Sec. Of Army Nominee Rep. John McHugh Wants To "Change" DADT

Barack Obama's new nominee for Secretary of the Army, Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), agrees with the president that DADT needs to be "changed," whatever that means these days. The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld pressed White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about the nomination, asking if McHugh's stance on DADT played into his selection. As usual, Gibbs gave an evasive answer.

"I think it's obvious from those statements and other statements that Congressman McHugh has made that he and the president are in agreement on changing the policy they both don't think is working for this country right now," Gibbs said in response to a question from The Advocate about the congressman's past remarks. "It's a priority of the president's and I think, for any number of reasons, we have a nominee that we hope will be confirmed quickly and will have -- ah, based on his background and experience -- will help to improve the lives of the Army."

Queer Superheroes Hold First Meeting

Last night I attended the first organizational meeting of the Queer Justice League, where about 100 activists gathered to discuss the purpose, structure, rules and procedures of the group. During an interesting opening exercise, attendees were asked to give their first names, preferred gender pronoun, and a one-word description of their mood about the meeting. Curious, optimistic, hopeful, ready, excited, intrigued, angry, and anxious were the most common responses. Very LiveJournal.

Although the meeting got bogged down in the discussion regarding rules and procedures, including a hearty debate on the nature of Robert's Rules Of Order, the room was alive with a sense of bottled-up impatience, a palpable need to these folks to become part of something bigger than themselves.

Longtime activist Ann Northrop suggested that the meeting was a reflection of "Our need to reclaim our self-respect and our place in the world." Larry Kramer concurred, saying, "There is an enormous amount of interest and energy out there. All eyes are on us." As this was the first meeting, most of the time was eaten by discussion of the purpose of the group, with questions about a mission statement, tactics, structure, outreach to non-activists, and the group's relationship to ACT-UP among those raised.

The next meeting of Queer Justice League takes place Thursday, April 19th at 7pm in the LGBT Community Center.

RELATED: I left the QJL meeting after ninety minutes to catch the end of the New York Boys Of Leather (NYboL) taking place in the basement. The tiny NYboL meeting had decided different tenor than the one upstairs, with discussion about car washes, beach parties, fundraisers, Folsom, IML, and a safer sex conference. Then the boys voted to extend the lease on their basement meeting space because they dug its "dungeon feel."

Reminder: Queer Justice League Tonight

There will be a meeting of the Queer Justice League tonight at NYC's Gay Community Center at 7:30pm, which is billed as "a space for long-term ACT UP members and new young activists to come together and discuss the future of the fight for LGBT equality." Please consider joining the next generation of gay activists. You can subscribe to their listserv here.

Queer Superpowers, Unite!

The first meeting of the Queer Justice League will take place at NYC's Gay Community Center on Thursday, April 12th at 7:30pm.

This meeting will be a space for long-term ACT UP members and new young activists to come together and discuss the future of the fight for LGBT equality. If you want to have a voice in the next generation of queer activism, join us! Everyone is welcome. The conversation is also happening online - click here to join our listserv! If you're located outside the New York area, we especially encourage you to share your ideas and opinions through the listserv.

Visit our blog to read some background on the Queer Justice League* and Larry Kramer's call to action, or check us out on MySpace and join our growing list of friends. Questions? email queerjusticeleague@hotmail.com.

The Queer Justice League notes that their name may be changed, which I think is a shame. Think of the costumes! Isn't there already a Gay Avenger or something out there in comic-land?

HomoQuotable - Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum

"I absolutely believe that anybody in this generation who is at the forefront of social justice and making an impact on Judaism would care deeply about the role and the place of gays and lesbians." - Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, just named by Newsweek as one of top 50 most influential rabbis in America, who placed Kleinbaum 19th overall and one of only 5 female rabbis to make the list. (via - NY Blade.)

Kleinbaum is head rabbi at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, the world’s largest LGBT synagogue. Last week, Kleinbaum made news when she and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force head Matt Foreman were arrested during the ACT-UP Army prostest in Times Square.

Arrests Taking Place At ACT-UP Demo

I just got a message from Rex Wockner saying that arrests are beginning to take place at the ACT-UP Army demonstration on Wall Street. Wockner estimates the crowd at 800, with about 20 arrests so far. More to come as I get reports.

UPDATE: Rex Wockner has filed this story on the protest. In San Francisco, Michael Petrelis covered the west coast version of the demonstration. Chris Schiffelbein of Queer Justice League has blogged a report. On Wall Street, photographer/blogger Andres Duque was on the scene and filed this post with photos, two of which appear below with his kind permission. He's also posted a short video to YouTube. TOP: Demonstrators clamber atop the iconic Wall Street bull. BOTTOM: The die-in begins.

ACT-UP Army Marches Today

Don't forget that today at noon will be the 20th anniversary ACT-UP march on Wall Street to demand universal health care, single-payer insurance and drug price controls. Marchers will assemble at 11:30am at the Federal Building, at the corner of Broadway & Worth. I have a work thing that will hopefully end in time for me to get down there, but if not, somebody please send me their photos to run later today.

ACT-UP Anniversary March

Thursday, March 29th, please join me at noon for the 20th anniversary ACT-UP march on Wall Street to demand universal health care, single-payer insurance and drug price controls. Marchers will assemble at 11:30am at the Federal Building, at the corner of Broadway & Worth. Other bloggers, please spread the word. Let's get the gay blogosphere well represented at this important event! I will post another reminder on Wednesday next week.

Larry Kramer Interview

Veteran reporter Rex Wockner has posted an interview with Larry Kramer, done after last week's ACT-UP Army demo in Times Square, in which Kramer talks about the new ACT-UP Army and rails against the HRC and the Clintons. Kramer:

I want this new ACT UP to be an army confronting this hate in every way we can, whether it is Hillary and her constant waffling -- which, of course, isn't hate, yet -- or the judges ruling against us. Gen. Pace's disgusting talk is hate. As I say in the speech, there is not one elected official or candidate for president who, given half the chance, would not sell us down the river. Bill Clinton was the prime example of that, with his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and his support of the hateful Defense of Marriage Act. Gays at HRC and elsewhere lining up to give [Hillary] big bucks is a big mistake. We demand now, and pay off later -- after they show us the beef, not before.

Read the entire interview.
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ACT-UP Army Rocks Times Square

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum were arrested for civil disobedience in today's ACT-UP/Queer Justice League demonstration against the "immoral" comments of Joint Chief's Chairman Peter Pace. ABOVE: Foreman and Kleinbaum block Broadway, moments before they were handcuffed.ABOVE: The NYPD closes in.ABOVE: Minutes earlier, Foreman and Larry Kramer attempted to gain entrance to the recruiting station, but found it locked and abandoned.ABOVE: Former Gay Officers Action League president Edgar Rodriguez (right) joins in.ABOVE: Activist Ann Northrop spoke eloquently to reporters.ABOVE: Former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey fields questions from the press.ABOVE: Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto arrived on his bike.ABOVE: Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker leads the procession to wrap the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in our flag. After arresting Foreman, the police confiscated Baker's 100-ft. flag as evidence, as it was used to block traffic on Broadway. Gilbert protested the confiscation, but was merely given a voucher to recover his flag later.ABOVE: Author, activist and radio host Michelangelo Signorlile lends his support.ABOVE: Vasco has it right.

UPDATE: More photos on Towleroad. Video coverage at Good As You. More extensive reportering can be found on veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner's blog, including a short interview with Larry Kramer. Andres Blabbeando has additional coverage.

UPDATE II: The Task Force has issued a statement on Foreman's arrest.

Attendance was rather light at the protest, probably less than 100, but not surprising given the fairly short notice and the time of the event. The police were initially genial, but became more brusque after Foreman and Kleinbaum sat down in the middle of Broadway, prompting a rush of press to photograph them.
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First Action For ACT-UP Army

Press release:

Who: Members of ACT-UP and the newly formed Queer Justice League.

Where: 43rd Street and Broadway, Manhattan.

When: Thursday March 15th, at Noon (12pm)

What: The group will demand General Peter Pace's immediate resignation.

Why: We cannot tolerate top U.S. military officials making public statements of such a homophobic nature; such statements endanger all LGBT citizens currently serving in the military. We will not tolerate people in power whose personal hatred and bigotry make discrimination and prejudice against LGBT people acceptable.

I just heard about this today, but I will attempt to attend and take photos.
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