One Year Of GetEQUAL

Tweet Of The Day - Robin McGehee

HomoQuotable - Robin McGehee

"Only two short days after being arrested for chaining myself to the White House fence and asking my President why he hasn’t fulfilled his promise of equality, I’ll pass through the same gate and by those familiar guard shacks today to meet with Brian Bond, Deputy Director of the Office of Public Engagement. I accepted Mr. Bond’s request for a meeting, but let me be clear – I don’t, for a second, plan on backing down.

"Not for a second will I be talked out of fighting for my community’s equality because of political pressure or the fear of not being invited back. Instead, I plan on following in the footsteps of Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an elected leader who showed the courage to fight for what he believed in by being arrested because of the lack of leadership other elected leaders are showing on immigration reform. As Rep. Guiterrez did yesterday, I too will honor the meeting they requested with me, but I won’t honor any closed-door attempts to quiet a community starving for their dignity and their equality." - GetEQUAL's Robin McGehee, via AmericaBlog.

[Photo credit: Rex Wockner]

GetEQUAL Youth Send Message To Obama

Clip description: "Ceara Sturgis, Constance McMillen, and Will Phillips share a message with President Obama and Congress, asking them to display the courageousness that these youth have shown by producing the change they have promised."

Special DADT Report From Rex Wockner

The below is a special to JMG report on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" from veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner.

Don't Ask Don't Tell Roller Coaster

The Obama administration resuscitated the Don't Ask, Don't Tell gay ban Oct. 20 by convincing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to temporarily stay an injunction by a federal district judge in Riverside, Calif.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips had found the ban unconstitutional and barred any further use of it worldwide effective Oct. 12. In response, the military stopped kicking out openly gay and lesbian servicemembers and began letting open gays and lesbians sign up to enlist.

But the Obama administration -- which says it strongly opposes DADT -- immediately began fighting to bring the ban back to life, ultimately succeeding eight days later.

The Justice Department argued that an abrupt end to the ban would be harmful to the military in myriad ways. Judge Phillips was wholly unconvinced and refused to stay her injunction. The 9th Circuit, on the other hand, issued a brief stay -- until at least Oct. 25 -- while it considers issuing a longer stay.

The administration also said it wants Congress, not the courts, to end the ban. The House of Representatives voted to end the ban earlier this year but the Senate refused after a filibuster by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

There is no indication that the Senate will change its mind when it returns to Washington for the lame-duck session following the Nov. 2 elections, even though the DADT repeal measure is a part of the bill that funds the entire U.S. military for next year. McCain's filibuster also left the overall military funding measure unpassed.

"Really, what's in my heart right now is it's going to be really hard for me to vote for Barack Obama," prominent gays-in-the-military activist Dan Choi said in an interview. Choi re-enlisted in the Army at the Times Square recruiting station in New York on Oct. 19.

"Call me a one-issue person, but this is really pissing me off," Choi added. "When Congress has a law that's unconstitutional, it's the job of the courts to call it unconstitutional. That's Civics day one. Obama's giving Don't Ask, Don't Tell mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. For him to do that at this point is upsetting, it's disgusting."

GetEQUAL director Robin McGehee called the government's successful push for a stay "a travesty."

"This ... brings the military's discriminatory Don't Ask, Don't Tell law back from the dead," she said. "It is a travesty that after numerous attempts, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder will go down in history as the administration that breathed life back into Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The lives and careers of openly gay and lesbian servicemembers are now back in the crosshairs of our government and a renewed commitment to discrimination falls squarely in the hands of this White House."

Servicemembers United Executive Director Alexander Nicholson said he's hopeful the stay will last just a few days.

"An objective look at the evidence before the court clearly indicates that ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell would not harm military readiness, but would rather enhance it," he said.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese called DADT's resurrection "a sad day for all Americans."

"Today's decision only furthers our resolve to send this law to the dustbin of history and also draws a spotlight on the administration to make good on their pledge to end these discharges that damage our national security," he said.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis said the stay dumped the ball back in the U.S. Senate's lap.

"Gay and lesbian servicemembers deserve better treatment than they are getting with this ruling," he said. "We now must look to the Senate next month in the lame-duck session to bring about the swift certainty needed here and to repeal this unjust law that serves no useful purpose."

[Photos and text by Rex Wockner]

GetEQUAL & Las Vegas Activist Derek Washington Spar Over ENDA Protest

Via Karen Ocamb's LGBTPOV, here's an audio clip of GetEQUAL's Robin McGehee and Las Vegas Stonewall Democrats chairman Derek Washington sparring over the effectiveness and purpose of GetEQUAL's blockage of the Las Vegas strip during Netroots Nation. This was recorded during Washington's local radio show and things get rolling at the 9:00 mark. Below are photos I later took of the two at a party in Mike Rogers' hotel suite.

VIDEO: GetEQUAL Blocks Vegas Strip

Here's the video from Tuesday's closure of the Las Vegas strip by GetEQUAL as they protested Sen. Harry Reid's perceived inaction on ENDA.

GetEQUAL Blocks Las Vegas Strip

Eight members of GetEqual, including Robin McGehee and Dan Choi, were arrested in Las Vegas today after blocking traffic on the city's busiest street in protest of inaction on ENDA by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). I'll ask the participants about this tomorrow, if they're out of jail by our planned breakfast. More photos by Steve Freiss are here.

On The Rise Of GetEQUAL

From heckling the president, to congressional sit-ins, to chaining themselves to the White House fence, not since ACT-UP has an activist group shaken up our world as GetEQUAL has. Today Andrew Harmon and Kerry Eleveld have posted a lengthy dissection of GetEQUAL for the Advocate. An excerpt:

Although GetEqual appears to have sprung up from nowhere and arrived with haste, the group is an amalgamation of grassroots passion, Beltway savvy, and well-heeled support. Conceived out of a desire to revive the legacy of civil disobedience as exemplified by the civil rights movement and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), the group has both directed and inspired a spate of protests by activists nationwide. Its members have taken on the Fred Phelps “God Hates Fags” clan, disrupted congressional committee meetings, and heckled President Barack Obama at Democratic fund-raisers, as Kip Williams, who founded the group with McGehee, did last week, leading to his second arrest since GetEqual’s founding.

Along the way, they’ve have been portrayed as “rude, rash and paranoid, and virtually impossible to please” — words used to describe ACT UP members in a 1990 New York Times story. The historic compromise vote in the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee to begin the process of DADT repeal did little to modulate GetEqual's communiqués: "We keep asking the question, 'When will the military discharges end?' and have not yet received an answer from the legislative or executive branches," one recent release reads. "It is the President’s moral responsibility to issue an executive order banning the firings under 'don’t ask, don’t tell' until the process can play itself out."

McGehee says she’s certain that GetEqual is helping to fill a void, however intransigent the message may seem. “We’ve heard from the top political advisers all the way down to organizational figureheads that we need to have both roles in the movement, from the suites of power to streets of activism,” she says. “Without the street pressure, political insiders would not have made the gains they have.”

Read the entire article.

April 22nd: LGBT Leadership Town Hall

SiriusXM radio host Michelangelo Signorile will host a national LGBT leadership town hall in Washington DC on Thursday, April 22nd. The show will aired live nationally.

The Panel: National Gay & Lesbian Task Force executive director Rea Carey; Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese;National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling; Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis; former Clinton White House adviser on gay rights Richard Socarides and blogger and activist Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend.

When: Thursday, April 22, 2-4 ET, Sirius 109, XM 98.

Where: XM studios, Washington DC. (Listeners can enter a drawing to win tickets to be part of our studio audience, must be in by Friday at the end of the day to win). Will be aired live on The Michelangelo Signorile Show, 2-4 ET, Sirius 109, XM 98 and streamed online.

Signorile reports that activists David Mixner and GetEQUAL's Robin McGehee will be among the special guests asking questions from the studio audience. Solmonese vs. McGehee, that should be very interesting.

GetEQUAL Activists To Be Arraigned Over ENDA Sit-In At Nancy Pelosi's Office

Four activists from GetEQUAL will be arraigned today for their March 18th ENDA protest at Nancy Pelosi's office. Via press release:

Activists will gather outside the District of Columbia Superior Courthouse today in solidarity with four women arrested during a sit-in at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Washington office two weeks ago. On March 18, led by co-founders Robin McGehee and Kip Williams, GetEQUAL staged simultaneous sit-ins at Speaker Pelosi's Washington and San Francisco offices to voice its demand that Pelosi bring a trans-inclusive Employee Non-Discrimination Act through markup and to a floor vote by the end of the month. Tired of false promises to pass ENDA, which would provide basic employment protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, the four women refused to leave the office without a guarantee that the bill would be brought to a vote. They were ultimately arrested for unlawful entry and face arraignment today on misdemeanor charges.

ENDA legislation has been stuck in the House Committee on Education and Labor since last year and another promise that it would be brought to the House floor for a vote in March did not happen. "As Congress returns from recess they have an opportunity to pass what the LGBT community has been fighting for 40 years: basic workplace protections. Every American has the right to a secure working environment," said Jay Carmona, one of the four arrested. "A person¹s gender identity or sexual orientation does not affect their ability to do the same work others do. They should be protected from discrimination and there jobs should be secure."

I'll update this post later today after the arraignment.

Robin McGehee Talks About Her Arrest

GetEQUAL's Robin McGehee talks about her arrest at the White House yesterday and GetEQUAL's strategy going forward.