Oh my. That is one good picture.

Here’s a bit from the online portion (much more in the print articles), first on Lt. Choi:

I first met Lieutenant Dan Choi in a crowded bar in Chelsea. It was Democratic primary night in New York City, and he was on hand to help celebrate Councilwoman Christine Quinn’s victory. Dan had spent the earlier part of his day on city street corners, passing out literature for Quinn’s campaign, and I asked him why he had spent his time helping the speaker of the New York City Council—a post that has no bearing on gays in the military. “Christine Quinn lobbied Governor Paterson to keep me in the National Guard, so I think we should reward her and reward the governor,” he told me. But neither help from Albany nor a stop-loss order from the White House materialized, and Dan’s separation from the military marched on.

In the print article Lt. Choi reveals that he is no longer a client of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network because of their insistence that he not be so involved with advocacy until after his discharge is final. While I understand the legal benefit of this advice, I’m glad Lt. Choi has put the greater good ahead of his personal benefit.

Then Instinct turned to Lt. Col. Fehrenbach:

In May 2009, Victor faced a dilemma. He was being kicked out of the military for admitting to civilian investigators a year earlier that he had had sex with a man. At first he decided to go along with the discharge, but then he had a change of heart. “The military was taking everything away from me, but the one thing I realized they couldn’t take from me is my sense of right and wrong,” he says. So he decided not only to fight the discharge but to go public with his case on The Rachel Maddow Show. With the exception of the few officers handling his case, no one else on his base knew he was being separated from the military for being gay until he was on MSNBC. Chuckling, he says, “It certainly created quite a stir.”

In the print article, Fehrenbach reveals that he knew Cameron Shaner for six months to a year before the encounter that led to Shaner falsely accusing him of rape.

Fehrenbach also reveals that he’s currently single. Hey Victor, next time you’re in Dayton, I’M TOTALLY AVAILABLE! (Back off, bitches! I saw him first!!!) (Pardon my infatuation, but nothing’s sexier than tattoos and principles.)

Instinct is available wherever magazines are sold.

(Seriously. Call me. I’m not kidding.)

You might be interested in:

• Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach Outed by False Claims of Rape
• Lt. Col. Fehrenbach and 1Lt. Choi in the Spotlight
• Lt. Dan Choi’s Discharge Board Hearing One Week Away

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: DADT, Politics

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See this post as a refresher. I was able to piece together the night’s events from separate eye witness accounts that matched up pretty darn well less than 24 hours after the raid. From CBS11:

Thursday morning FWPD Chief Jeff Halstead held a press conference in front of the Rainbow Lounge to announce the disciplinary action. There the chief confirmed that two police officers, Officer K.Q. Gober and Sgt. R.M. Morris, will be suspended for one day and Officer J.M. Back received a three-day suspension.

The officers were suspended for a violation of police procedures during the inspection of the bar.

The officer that was suspended for three days, J.M. Back, was cited for handcuffing a person without probable cause, for releasing that person without issuing a citation, bringing unfavorable criticism to the police department and for failing to complete offense reports the night of the arrest.

Sgt. Morris was suspended for using “poor judgment in his tactics” to conduct the bar check.

Officer Gober was suspended for making a conscious decision not to complete the required offense report before the end of his shift and did not complete the offense report until his return to work the following night. Gober was also reprimanded for the negative media attention that “could have been adverted had Officer Gober completed the required offense report with the true and accurate details of events that occurred during the Rainbow Lounge bar check.”

Unbelievable. The only wrong committed by the Fort Worth police, in their own totally unbiased judgment, was bad public relations. Their combined punishment: five day’s suspension. Less time, as Timothy Kincaid pointed out, than Chad Gibson has spent in the hospital so far. Translation: The homos had it coming.

No word on whether Chief Jeff Halstead stands by his earlier Gay Panic defense, but I’m going to guess he stands by it.

Ft. Worth LGBTs, you are in harm’s way. Protect yourselves. The police damn sure won’t. Hell, they’ll join in the fun.

You might be interested in:

• Police Chief Uses Gay Panic Defense for Bar Raid Brutality
• Texas Restaurant Doesn’t Allow “That Faggot Stuff”
• Texas Gay Bar Raid on Stonewall 40th Anniversary Brings Allegations of Police Misconduct

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: Hate Crimes, News

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This is important because Anglicans permit their priests to marry, which the Vatican has said it would allow to continue. National Catholic Reporter’s John Allen has pointed out that Eastern Rite Catholic churches in eastern Europe have allowed married priests for quite a long time, so the move isn’t entirely without precedent.

It is, however, unusual and would certainly be more complex than it would seem at first blush.

For one thing, the Eastern Rite rules are a bit more complicated than “priests can marry.” In fact, that statement is technically false. Men who are already married may become priests. They must be married before their ordination and may not remarry if their wives pass away. (Must married priests be celibate? I’d think not, but I can’t find the answer.) In addition, Eastern Rite priests who are married may not be elected bishop.

Would rules comparable to these apply to the Anglicans? We don’t know.

Regardless, the purpose is clear. The Vatican’s overture to the disgruntled Anglicans is a direct result of their need to form a stronger confederation of ultra-conservative congregations to push an ultra-conservative public policy agenda in the halls of government.

Jon Stewart hosted a segment on The Daily Show about this issue last week. It goes off on a tangent pretty quickly, but I never turn down a chance to post Jon Stewart’s work.

UPDATE! A few hours after I published this article, the NC Register announced that the Great Britain province of the “Traditional Anglican Communion” has accepted the Vatican’s proposal. The unanimous vote was apparently taken on October 29th.

You might be interested in:

• Episcopal Church Overwhelmingly Approves Pro-LGBT Measure
• Episcopal Church Doors Open Wide for All People
• Catholic Church Bribes Charity to Keep Priest Jobless

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: Catholic, Christianity, Episcopal, News, Politics

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• WIN! The trans-inclusive anti-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo, Michigan passed by a landslide 24 point margin. An exceptional cap to the campaign that saw our opposition predictably return to public bathroom fear-mongering. Kudos to Kalamazoo for seeing past the nonsense! (photo from mlive.com)
• WIN! According to Chuck Wolfe, 50 of the 79 openly gay political candidates endorsed by the Victory Fund in 2009 have been elected. That’s 50 City Councilmembers, School Board members, Commissioners, and Mayors elected across America, in most cases with their gender preference used as a weapon.
• WIN! (Well, probably.) Washington’s Referendum 71, which approves the Everything-But-Marriage Law passed in May. There are still a few hundred thousand absentee ballots to be counted, a process that may not be completed for several days. The current (Wednesday 3:00 pm PST) count is 51%-49% for passage. We have reason to be hopeful, as election officials have revealed that the majority of uncounted votes are from counties that generally supported the referendum. So tentatively, congratulations to Washington for letting lesbians and gay men get everything except get married.
• LOSS! A major losses for the feminist and LGBT communities in the Virginia gubernatorial election. Liberty University graduate Bob McDonnell handily defeated his opponent, even after his amazingly anti-woman and anti-gay master’s thesis was uncovered. In 1989 he wrote that, “…when the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality, the government must restrain, punish, and deter.” As others (even FOX, for goodness’ sake) have pointed out, McDonnell’s thesis is a blueprint for his record so far as an elected official. LGBT people (and women) in Virginia, be on your guard!
• LOSS! In the greatest loss of the night, Maine voters stripped their lesbian and gay neighbors of their marriage rights. With 98% of votes counted, Maine’s Question One passed by 53% – 47%. Once again the majority has decided that the minority group doesn’t deserve the same rights they enjoy. The Yes on One campaign, funded and directed largely by the Catholic Church (probably with help from the Mormons), ran a campaign centered almost completely around lies, fear-mongering, and more lies. Their television ads focused almost exclusively on statements that state officials and legal experts directly disputed. More details (and photo at right) from Rex Wockner.

We had some good results, but when you ask people if lesbian and gay relationships should be treated like theirs, the answer is still a resounding NO. Even when the Washington legislature passed a law that complied with bigoted requirements, we can barely eek out a majority vote.

And you know what? I’m tired of it. I’m tired of getting excited when a state legislature takes an unconstitutional vote that works out in our favor, and I’m tired of being disappointed when the populace takes an unconstitutional vote that reinforces systemic bigotry. I’m tired of acting like this incremental approach is reasonable anymore.

So I quit. No longer will I work for piece-meal measures and popular votes. It’s wrong, it’s unnecessary, and it allows our enemy to choose the battlefield.

I don’t completely deride incrementalism, by the way. It was a good and necessary part of the national strategy from 1996 through 2006 when we had a hostile president (first Clinton, then GWB) and a hostile congress. Our community kept hope alive for a decade with work on more local levels until we could get theoretically sympathetic majorities.

But now we have those majorities in congress, and we have a theoretically fierce advocate in the White House. The time for the confusing patchwork of laws that change every time we cross the county line are over.

It’s quite possible that a marriage law will be passed by year’s end in Washington, DC, and there’s talk of that possibility in of that happening through special sessions in New York and New Jersey, but you won’t find news of them here. If the fag hag and her closet case from NOM want to go at it on a national level, then fine. Otherwise, I’m not interested.

Either we’re fully equal or we’re not. Either the 14th amendment protects us or it doesn’t. I say we are, and I say it does.

What say you?

You might be interested in:

• Maine and Washington LGBTs Need Our Help
• NH House Rejects Amended Marriage Equality Bill
• Victory in Vermont!

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: Christianity, ENDA, Maine, Marriage, News, Politics, Washington

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Testifying is Dr. Ruth Jacobs, who gets some schooling from Councilmember David Catania. (Pay attention to Dr. Jacobs’ vocal emphasis at the 00:58 mark.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Holy gosh, she’s a terrible reader.
• I almost admire the intellectual gymnastics Dr. Jacobs applies here: Anal sex is too dangerous but she doesn’t want it discussed in sex education classes, but she doesn’t want kids to have to leave sex ed because they’ll be discriminated against or something, so none of the other students can learn about safer anal sex because anal sex is too dangerous. I’m going to have to flow chart that one.
• Almost as important as the pretzel logic of Dr. Jacobs is the stellar performance by Councilmember Catania in the last few minutes of the video. Honestly, his logic is not hard to follow; why don’t straight allies speak with the same passion when confronted by the Ruth Jacobses of the world?
• I can’t believe she actually said “Who will protect the children?!?”

Helen Lovejoy has competition all of a sudden

But wait! That’s not all!

I did a quick search for Dr. Jacobs and you’ll never guess what I found. She isn’t just some random concerned citizen, she’s been our opponent for years! Dr. Ruth Jacobs is President of Citizens for a Responsible Government (CRG) possibly best known for opposing transgender discrimination protection in Montgomery County, Maryland (That URL is downright CLASSY!). According to the 2008 Maryland Court of Appeals judgment against the Board of Elections, Dr. Jacobs and CRG submitted fraudulent signatures calling for a referendum against the law.

Before that, the group (then known as Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum) opposed the sex ed curriculum of Montgomery County, Maryland schools because it didn’t explicitly condemn homosexuality.

So basically, Dr. Jacobs has been recycling the same nonsensical testimony for upwards of five years between fraudulent petitions. She fits right in with her compatriots, doesn’t she? All she needs now is a radio show!

You might be interested in:

• Gay Man Donates Kidney; Most Donations Illegal
• CO Senator Dave Schultheis STILL Wants More AIDS Babies
• Maine and Washington LGBTs Need Our Help

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: HIV/AIDS, Marriage, Politics

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As a Christian, I agree with the biblical condemnation of the homosexual lifestyle. However, we are living in a nation and world that increasingly rejects biblical norms. To defend traditional sexual morality against the encroaching threat of homosexuality and other aberrant forms of sexual expression, we need to be able to do more than cite Bible verses. Fortunately, there are plenty of economic reasons for being against sodomite degeneracy and I think as conservatives we need to be able to articulate why our nation cannot afford the extremely high financial costs of this lifestyle at a time when we are confronting dangerously high budget deficits, national debt, and personal debt.

Let’s start with AIDS. U.S. Government expenditures on this disease have risen from $200,000 in Fiscal Year 1980-1981 to $23.3 billion for Fiscal Year 2008. These figures have increased steadily over nearly three decades and probably exceed $100 billion. When you factor in what countries all over the world have spent on seeking to diminish this disease, without recognizing the morally aberrant sexual behavior causing its spread, we are probably looking at expenditures of over $1 trillion dollars. Think of how much constructively (sic) such money could have been spent on public health issues such as improved sanitation, immunizations, and other more worthwhile programs instead of promoting immoral and self-destructive behavior through needle exchanges and widespread condom distribution. The money wasted on AIDS research could be returned to taxpayers or transferred to more worthwhile areas of public health research such as cancer, heart disease, and combating pandemic conditions like H1N1 flu. Our ongoing U.S. political debate over health care reform also needs to factor in the economic costs of homosexual and other sexually deviant behaviors on our health care system in terms of pharmaceutical drugs, tainted blood supplies, and requiring doctors and nurses to treat sexually transmitted diseases which would not occur if people practiced chastity outside of heterosexual marriage and monogamy within such marriage.

Anyone who studies prison conditions knows that AIDS is a reality in many correctional facilities due to the occurrence of rape. I’m not sure if the Justice Dept’s Bureau of Justice Statistics keeps track of prison rape statistics or other instances of same sex sexual assault, but that also has economic implications not to mention the psychological trauma experienced by all rape victims.

The sad practice of so many companies and universities adopting domestic partner benefits in a misguided effort to attract employees drives up insurance costs for these companies and prevents them from providing additional coverage to those of us adhering to traditional sexual moral standards. It also requires these companies to pass on the costs of their goods and services beyond normal inflationary trends. Additionally, it also probably makes it more difficult for them to expand their businesses and create additional jobs in an economy coping with near double digit unemployment rates.

The homosexual lifestyle also affects areas such as life insurance, estate planning, real estate, and investments as firms providing these services have to factor in how to treat same sex domestic partner issues into their cost calculations. Guess who has to pay for these increased costs and potentially lower investment returns? We do, regardless of whether or not we approve of the homosexual lifestyle. The next time some one tells you how wonderful is the “progress” gays have made in recent decades ask them if they have ever thought about the multiple economic consequences of this “progress” as described in this posting. I welcome suggestions from readers as to other possible economic costs of the homosexual lifestyle which I have forgotten.

This use of HIV/AIDS as an excuse for homophobia certainly isn’t new, but it seems to be resurging lately. As usual, the goal of the Religious Right is nothing less than global extermination.

And no, I don’t think I’m overstating the case.

You might be interested in:

• President Obama Announces End of HIV/AIDS Travel and Immigration Ban, HIV/AIDS Prevention Funding Increase
• CO Senator Dave Schultheis Hopes Babies Are Born With AIDS
• Baptist Professor Trots Out Tired Tactics

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: Christianity, HIV/AIDS, Politics

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I hate that we have to ignore the fact (yes, fact) that NOM is funding the anti-equality campaign in Maine through less-than-ethical, less-than-legal means.

I hate that in Washington, we have to ignore the fact (yes, fact) that the anti-equality measure got on the ballot by falsifying signatures. (Special thanks to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy for putting a lock on this one till after the election.)

I hate the fact that we participate in putting civil rights laws up for a popular vote in the first place.

And today, I hate that we all have to act like stupid arguments from blustering fools are worth our time.

On October 14th, a marriage equality debate was held in Maine where the “expert” from the anti-gay side was retired community college instructor and failed 2008 candidate for Congress John Frary. He’s the one in the dopey hat who thinks he’s Garrison Keillor.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chino Blanco had the video on Friday, but I didn’t get a chance to watch it until today. This is part three of seven, so please go over to Chino’s to see the rest. God bless MCLU Executive Director Sheena Bellows and host Paul Mills for attempting to have a reasoned debate around Frary’s community theater grade theatrics.

What bothers me most is that this incident is far from isolated. There’s also new video of a debate at Hofstra University in New York with NOM President Maggie Gallagher changing the subject and making false statements lying about the horrible effect of civil rights while MENY Board President Cathy Marino-Thomas does her best to inject reason into the discourse.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why does our society continue to lend respectability to these idiots? Their arguments are gibberish. I don’t mean that I think their arguments are silly, I mean that they’re silly on their face.

Is it because they give comfort to people afraid to face the world as it is? I suppose it’s easier to be a bigot when you have other bigots around teaching you what to say.

I suspect the reason is that people just don’t care. They’d rather we disappear from the face of the earth and stop interrupting their dinners, so why should we expect them to complain about people who agree with their ultimate solution?

I just… I just hate it so much.

You might be interested in:

• Maine and Washington LGBTs Need Our Help
• Governor John Baldacci Signs Maine Marriage Equality Act
• Maine Senate Makes First Move for Marriage

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: Maine, Marriage, New York, Politics

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At the signing ceremony today, President Obama had this to say (excerpted) about the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act:

Over the past 19 years this legislation has evolved from an emergency response into a comprehensive national program for the care and support of Americans living with HIV/AIDS. It helps communities that are most severely affected by this epidemic and often least served by our health care system, including minority communities, the LGBT community, rural communities, and the homeless. It’s often the only option for the uninsured and the underinsured. And it provides life-saving medical services to more than half a million Americans every year, in every corner of the country.

It’s helped us to open a critical front on the ongoing battle against HIV/AIDS. But let me be clear: This is a battle that’s far from over, and it’s a battle that all of us need to do our part to join. AIDS may no longer be the leading killer of Americans ages 25 to 44, as it once was. But there are still 1.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, and more than 56,000 new infections occur every single year.

Some communities still experience unacceptably high rates of infection. Gay men make up 2 or 3 percent of the population, but more than half of all new cases. African Americans make up roughly half of all new cases. Nearly half of all new cases now occur in the South. And a staggering 7 percent of Washington, D.C.’s residents between the ages of 40 and 49 live with HIV/AIDS — and the epidemic here isn’t as severe as it is in several other U.S. cities.

So tackling this epidemic will take far more aggressive approaches than we’ve seen in the past — not only from our federal government, but also state and local governments, from local community organizations, and from places of worship.

But it will also take an effort to end the stigma that has stopped people from getting tested; that has stopped people from facing their own illness; and that has sped the spread of this disease for far too long. A couple of years ago Michelle and I were in Africa and we tried to combat the stigma when we were in Kenya by taking a public HIV/AIDS test. And I’m proud to announce today we’re about to take another step towards ending that stigma.

The President then moved on to the Travel and Immigration ban:

Twenty-two years ago, in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS. Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease — yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic — yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country.

If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it. And that’s why, on Monday my administration will publish a final rule that eliminates the travel ban effective just after the New Year. Congress and President Bush began this process last year, and they ought to be commended for it. We are finishing the job. It’s a step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment, it’s a step that will keep families together, and it’s a step that will save lives.

Between the two measures today and signing the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Law on Wednesday, this has been an historic week for the LGBT community. I am so grateful to Congress and President Obama for their action.

Because of this week’s actions, people living with HIV/AIDS virus can enter the United States without lying about their status, and without smuggling their life-preserving medications. People who have not had access to HIV testing and treatment will have resources to better care for the disease and to get information to slow its spread. People who are victims of of the twin human viruses of hate and fear will have access to tools previously withheld because of the victim’s orientation or gender preference.

So thank you President Obama, and thank you members of Congress.

The next battle awaits. We’re hoping we don’t have to bring 200,000 people back to Washington, DC before you take action on these other threats to human liberty.

You might be interested in:

• Are You Positive You’re Negative?
• HIV-Affected Green Cards Held in Preparation for Final Rule
• President Obama Quietly Erases Commitment to LGBT Community

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: Hate Crimes, Immigration, News, Politics, iQreport

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Judy Shepard, mother of one of the slaughtered men this law is named for, released the following statement (excerpted) through the Matthew Shepard Foundation:

“When Dennis and I started calling 10 years ago for federal action to prevent and properly prosecute hate crimes against gay, lesbian and transgendered Americans, we never imagined it would take this long,” said Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother and the president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation Board of Directors.

“The legislation went through so many versions and so many votes that we had to constantly keep our hopes in check to keep from getting discouraged,” she continued. “But with President Obama’s support and the continually growing bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate lining up behind the bill this year, it became clear that 2009 was the year it would finally happen.”

The legislation allows federal authorities to pursue charges in violent crimes motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability, in cases where local authorities cannot or will not secure appropriate convictions. It also opens up federal aid to local law enforcement for training, prevention and investigation.

“We are incredibly grateful to Congress and the president for taking this step forward on behalf of hate crime victims and their families, especially given the continuing attacks on people simply for living their lives openly and honestly,” Shepard added. “But each of us can and must do much more to ensure true equality for all Americans.”

Matthew Shepard
1976 - 1998

Obama is to sign the measure, which was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill, on Wednesday. Kennedy and her husband were driving Tuesday night from their home in Greenville to the nation’s capital, where they were planning to witness the ceremony.

“We are going there representing so many people,” she said. “People who have been murdered and are dealing with the harassment and bullying and violence on a daily basis.”

But Kennedy said her work does not end with the president’s signature.

“This is a huge milestone, but it is not the end of the fight,” she said. “We have to change the hearts and minds.”

Toward that end, she has spoken at 34 colleges and universities “to educate these kids about what hate and violence and bullying can do and give them options and teach them non-violent conflict resolution.”

But she expressed frustration that elementary schools have not allowed her to address their students, to send them the message that ends each of her talks: “No mother should ever have to bury her child, no mother should ever have to lose her child to hate or violence and no mother should ever have to fight for justice for her child.”

Sean Kennedy
1987 - 2007

As Dan Savage said last week on Anderson Cooper 360, this new law doesn’t put a force field around us. It doesn’t protect us before a crime is committed and I won’t be retiring my Hate Crimes category any time soon. What it does do, though, is offer federal aid if local authorities are unwilling to vigorously prosecute killers, (like in Sean Kennedy’s and more recently Tony Hunter’s cases) and provide local police with resources (like in Matthew Shepard’s case).

This is a major victory, one that we fought long and hard for (even when our so-called leaders didn’t like it) (not that I’m bitter). A reception will be held in celebration at the White House around 6:00 tonight, and I’m glad they’ll be there to celebrate.

But even better, we can celebrate each time a criminal serves a just sentence for their crimes.

You might be interested in:

• Sean Kennedy’s Murderer Released Early, Serves Less than Two Years
• NC Congresswoman: Motive for Matthew Shepard’s Death “Really a Hoax”
• Hate Crimes Bill Passes in the Senate!

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: Hate Crimes, News, Politics

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In the last 17 years, many have risen to the top in their respective fields – an otherwise impossible feat under rules that once barred the promotion of enlisted individuals who’d been outed.

Luc Cassivi is one of them.

He certainly didn’t talk about his sexual orientation when he joined the Canadian Navy in 1983. He’s now the highest-ranking sailor aboard HMCS Ville de Quebec, a commander in the Navy, and he’s no longer shy about who he is.

“I’ve been openly gay for a number of years. My friends and my co-workers know it and it surely has not been an impediment for me progressing,” Cassivi said in an interview aboard his Halifax-based frigate. “I’m not saying that things have always been rosy. There were periods when things were difficult for a lot of people… But I think we’re well past that at this point.”

Cassivi spent 15 years in tight quarters as a submariner. He said he’s experienced his share of awkward moments and uncomfortable jokes. There were even times he considered leaving the military.

But once the rules changed, he says, so did the culture. Opportunities began to surface. These days, Cassivi says, success is dictated by performance.

“It’s not colour, cultural background, gender or the like. It’s (whether) you are competent at what you do,” he said. “If you’re competent at what you do, then the team will take you in and fully integrate you.”

Cassivi said coming out with his colleagues merely simplified his life. He doesn’t see himself as a champion for gay rights and says this is the first time he’s ever spoken in the media about his sexuality. What he’s most concerned about, he says, is getting the best out of his crew.

Happy anniversary, Canada! Hopefully we’ll soon join you in treating people fairly.

You might be interested in:

• Gays In The Military: Too Much For Chaplain Corps?
• Don’t Be A Dick.
• Military Memorial Service Planned During National Equality March

(cc) Matt Algren for Asterisk, 2009. | Trackback |
Post categories: DADT, Politics

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