what? Our enemy ? Dazed and Confused.


President Obama claims that the Congress not the ( CO EQUAL ) courts needs to end DADT and that " THIS WILL HAPPEN ON MY WATCH ". OK, lame duck this Nov or Dec. who are we going to get? To my knowledge neither Blanche Lincoln ( who will NOT be reelected ) nor Mark Pryor , both from Arkansas have said they will be changing their votes to block McCains rant. Neither have Senators Snow or Collins, THREE of those four have to change in order to get this passed. That is now the LAST hope of getting any legislative action on DADT from this Congress. A pretty flimsy hook to hang your big hat on, Mr. President.


Not really the way to fire up that much needed Democratic base, this close to your first mid terms.


UPDATE : DAN SMACKS SOME GOP IDIOT ON C-span THIS MORNING.