Don't Ask, Don't Tell "repeal" compromise advances in Senate committee, full House

On Thursday the Senate Armed Services Committee and the full House of Representatives advanced the compromise measure toward the eventual repeal of the military's 17-year-old Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that bars gays, lesbians, and bisexuals from serving openly in the military.

Tennessee's congressional delegation doesn't appear to have played a significant role in the proceedings in either body. Neither senator from Tennessee is on the Armed Services Committee. Congressman Zach Wamp rose briefly for a parliamentary question about adding time for debate. His smirk betrayed the move as an effort at delay. The House roll call is not available yet. UPDATE: Now the votes are available. AYE = Cohen, Cooper, and Gordon. NO = Blackburn, Davis, Duncan, Roe, Tanner, and Wamp.

The amendment is not what the GLBT community had hoped for or called for. It does not stop discharges of servicemembers. It provides no comprehensive non-discrimination policy. It doesn't even guarantee a repeal at the end of the Pentagon study. But it is the path to repeal that was available in this Congress. It is also a path that GLBT servicemembers' groups got behind. So, as with much legislation, most of the community held their noses, supported it, and worked for passage.

There are still a few steps left in passage of the bill carrying the amendment, but there is reason for optimism that it will pass and the process of real repeal can begin. Tonight is not a victory, but it is another chance.

-Chris Sanders

Gubernatorial candidates on the adoption issue

The Tennessee Newspaper Network, made up of the dailies serving Tennessee's four largest cities, is out with its latest segment on the positions of the candidates running for governor--social issues. Unfortunately it's not possible to link directly to the adoption question with the answers of the four remaining major candidates. You have to build it by clicking on their names and the feature adds each one.

Regardless, the answers are revealing, even when they aren't. Congressman Zach Wamp and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey give largely similar answers. They both oppose adoption by same-sex couples. Wamp probably through oversight leaves out opposite-sex unmarried couples, but says he sees a role for singles to adopt children.

The answers of businessman Mike McWherter (the only Democrat) and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam contain a bit more nuance. McWherter prefers married couples, but respects the status quo that in some cases allows unmarried couples to adopt. Haslam also prefers married couples, but pivots to his support of singles who provide good adoptive homes based upon people he knows at Church. He doesn't directly answer the question about unmarried couples. It's pretty clear that the adoption ban bill wouldn't be a focus of a McWherter or Haslam administration.

But would it be a focus of a Wamp or Ramsey administration? Wamp hasn't been tested on the issue, even though he has expressed hositility to homosexuality in the past. Ramsey presides over a State Senate that has not moved SB0078, although that's probably in large part because of the high fiscal note on the bill.

And that brings up the question of what role a governor really plays in an issue like adoption. The governor chooses department heads that help set a tone and the administration's lobbying posture on the issue. But governors in Tennessee typically leave these matters to the Legislature to work out. The question for equality-minded voters in Tennessee is whether we want to take that kind of chance. Quotations from the candidates are reproduced below:

Mike McWherter: “My personal preference is to see children placed in the care of loving, traditional families, but I do respect our current system that allows for judges and other authorities to make the final determination on what’s in the best interest of a child.”

Bill Haslam: “I believe that we should work to find a stable, loving home with two married parents for every child. However, I also recognize — through personal relationships with several single members of my church in Knoxville who have adopted — that there are many single, qualified individuals out there who could also provide the love and support needed to raise a child right and give that child opportunities he or she might not otherwise be afforded.”

Ron Ramsey: “I do not support allowing unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, to adopt children. Adoption is not an arena political correctness should be allowed to invade. It is a very serious matter and requires the highest level of commitment. Adoption is not an abstract policy issue. It is the most critical moment in the life of a child looking for a permanent home. When married couples wish to adopt, the adoption process should include a very high degree of scrutiny to ensure a positive environment for the child’s future.”

Zach Wamp: “As a father, I believe the best environment to raise children is one in which a married mother and father cares for and raises a child, and this is true for adopted children as well. While I do recognize the efforts of single parents to adopt, I do not support allowing same-sex couples to adopt.”

The Fellowship/The Family's role in Uganda anti-gay bill and question for Zach Wamp

Members of Chattanooga's GLBT community are starting to circulate some blog links tracking the connections between the Fellowship/the Family and Uganda's horrid anti-gay bill. And why would Chattanoogans care particularly about this piece of legislation in a country far away? Well, Congressman Zach Wamp, who represents the area, has lived in The Fellowship/The Family's housing for years.

Guilt by association isn't real guilt. It only raises questions. But it's worth asking the question of whether Congressman Wamp was one of the Members of Congress who may have prayed with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. Here's the meat of one of the blog posts at Truth Wins Out that makes the question relevant:

Sadly, this witch-hunt has the blood stained fingerprints of leading American evangelicals. The Fellowship, (aka The Family) one of America’s most powerful and secretive fundamentalist organization’s, converted Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni (pictured top) to its anti-gay brand of Christianity, which is the “intellectual” impetus behind the anti-gay crackdown. The clandestine organization’s leader, Doug Coe, calls Museveni The Fellowship’s “key man” in Africa. Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Family”, writes of the African strongman’s conversion:

“So,” Doug Coe told us, “my friend said to the president, ‘why don’t you come and pray with me in America? I have a good group of friends—senators, congressmen—who I like to pray with, and they’d like to pray with you.’ And that president came to the Cedars (a religious retreat), and he met Jesus. And his name is Yoweri Museveni…And he is a good friend of the Family.”

I think the people of Tennessee have a right to know whether the Congressman has met with Museveni and what he thinks about legislation that criminalizes and punishes homosexuality to such an amazingly harsh extent. After all, the Congressman has publicly branded homosexuality a "sickness" and a "sin."

I know that some people will call these "charges unfair." I'm just pointing out what citizens of the Chattanooga area are pointing out and asking, "What's the deal?" I'm not charging the Congressman with anything other than being found frequently around sources of hate and discrimination. I would like for him to articulate his own views in his own words about these events.

A hat tip to Andy Pyburn for some of these links.

Wamp announces. Will he back off his bigoted ways?

Congressman Zach Wamp has announced that he's running for governor. No surprise there to anyone who has seen those billboards up and down the highways. Wamp has a pretty anti-gay record when it comes to voting and of rhetoric.

I hope he cleans that nonsense up as we advance into the campaign.