Air Force Eases Trans Service Ban

Via USA Today:

The Air Force announced policy changes Thursday that will make it more difficult to discharge transgender troops, a move that mirrors one made in March by the Army and puts the Pentagon a step closer to allowing transgender people to serve openly. Troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria or who identify as transgender are generally discharged from serving, based on medical grounds. Those decisions have been made by doctors and unit commanders. The new Air Force policy requires those decisions to be reviewed by high-level officials at Air Force headquarters. "Though the Air Force policy regarding involuntary separation of gender dysphoric Airmen has not changed, the elevation of decision authority to the Director, Air Force Review Boards Agency, ensures the ability to consistently apply the existing policy," Daniel Sitterly, a top Air Force personnel official, said in a statement.

Earlier this year Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that ability to perform the required tasks should be the standard for transgender eligibility to serve.

Air Force Academy Graduates First Class That Entered After DADT Repeal

From the Colorado Springs Gazette:

The Air Force Academy class of 2015 is the first to come through four years at the academy with the open acceptance of gays and lesbians in the ranks. Tricia Heller, a 1987 graduate, and Tara Sweeney, a '95 grad, attended the ceremony to support Lydia Hill of Boston. Heller and Sweeney helped found Spectrum, the Air Force Academy gay and lesbian support group, of which Hill was one of the first members. "We all served under 'don't ask, don't tell,' so it was important for all of us to be able to be open about who we are," said Heller, a board member of the Blue Alliance, a support group for cadets. "For us, it's been awesome to watch cadets like Lydia be able to serve openly."

Pat Robertson Has The Air Force Sadz

Pat Robertson is denouncing the Air Force for caving to "one little Jewish radical" and dropping its "so help me God" oath requirement. That Jewish radical, Mikey Weinstein, responds at Friendly Atheist: "Pat Robertson is to human dignity and sanity and integrity and character what dog shit is to a fine French restaurant on the menu." Snork!

Bryan Fischer Has The Air Force Sadz

Air Force Drops "So Help Me God"

After an atheist airman complained that he was denied reenlistment because he refused to say the "so help me God" portion of the oath, the Air Force has dropped that requirement.

Following a review of the policy by the Department of Defense General Counsel, the Air Force will now permit airmen to omit the phrase, should they so choose. That change is effective immediately, according to an Air Force statement. “We take any instance in which Airmen report concerns regarding religious freedom seriously,” Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James said in the statement. “We are making the appropriate adjustments to ensure our Airmen’s rights are protected. “The Air Force will be updating the instructions for both enlisted and commissioned Airmen to reflect these changes in the coming weeks, but the policy change is effective now. Airmen who choose to omit the words ‘So help me God’ from enlistment and officer appointment oaths may do so.”

The Air Force was the only military branch with such an oath.

American Family Association: Atheists Should Be Banned From US Military

"This is an absolutely foundational, non-negotiable, bed-rock American principle: there is a Creator - with a capital 'C' (you could look it up) - and he and he alone is the source of the very rights the military exists to protect and defend. An individual who does not understand and believe this has no right to serve in the U.S. military. Military service should rightly be reserved for those who believe in and are willing to die for what America stands for - and what America stands for is a belief in God as the source of our rights. A man who doesn't believe in the Creator the Founders trusted certainly can live in America without being troubled for being a fool. But he most certainly should not wear the uniform." - Bryan Fischer, writing for the American Family Association.

RELATED: There is a very freepable poll at the link.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: The American Family Association declares that the First Amendment only applies to Christians. The American Family Association calls for banning Muslims from the military. The American Family Association calls for deporting all Muslims from the United States. The American Family Association declares that Native Americans are "morally disqualified" from owning property in the United States. The American Family Association calls for criminalizing homosexuality in the United States. The American Family Association calls for criminalizing all sex outside of marriage in the United States.

Air Force Rejects Airman For Refusing To Swear "So Help Me God" At Reenlistment

Via the Air Force Times:

An atheist airman at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada has until November to change his mind and swear a reenlistment oath to God, the Air Force said. The unnamed airman was denied reenlistment Aug. 25 for refusing to take an oath that concludes with the phrase “so help me God,” the American Humanist Association said in a Sept. 2 letter to the inspectors general for the Air Force and Creech. In her letter, Monica Miller, an attorney with the AHA’s Apignani Humanist Legal Center, said the airman should be given the choice to reenlist by swearing a secular oath. She said the AHA will sue if the airman is not allowed to reenlist. In a Sept. 5 email, Air Force spokeswoman Rose Richeson said the airman is still serving and will continue to do so for at least two more months. “The airman’s term of service expires in November 2014,” Richeson said. “He has until this time to complete the Department of Defense Form 4 in compliance with the Title 10 USC 502.”

The Air Force says it can do nothing unless Congress changes the statute which demands that all Air Force enlistees swear allegiance to God. (Tipped by JMG reader Alan)

Billboard Of The Day

Via the Christianist site OneNewsNow:

A coalition of Christian organizations has posted a billboard supporting the religious freedom of Christian cadets. The Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition sponsored the billboard near one of the entrances to the [Air Force] Academy which asks Air Force cadets "Are you free to say so help me God? They did," against a background of the four Presidents carved on Mount Rushmore. The sign's message relates to the removal of the phrase "so help me God" from the official cadet handbook as well as the recent removal of a Bible verse from a cadet's personal whiteboard outside his dorm room. Richard Thompson is president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, which is a member of the coalition. Thompson tells OneNewsNow: "What we have is endemic to the entire military community, not just the Air Force but the Army as well and the Navy, where I believe led by people in the White House, they've taken an anti-religious but particularly an anti-Christian viewpoint."

The top item on the website of the Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition is the widely debunked claim by Air Force Master Sergeant Philip Monk, whose silly lie about having been punished for refusing to endorse gay marriage has been repeatedly parroted by Tony Perkins and by Fox News reporter Todd Starnes.

Tony Perkins: Air Force Academy Cadets Are Rebelling Against Persecution

Tony Perkins writes via press release:

At the U.S. Air Force Academy, jets aren't the only thing taking off. So is a campus-wide rebellion against the forces of political correctness. Frustrated by the school's decision to scrub a Bible verse from one of the dorm whiteboards, cadets decided to take matters into their own hands. In a show of defiance, Bible verses started popping up on dry erase boards throughout the dorms -- outraging the anti-Christian "tolerance" police at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. This latest controversy boiled over earlier this week, when MRFF insisted that a verse from Galatians, posted on a cadet's personal hallway whiteboard, somehow created a "hostile environment." He pressed for the cadet -- and any officer(s) who ignored the display -- to be punished for "misconduct." Not so fast, said cadets, who offered a teachable moment of their own. Overnight, Scriptures from Philippians 4 to Psalm 28 started appearing up and down dorm hallways on whiteboards -- a stealth operation to counter the growing culture of religious oppression. "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands," read one. "This very day I will give the carcasses to the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel." A few cadets even quoted from the Quran, just to give the display a little multi-faith color.

Todd Starnes is outraged over at Fox News, of course.

Air Force Academy Makes "So Help Me God" Portion Of Oath Optional

The Air Force Times reports:

The Air Force Academy on Friday announced that it will now be optional for cadets to recite “so help me God” at the end of its honor oath. The academy made the change in response to a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates for the separation of church and state in the military. “Here at the academy, we work to build a culture of dignity and respect, and that respect includes the ability of our cadets, airmen and civilian airmen to freely practice and exercise their religious preference — or not,” academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson said. “So, in the spirit of respect, cadets may or may not choose to finish the honor oath with ‘so help me God.’ ”

The MMRF has vowed to file a lawsuit demanding that religious language be dropped entirely. Matt Barber is super upset, you guys.

Air Force Clarifies Marriage Policy

Posted today to the website of the Air Force:

In order to be granted administrative absence, the Airman must be located more than 100 miles from a U.S. state, the District of Columbia or other jurisdictions that allows the couple to marry. According to the policy, if two service members are part of a couple and desire to get married, both members may be granted an administrative absence if qualified. Members may be granted up to seven days if stationed in the continental United States, and up to 10 days if stationed overseas. The waiting period, required by law, to obtain a legal marriage from the jurisdiction nearest the assignment location is what determines the days. Also, a maximum of two travel days is authorized if stationed in the continental U.S., and five days is authorized if the member is stationed overseas. "This will allow all Airmen to be recognized equally under the law in regards to spousal benefits," said Maj. Mark Cipolla, Air Force force management policy division.

Anti-gay groups have been screaming that the military is "paying for homosexual honeymoons." Hey, there's a really easy fix for that!

About That Air Force Sergeant...

For about a month all of Teabagistan has been up in arms about an Air Force sergeant who claims that his lesbian commander relieved him of duty because he "didn't agree with her position on gay marriage." Today retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who now works for the Family Research Council, sent out an update via press release:

Today, I learned that the Air Force chain of command at Lackland Air Force Base (San Antonio, TX) has read Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk his Miranda rights. This is a serious matter. When a member of the armed forces is Mirandized it is a strong indication that those officials believe there has been a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

As you may recall, Sgt. Monk was relieved of his duties on June 25th when he refused to agree with his openly lesbian commanding officer, Maj. Elisa Valenzuela, that a subordinate's expression of opposition to same-sex marriage constituted discrimination. Later, on August 20th Sgt. Monk filed a petition for redress with Valenzuela under the UCMJ (Article 138).

As I understand it, Sgt Monk is now under investigation for making false official statements (UCMJ 107) for stating publicly and to the press that he believed he was being discriminated against due to his Christian beliefs. These are not even official statements, friends. These are trumped up charges. This investigation is nothing more than intimidation. The Air Force is telling Christian service members that if you are a target of religious discrimination, you must remain silent about it or risk court martial.

We're guessing that there's a lot more to this story than Boykin is telling us.

Air Force Bans Proselytizing

A just publicized new directive from the Air Force bans commanders from proselytizing to troops. The wingnuts are totally going to lose their shit. Via NBC News:

Just days before retiring as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz issued a document designed to dictate the conduct of U.S. airmen worldwide — all violations enforceable by military law. For the first time, amid regulations on tattoo size and flag handling etiquette, it laid down the law on religious proselytizing by leaders: Don’t do it. Section 2.11 of the 27-page Air Force Instruction AFI 1-1 Standards of Conduct is the latest salvo in a battle over religious bias and Christian proselytizing in the military branch. It calls on officers and supervisors to "avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion." The document's section on religion echoes a memo Schwartz sent out to all Air Force leadership on religion last September, but adds the threat of penalty for violations.

The new edict states in bold: "Compliance with this directive is mandatory." The Air Force has long been considered the military branch most infested with ardent Christianists who often staged mandatory indoctrination sessions. The above-linked story notes that the Air Force just last year suspended a course titled "The Christian Just War Theory," which used biblical quotes and images to defend the morality of nuclear war.

HISTORY: Openly Gay Cadets Graduate From Air Force Academy

(Via Zack Ford)

Reinstated And It Feels So Good

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) reports today that their client SSgt. Anthony Loverde will be reinstated to the Air Force. Via press release:

Staff Sergeant Anthony Loverde, discharged in 2008 under the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" DADT law, will be reinstated in the U.S. Air Force and will return to active duty. He will take the oath in Sacramento in May 2012 and be assigned to the 19th Operations Squadron at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas. The reinstatement is set to make Loverde the second service member - and second SLDN client - reinstated to active duty following the repeal of DADT in September 2011. "I am honored and humbled to return to the service of my country and the job I love. I am grateful to my legal team and all of those in the armed forces who helped to facilitate this reinstatement. I am eager to take the oath and get to work," said Loverde. Loverde's reinstatement is the result of a resolution on his behalf in the historic case, Almy v. U.S., filed in 2010, which challenges the constitutionality of the three plaintiffs' discharges under DADT and seeks their reinstatement to active duty.

They're Sexy And They Know It

From the men of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

(Via - Towleroad)

RELATED: The original video by LMFAO has over 161 million views on YouTube. Two of the members of LMFAO are the son and grandson of Motown founder Berry Gordy.

FRC: Paganism Is Expensive!

FRC: Atheists Hate Kids, Part 2

Tony Perkins: Atheists Hate Children

Air Force Issues DADT Repeal Memo

(Tipped by JMG reader Elizabeth)