Lez Keep It Real

Or so the military thinks.

Seriously. Aren’t there more pressing issues for the military to address than this?

(Washington) 365gay.com — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) reportedly had to step in when the military refused to allow the same-sex partner of Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc) on a military flight taking members of Congress and their spouses on a fact-finding trip to Europe.

The Politico reports that Pelosi called Defense Secretary Robert Gates directly. Under House rules members may take their spouses with them on military flights if there is room and when it is “necessary for protocol purposes.”

Baldwin has been in a domestic partnership with Lauren Azar for years, and exchanged vows in 1998, although the relationship is not recognized legally in the state of Wisconsin.

Baldwin is one of only two openly gay members of Congress. The other is Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass).

The Politico reports that in her phone call to Gates, Pelosi told Gates he should follow the precedent established by her predecessor, Dennis Hastert (R) who did not prevent Baldwin from taking Azar on an earlier trip.

Gates reportedly told Pelosi that he would OK Azar for the trip once he received a letter from the Speaker authorizing it, but warned that it was a one-time agreement. READ MORE

I agree with Pelosi. What’s the big deal? A spouse is a spouse regardless of sexual orientation. If the military is concerned with the leakage of top secret information, then ban all spouses from traveling on military airplanes. What makes a gay spouse worse? What could he or she possibly do or say any worse than a straight spouse?

Is the military really that scare of gay people? Is this administration really that discriminatory? Apparently so.

According to the article, this isn’t the first time the current administration has been accuses of GLBT discrimination. Here are some other instances mentioned in the article:

• A bill currently is before Congress to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” the ban on gays serving openly in the military. The White House has threatened to veto the inclusion of hate crime legislation aimed at protecting gays and lesbians. And, it opposes any form of ENDA. Baldwin has been an outspoken advocate for an all-inclusive form of ENDA.

• Last year the US ambassador to Romania, Michael Guest, resigned after the State Department refused to recognize his same-sex partner.

• Baldwin sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month calling for basic protections for LGBT State Department employees that would include allowing domestic partners of foreign service officers to travel and stay with them.

• Former Attorney General John Ashcroft ended a policy that allowed a Justice Department LGBT group to post notices of its meetings on DOJ bulletin boards and distribute such messages through the department’s e-mail system. The decision was reversed this year by new Attorney General, Michael Mukasey.

• Special Counsel Scott Bloch, the man responsible for protecting whistleblowers and investigating complaints of discrimination by federal workers, refused to take on complaints of discrimination based on sexuality.

Why is the government so hell bent on keeping homosexuals in their place. It’s been proven time and time again that we are no different. We think, feel, bleed and cry all the same. And yet, because of our sexual preference, we are considered less. In some cases, we aren’t even considered at all.

Knowing that this kind of thing can happen even for a government official makes me realize how far we still have to go in order to gain some equal ground.

discrimination, military discrimination, nancy pelosi, tammy baldwin, barney frank