Another Gay Rights Win For Obama: DADT Ends 09/20/2011

Today, President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen all certified that the lifting of the ban on open service by lesbian, gay or bisexual Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces will not negatively impact national security. The certification was the last step to be taken after DADT repeal legislation passed the Congress last December and was signed into law by the President in front of a crowd of cheering supporters. The military's anti-gay policy will cease to be in effect 60 days after today's certification, or on September 20, 2011.

This is the another huge gay rights win which must be credited to Obama, following his enactment of the federal hate crimes act in 2009, his determination by the federal government that laws affecting sexual orientation must receive heightened scrutiny and thus declaring DOMA to be unconstitutional earlier this year and now the enactment of the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The main thing left on the gay rights agenda is some forward movement on federal government forcing it's contractors not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, since it is unlikely that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will be passing Congress any time soon.

Statement by the President on Certification of Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Today, we have taken the final major step toward ending the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law that undermines our military readiness and violates American principles of fairness and equality.  In accordance with the legislation that I signed into law last December, I have certified and notified Congress that the requirements for repeal have been met.  ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will end, once and for all, in 60 days—on September 20, 2011. 

As Commander in Chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness.  Today’s action follows extensive training of our military personnel and certification by Secretary Panetta and Admiral Mullen that our military is ready for repeal.  As of September 20th, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country.  Our military will no longer be deprived of the talents and skills of patriotic Americans just because they happen to be gay or lesbian.

I want to commend our civilian and military leadership for moving forward in the careful and deliberate manner that this change requires, especially with our nation at war.  I want to thank all our men and women in uniform, including those who are gay or lesbian, for their professionalism and patriotism during this transition.  Every American can be proud that our extraordinary troops and their families, like earlier generations that have adapted to other changes, will only grow stronger and remain the best fighting force in the world and a reflection of the values of justice and equality that the define us as Americans.

DADT Certification

MAP: Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Discrimination in U.S.

This map is what the state of play in sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment looks like in the various states as of March 2011. There are 29 states that have no protections for LGBT people in employment in any way (so your boss can say, "I'm firing you because you're a fag!") and you have no recourse what so ever.

As of July 6th, there are now 15 states which ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and there are 21 which ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity (all the states which ban gender identity discrimination also ban sexual orientation discrimination). The six states which do not overlap are: New York, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland and Delaware. (One should note that 3 of these 6 states have already enacted marriage equality!) Wisconsin is  ahead scratcher because they passed sexual orientation non-discrimination way back in 1982, the first state in the country to do so. There was gender identity nondiscrimination legislation pending  in New York and Maryland which died when those legislative sessions ended this Spring.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would prohibit employment discrimination nationwide on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Significantly, A version of ENDA (without gender identity protection, thus some people called it "SplENDA") passed the U.S. House under Democratic control in 2007 but failed to be brought up for a vote in the 2009-2001 111th Congress. With Republicans in majority control of the U.S. House it is very doubtful that ENDA will pass that body in the 2011-2013 112th Congress.

UN Passes Historic Resolution On LGBT Rights

The United Nations has passed a landmark resolution acknowledging that LGBT rights are human rights. The  United Nations Human Rights Council has formally adopted the resolution I blogged about earlier by a vote of 23 in favor, 19 opposed and 3 abstentions (very close!).

The list of which countries voted which way is provied by TransGriot:

The UN resolution passed with 23 countries voting in favor, 19 countries against and 3 countries abstaining

The nations voting YES were: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, UK, USA, Uruguay.

The nations voting NO were:  Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Moldova, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Uganda.

Abstentions: Burkina Faso, China, Zambia

Absent: Kyrgyzstan, Libya (suspended)

The resolution text includes (pdf):

Expressing grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity

1.  Requests the High Commissioner to commission a study to be finalised by December 2011, to document discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, in all regions of the world, and how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity;

2.  Decides to cenvene a panel discussion during the 19th session of the Human Rights Council, informed by the facts contained in the study commissioned by the High Commissioner and to have constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and lractices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity;

3.  Decides also that the panel will also discuss the appropriate follow-up to the recommendations of the study commissioned by the High Commissioner;

4.  Decides to remain seized of this priority issue.

Note that the United States voted in favor of the resolution, which was sponsored by Brazil and South Africa. Recall that, the next time some idiot tells you it doesn't matter if Obama or a Republican is President.

WATCH: Black Lesbian Couple 1st To Get Illinois Civil Union

Lakeesha Harris and Jeanean Watkins, a Black lesbian couple with a registered domestic partnership, were first in line to get their civil union license when Illinois civil unions law went into effect today, June 1. Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill into law earlier this year. Hawaii and Delaware also enacted civil union laws this year that go into effect later.

Hat/tip to Wonder Man.

The First Openly Lesbian U.S. Senator?

U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) has won every election
she has contested as an openly gay candidate

With the news that U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) has announced his retirement, all eyes have turned to openly lesbian Congressmember Tammy Baldwin who has signaled her interest in running for the soon-to-be-open Senate seat.

If she wins, Baldwin would become the highest openly LGBT elected official in the United States. The Victory Fund, which supports openly LGBT candidates for elected office, had this to say:

“This would obviously be a top priority for us.  Tammy Baldwin has been an outstanding congresswoman, and she’d be an outstanding senator,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which has endorsed Baldwin repeatedly.  In 1998, when Baldwin became the first openly LGBT candidate to win election to the U.S. Congress as a freshman, the Victory Fund raised nearly a quarter million dollars for her campaign.

“This would be a remarkable milestone for LGBT Americans.  Congresswoman Baldwin is one of the most admired public officials I know.  She would have the strong support of those who want to see our economy work for all Americans, and who believe that all voices deserve a place at the table,” Wolfe said.

There is a petition urging Tammy Baldwin to run, along with the twitter hashtag #runtammyrun.

Witt Wins! U.S. Settles Major DADT Case

Major Margaret Witt 

In a major victory for LGBT rights advocates, the federal government has declined to continue litigating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" case of Witt v. Department of the Air Force, settling the case with Major Margaret Witt and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state. Witt had won an important 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2008 where the judges said that laws impacting sexual orientation should receive "heightened scrutiny" and that it was unlikely that DADT would survive such judicial review.

Today, Witt announced that she would retire from the Air Force, receiving full benefits, and that the government had agreed to expunge her discharge from her military records, thus ending the lawsuit.

Servicemembers'' Legal Defense Network (SLDN) hailed the result:

(Washington, D.C.) Today, Army Veteran and SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis released the following statement regarding the announcement that  Major Margaret Witt will receive full retirement, the government will drop its appeal of the federal court ruling in her favor, and the unlawful 2003 discharge under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be removed from her military service record:  

“We congratulate Air Force Major Margaret Witt and her legal team on the stunning victory announced today.  Major Witt is a decorated veteran, discharged under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ after 18 years of sacrifice for our country as an operating room and flight nurse. Today’s events underscore once again the unjust nature of this discriminatory chapter in American history.  Her case established a new rule of law in the Ninth Circuit, and her voice and story were pivotal in building support for the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ This is not just a victory for Major Witt – it’s a victory for justice and for service members everywhere.”

It should be interesting to see what impact setlling the Witt case has on the other major DADT case still pending in the 9th Circuit, Log Cabin Republicans v. United States which has as its focus the complete elimination of the DADT policy and establishment of non-discrimination procedures based on sexual orientation in the U.S. armed forces.

Ugandan Lesbian Activist Wins Human Rights Award

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, the founder and executive director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, an LGBT rights organization, has been awarded the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

The award is named after the first secretary-general of Amnesty International, and is a collaboration among 10 of the world's leading human rights organizations to give protection to human rights defenders worldwide. The Jury consists of: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture, Front Line, International Commission of Jurists, German Diakonie, International Service for Human Rights, and HURIDOCS. It is worth 20,000 Swiss francs.

In issuing the announcement, the award organization noted that Nabagesera has had the courage to appear on national television and radio stations in Uganda and has issued news statements on behalf of the gay community. In 2007 she was harassed at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, and on many occasions afterward, was hackled, threatened, and even attacked. Since then she has moved from house to house, afraid to stay long in the same place. Her name was on a "gay list" published by the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone on January 26, after which, another colleague on the list, David Kato, was murdered. 

"This is a fitting tribute to the courage of one woman, Kasha Nabagesera, and to all activists working under conditions of extreme threat," said Dipika Nath, LGBT researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Congratulations to Nabagasera. Hopefully, the attention on LGBT rights in Uganda will have an impact on the proposed draconian anti-homosexuality legislation.

Lesbian Confirmed To MA Supreme Court

As expected when she was nominated for the post a month ago, Barbara Lenk has become the first openly gay person on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court. The 7-member SJC is (in)famous for being the first state court to rule definitively that marriage equality is a fundamental right and that there is no rational reason or legitimate governmental purpose for denying civil marriage licences to same-sex couples (way back in November 2003).

The Boston Globe reports "Lenk approved for SJC; first openly gay justice on state's highest court":

The Governor’s Council confirmed Lenk on a 5-3 vote. She is Governor Deval Patrick’s fourth appointment to the seven-member SJC, which issued the landmark 2003 ruling that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. 

Lenk, who married her partner, Debra Krupp, after the ruling, has 18 years’ experience on the bench, a degree from Harvard Law School, and a doctorate in political philosophy from Yale. Patrick nominated her to replace Justice Judith A. Cowin, who is retiring. 

Lenk's confirmation hearing last week lasted more than seven hours, and was often contentious.
Critics raised questions about Lenk’s ruling in an incest case, and about whether she had avoided conflicts of interest when Krupp represented clients at the Appeals Court in her capacity as a lawyer for the state public defenders’ office. 

Social conservatives blasted Lenk, saying her appointment to the SJC would encourage the indoctrination of children into homosexuality. 

But Lenk had the full backing of the state’s legal establishment. Bar association leaders, former judges, and Lenk’s former clerks wrote letters to the Governor’s Council, saying Lenk’s critics were inappropriately focused on her sexuality and ignoring her legal credentials.

A frickin Ph.D from Yale AND a Harvard Law degree and heterosexual supremacists and homophobes were still complaining? That's just sick! "Have you no, decency, sir?"

How Many Americans Are LGBT?

hat/tip to the Wall Street Journal.

Celebrity Friday: Barbara Lenk, Openly Lesbian MA Sup Ct Justice

Barbara Lenk, 60, will become Massachusetts
 first openly lesbian Supreme Court Justice

Governor Deval Patrick has apparently decided to appoint the first openly gay member of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by naming Barbara Lenk, an Associate Justice of the Appeals Court.

“I am honored to nominate Justice Lenk to the supreme judical court,” said Patrick. “She is a brilliant and thoughtful jurist, with a deep sense of justice. Justice Lenk will continue to make extraordinary contributions to the commonwealth and our judical system as a member of the highest court.”

With this latest appointment, Gov. Patrick will have appointed  a majority of the justices of his state's highest court. Interestingly, the number of openly gay State Supreme Court justices has taken a dramatic increase lately, with courts in Colorado, Hawaii and now Massachusetts all getting openly lesbian appointees. California currently has an open position on its  highest court. There have been calls on Governor Brown to appoint an openly gay Justice.

Surely one of these openly gay state supreme court justices will be prime for a federal appellate position within the next 5-10 years?

How Many LGBT Americans Are There? 9 Million!

The Williams Institute, a UCLA Law School-based academic think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, has issued a report entitled How Many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered People Are There? written by Distinguished Scholar Gary Gates.

In the report, Dr. Gates analyzing multiple data sets and national and international surveys which include LGBT people to obtain an estimate of approximately 9 million LGBT Americans, roughly 3.8% of the general population, or the population of the state of New Jersey.

From the executive summary:

 An estimated 3.5% of adults in the United States identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and an estimated 0.3% of adults are transgender.
 This implies that there are approximately 9 million LGBT Americans, a figure roughly equivalent to the population of New Jersey.
 Among adults who identify as LGB, bisexuals comprise a slight majority (1.8% compared to 1.7% who identify as lesbian or gay).
 Women are substantially more likely than men to identify as bisexual.  Bisexuals
comprise more than half of the lesbian and bisexual population among women in eight
of the nine surveys considered in the brief.  Conversely, gay men comprise substantially more than half of gay and bisexual men in seven of the nine surveys.
 Estimates of those who report any lifetime same-sex sexual behavior and any same-sex sexual attraction are substantially higher than estimates of those who identify as LGB. 
An estimated 19 million Americans (8.2%)  report that they have engaged in same-sex
sexual behavior and nearly 25.6 million Americans (11%) acknowledge at least some
same-sex sexual attraction.

This is a very important contribution to the debate about LGBT rights in this country. Interestingly, if one believes in an equivalent "one-drop rule" for sexual orientation, the canonical 10 percent rule looks to be about right!

Obama Nominates Out Lesbian As Federal Judge

Alison Nathan, has becomes Obama's first
 out lesbian federal judicial nominee

The Obama administration has nominated the third openly LGBT person to the federal bench: Alison (Ali) Nathan. Nathan, a former associate White House counsel, joins J. Paul Oetken and Edward Dumont as openly gay Obama judicial nominees. Currently, there is currently one openly gay federal judge on the bench, African American lesbian Deborah Batts.

Here is what the official White House announcement of the Nathan judicial nomination looked like:

Alison J. Nathan:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkAlison J. Nathan currently serves in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York as Special Counsel to the Solicitor General, a position she has held since 2010.  From 2009 to 2010, Nathan served as a Special Assistant to President Obama and an Associate White House Counsel.  Prior to joining government service, she spent a number of years as an academic, first as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Fordham University Law School from 2006 to 2008 and later as a Fritz Alexander Fellow at New York University School of Law from 2008 to 2009.  From 2002 to 2006, Nathan was an associate in the New York and Washington, D.C. offices of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.  Nathan served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States from 2001 to 2002 and as a law clerk to the Honorable Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2001.  Nathan received her J.D., magna cum laude, in 2000 from Cornell Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Law Review.  She received her B.A. in 1994 from Cornell University.

It should be noted that these are some of the only openly LGBT judicial nominees in history. J. Paul Oetken is the first openly gay man to be nominated for the federal judiciary, which are lifetime appointments. None of these appointments are at the appellate court level, yet, but hopefully that will happen soon, or at the very least during Obama's second term.

Married Binational Lesbian Couple Has Deportation Suspended

Lavi Soloway of the Stop The Deportations project is reporting a monumental development in LGBT immigration reform: the very first decision by a U.S. immigration judge to suspend a deportation based on the legally married status of a same-sex couple.

Monica Alcota and Cristina Ojeda of Queens are the first married LGBT couple to argue in court that a pending deportation should be terminated since the Obama administration’s February announcement that it would no longer defend section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, according to their attorney. Alcota, a citizen of Argentina, wed her American wife last year in Connecticut but has continued to face removal proceedings.


At a Tuesday morning hearing in New York Immigration Court, a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement attorney indicated that the government was willing to adjourn the deportation proceedings against Alcota while Ojeda proceeds with a green card petition on behalf of her noncitizen spouse. The judge agreed with the government attorney’s recommendation and asked the couple for an update on Ojeda’s alien relative petition by December.


“It definitely brings us more hope,” Ojeda told The Advocate of the hearing. “It’s the first time someone has been willing to let us pursue our case and believes that we should be treated equal."


The couple’s attorney, Lavi Soloway, said that while there was no clear indication that the government's Tuesday decision has broader policy implications on other immigration cases involving married, binational gay couples, the outcome is nevertheless “tremendously significant.”


“It means that for the first time in a deportation proceeding, the judge and the government have looked at a married gay couple and considered fairly that they ought to have an opportunity to pursue a marriage-based immigration case, given the changing legal landscape," Soloway said.

This is a very important development, but it should be noted that immigration cases are very fact-dependent and venue-specific. An immigration judge in another state could hear a nearly identical case and come to a different result. Soloway is looking for other binational couples in other immigration situations such as where the foreign national is on a valid non-immigrant visa (i.e. H-1(B) for employment or F or J for students) legally married to a United States Citizen. You can contact them directly at stopthedeportations [at] gmail.com.

Celebrity Friday: Jenny Pizer Leaves Lambda Legal For UCLA Law

Jennifer Pizer

The longtime Marriage Director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Jennifer C. Pizer, has decided to jump ship to the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA Law School, where she will become Legal Director and The Arnold D. Kassoy Senior Scholar of Law.

In this newly endowed position at the Williams Institute, Pizer will lead the Institute's projects related to legal research and analysis on LGBT issues.  Her work will include conducting legal research, writing articles and commentary, drafting amicus briefs for key court cases, drafting and providing testimony for legislation, organizing and conducting education programs for judges and lawyers, and teaching courses at UCLA. 

Pizer is a graduate of Harvard College and New York University School of Law.  After law school she served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Ann Aldrich of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, was Legal Director of the National Abortion Rights Action League, and practiced intellectual property and business torts litigation with Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP in San Francisco.  She comes to the Williams Institute from a very successful career at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she was Senior Counsel and the National Marriage Project Director.    

As an Adjunct Professor, Pizer has taught courses on sexual orientation law at USC Law School, Loyola Law School, and Whittier Law School.  Her publications include, “The Effects of Unequal Access to Health Insurance for Same-sex Couples in California” published in Health Affairs 29, No. 8 (2010), with Ninez Ponce, Susan Cochran, and Vickie Mays; “Facial Discrimination: Darlene Jespersen’s Fight Against the Barbi-fication of Bartenders,” published in Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy, Vol. 14, Issue 1 (2007); “Arresting ‘The Plague of Violence’: California’s Unruh Act Requires School Officials to Act Against Anti-Gay Peer Abuse,” published in 12Stanford Law & Policy Review 63 (2001), with Doreena Wong.   She has commented extensively on LGBT legal developments for both leading national media and the legal press.

Congratulations, Jenny!

Black Lesbian Comedy Film "Family" Screens TOMORROW

Jordan/Rustin Coalition is presenting a local screening of director Faith Trimel's Family on Wednesday February 23rd at Lucy Florence Cultural Center from 6:30-9:30pm. There will be a discussion with the director after the screening and a light dinner will be served. RSVP at staff "@" jordanrustin.org.

Celebrity Friday: Sabrina McKenna, openly lesbian Hawaii Sup Ct nominee

Sabrina McKenna, 53, is the first openly gay person
nominated to the Hawaii Supreme Court

Great news out of Hawaii! Democratic Governor Neil Abercrombie has nominated Sabrina Shizue McKenna, an openly lesbian Sate Trial Court judge, to that state's 5-member highest court.

The Star Adviser reports:

In making his first judicial nomination, Gov. Neil Abercrombie called the appointment "the most important decision" in his career.

"This appointment sets the course for the state and its legal direction for the next several years," he said. "I'm completely confident that Judge McKenna's appointment will be something I'm proud of for the rest of my life."

[...]

McKenna would be the first openly gay member of the Hawaii Supreme Court.

McKenna's sexual orientation was not brought up during the ceremonies, but she said that all judges bring to the bench their own personal experiences.

"I would like to believe that because of my background and my life experiences, I bring sensitivity to those who may not have been born into a life of privilege, a sensitivity to those whose life circumstances make it difficult for them to conform with all of society's expectations," she said.

"I try to bring compassion to the court."

She later said she was not only referring to her sexual orientation, but her gender and her upbringing in Japan by her mother after her father died when she was 9.

McKenna said the significance of being the first openly gay member on the court would be that it could give "hope to people who feel that they cannot succeed" because of a variety of reasons, including being gay.

California currently has an imminent vacancy on its 7-member state Supreme Court. Colorado and Oregon are the only other states with openly gay Justices currently. Congratulations to Hawaii!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God