One year ago, this video wouldn’t have been made.

[h/t Towleroad]

Elaine Donnelly, whose “job” I assumed would have disappeared by now — all she ever really did was fight against gays serving in the military, and that bird has flown — is very upset with Mitt Romney and Ron Paul for failing to pledge to re-weaken the United States military by reinstating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell:

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness (CMR), coordinated the survey. She says she is disappointed that Romney recently told the Des Moines Register he does not plan to change the law mandating homosexual military service.

“Governor Romney told the Des Moines Register that, well, yes — Congress shouldn’t have rushed the repeal bill through, but it’s happened now, and the wars are winding down, so now it’s okay,” Donnelly notes. “That was disappointing because it’s just like with ObamaCare — Congress made a huge mistake in passing that law.”

And the CMR president does not understand why the issue of “gays” in the military has not created the same outrage that followed ObamaCare.

“All of the Republicans are saying it is time to repeal ObamaCare. Why then would we say that the mistake made by the lame-duck Congress with regard to our military should be allowed to stand indefinitely?” she wonders.

Time for an episode of Simple Answers to Stupid Questions, Elaine: the reason the issue of gays serving openly in the military has not created any outrage is that a super-majority of Americans supported repealing the bigoted law. I do understand that wingnuts have to tell themselves thousands of lies per day in order to keep their heads from exploding, but in all the months leading up to repeal, every poll showed that Americans thought the ban on open service was stupid and bigoted. Ergo, repeal did not lead to “outrage.” Or, simpler: Elaine, nobody cares what people like you think about these sorts of issues anymore, save for the shrinking segment of the population that lives in your hateful, misinformed little echo chamber.

Sorry.

We’re very used to Peter LaBarbera seeing any signs of affection exchanged between two people of the same gender and immediately conflating it with Hot Sex, but usually he does it with men. [Haha, I see what I did there.] We’re not used to seeing him do it with women. [Zing!]

No, seriously, though, Peter LaBarbera saw the now historic picture of the first same-sex Navy “first-off-the-ship” kiss, and immediately his mind went to sex.  He said the following not-so-smart thing on Janet Mefferd’s radio program:

As far as the lowlights, I have to say that the worse would be what’s happened in the military, we just saw the story—we were talking about it off air—of the traditional first kiss of a Navy ship just went to two lesbians intentionally. Under Obama’s Navy, lesbians get the first traditional kiss; the sailor comes off the boat greeted by his spouse which is a woman usually, man-woman, woman-man, but now under Obama this political correctness we’re going to pretend that homosexuality belongs in the military. And actually Obama posted the photo of these two women kissing on his Flickr page which to me is another first—a president posting an indecent photo on his Flickr page because homosexual sex and homosexual practice is still indecent. It doesn’t matter what the trends say what the political correctness says, it matters what the truth is, and we go by the word of God and that’s indecent behavior. And to see our president glorifying it and saying this is one of his greatest accomplishments is really a sad day.

Yeah, here’s that kiss again:

You have to be kinda weird to look at that picture and see nothing but sex. I would hate to imagine a life where I couldn’t recognize the sheer elation of love and reunion without my bigotry getting in the way. It almost makes me feel sorry for Porno Pete.

Almost.

Though my family is full of Navy people, I was not aware of this tradition. It’s pretty awesome:

It’s been three months since the dock landing ship left home for Central America, and all of the usual fanfare is waiting to greet its crew: crowds of cheering families, toddlers dressed in sailor suits, and the lucky, excited woman who’s been chosen to take part in a time-honored Navy tradition, the first homecoming kiss.

In this case, that woman is 22-year-old Citlalic Snell. She’s a sailor herself, assigned to destroyer Bainbridge, but today she’s in civilian clothes – jeans, boots and a stylish leather jacket. Watching pierside as the Oak Hill pulls into port, she absent-mindedly twists the small diamond ring that’s on her left hand.

[...]

As it starts to drizzle, the gangplank is finally lowered. A handful of top officers are first off the ship, and then comes a young woman in dress blues, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta.

Snell cracks a wide smile.

“That’s her,” she says.

When Gaeta spots her, she smiles too. They embrace. With all eyes watching, they keep the kiss short, and the crowd cheers.

And here’s the kiss:

At the sight of that picture, wingnut heads explode and normal people who know what it’s like to be away from a loved one for a long time feel a kinship with them.

And lest any of the wingnuts think this was done for “political purposes,” they weren’t chosen — they won a raffle!

[h/t Towleroad]

Kirsten at Wonkette reported on this uncomfortable situation yesterday. Mitt Romney was doing this Man Of The People thing, talking to people in a New Hampshire diner. When he saw a man wearing a Vietnam Vets cap, he figured he was safe, so he started a conversation. It did not go well:

“Vietnam veteran!” Romney greeted Bob Garon.

“I have a question for you,” Garon told the former Massachusetts governor. “New Hampshire right now has some legislation kicking around about a repeal for the same-sex marriage. And all I need is a yes or a no. Do you support the repeal?”

“I support the repeal of the New Hampshire law,” Romney said. “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s my view.”

Garon, who lives in Epsom, N.H., and was eating breakfast with his husband, turned to Romney and said: “If two men get married, apparently a veteran’s spouse would not be entitled to any burial benefits or medical benefits or anything that the serviceman has devoted his time and effort to his country, and you just don’t support equality in terms of same-sex marriage?”

“I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman,” Romney replied, adding, “and we apparently disagree.”

At that, a Romney aide called for him to wrap up the conversation: “Governor, we’ve got to get on with Fox News right now.”

“Oh, I guess the question was too hot,” Garon told Romney.

“No, I gave you the answer,” Romney replied. “You said you had a yes-or-no [question]. I gave you the answer.”

“You did,” Garon said. “And I appreciate your answer. And you know, I also learned something, and New Hampshire is right: You have to look a man in the eye to get a good answer. And you know what, governor? Good luck…. You’re going to need it.”

“You are right about that,” Romney said, as he stood up from the booth and headed into a side room for his interview.

OUCH! Garon later said that he could tell by looking into Romney’s eyes that he was not to be trusted. Wonkette’s Kirsten added, “Uh, admitting that you are a weird loser is not exactly how apologies work, Mittens. Pretending to be human is such hard work!”

Of course, there is video:

And then MSNBC interviewed the gay veteran who embarrassed Mittens as well:

When people like Bob Garon can loudly make the case for LGBT equality in public, is there any question whether or not we’ve won this stupid “culture war?”

Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann are losing it in this clip over the possibility of the military repealing its ban on sodomy [duh], because that code also includes a ban on bestiality. Yes, wingnuts, the one thing keeping our troops from buggering furry woodland creatures is a code. Does this help people to understand why wingnuts become wingnuts? They are humans for whom the only thing standing between them and an utter lack of control is laws, whether the ones they believe are from God or from the state.

Those of us with either more sane versions of religion or no religion at all shake our heads in wonder/terror at these people.

Think Progress has the transcript.

As Jeremy points out, this is at best, pathetic, and at worst, an illustration of just how much contempt people like Tony Perkins have for their own followers. Basically here is what had happened was: yesterday, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi added a non-controversial amendment to a defense authorization bill which clarified that military chaplains are free to refuse to marry same-sex couples. Though gay rights advocates have never fought to force any clergy to perform weddings they don’t want to, for whatever reason, the following video features Roger Wicker speaking to hate group leaders Tim Wildmon [AFA] and Tony Perkins [FRC], declaring this very non-controversial amendment a “victory.”

I am aware that the Religious Right is winning basically nothing when it comes to gay rights these days — and thank heavens for that — but that they are declaring this a victory is hilarious. Jeremy also points out that there was basically no opposition to this, because it’s already Pentagon policy, and no one cares.

Think about it: why on God’s green earth would any gay couple want to go to Reverend Bubba the Bigot to perform their ceremony?! Weddings are happy occasions, people. No need to have a gross old homophobe on the guest list, much less at the pulpit.

Here’s the video:

When I said above that people like Tony Perkins and Tim Wildmon have absolute contempt for their own followers, those are my words, not Jeremy’s. But let me expand on that a bit. The Religious Right [and indeed, the Republican Party] would not have the donors and followers they have if they weren’t exceptionally crafty when it comes to lying to and scaring the shit out of their sheep. There is no liberal or gay-friendly parallel to this. On this side of the fence, journalists, bloggers and non-profit organizations are well aware that our average readers/listeners/supporters are pretty smart people, and moreover people who are willing and able to research issues for themselves. Therefore, aside from the fact that we have absolutely no reason to mislead people, we wouldn’t make it very far with the people who support us if we played cute with the facts like the Religious Right does.

Sadly, and I know this is a broad over-generalization, but Tony Perkins knows it too, the Religious Right is simply not that kind of crowd. So beholden to fear and authority are they that the “daddy figures” they choose to trust are viewed as impenetrable and beyond reproach, even when the words coming out of their leaders’ mouths defy all logic, reason and civics knowledge. Tim Wildmon, being sort of a fringe, regional figure, might be so dumb/uninformed that he believes what he’s saying, but Tony Perkins is inside the Beltway. He knows full well when he’s lying to his people in order to keep their fear-based ca$h a-rollin’ into the FRC’s coffers. Aside from the fact that the man leads a well-known and detested hate group, it’s grotesque to realize that a large part of his influence comes from the fact that he lies to his own people.

That’s how you end up with a situation where these men are able to go on to AFA radio and boldly claim “victory” on an issue that literally, nobody cares about. If their followers acted like liberals and decided to check for themselves whether or not gay couples wanted to force awful wingnuts to perform gay marriage ceremonies, they’d discover that Tony and Tim and Roger are lying to them. But they won’t, and those men know it, so the lies will continue.

Yet again, the Religious Right has wasted American time, money and oxygen lying and complaining about our society becoming more open and accepting, in this case with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, only to have absolutely nothing they warned of come true:

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Since the lifting two months ago of a longstanding U.S. ban on gays serving openly in the military, U.S. Marines across the globe have adapted smoothly and embraced the change, says their top officer, Gen. James F. Amos, who previously had argued against repealing the ban during wartime.

“I’m very pleased with how it has gone,” Amos said in an Associated Press interview during a week-long trip that included four days in Afghanistan, where he held more than a dozen town hall-style meetings with Marines of virtually every rank. He was asked about a wide range of issues, from his view of the Marine Corps’ future to more mundane matters such as why he recently decided to stop allowing Marines to wear their uniform with the sleeves rolled up.

Not once was he asked in Afghanistan about the repeal of the gay ban.

Because it’s fine, and because our military is composed of finer, stronger people than our Religious Right. Moving on…

[h/t Jeremy]

Oh, the things that, to quote my friend Wendi Thomas, get wingnuts’ “delicates in a wad.”* I’m looking through my news sources and whatnot, and I have a found a DADT dead-ender writing a letter to the local paper, and man oh man, is she worried about the gays in the military! Look:

The military’s job is to be ready to defend this country whenever necessary, not to pander to people’s personal whims, especially one regarding sexual deviancy. This requires personnel to be in excellent psychological and physical shape.

And gays simply cannot do that! We do not have access to counseling or other mental health care, and we certainly never go to the gym to keep our bodies in fine form. Next:

It is a well-documented fact that homosexuals suffer from greater rates of depression, drug abuse and physical diseases than the general population.

It’s also a well-documented fact that where those statistics are greater, the root cause is discrimination from people like youuuuuuuuuu.

Can we expect them to perform at their best under the stressful environment of life in the military?

They can, and we know it, because gays have been fighting for the wingnut’s right to write whiny letters into the local paper for DECADES. She just didn’t know it.

The American Psychological Society did no favors to homosexuals when it removed homosexuality as a psychological disorder because now they can’t get the proper help and counseling they need to lead healthy, fulfilled lives.

Yes, it is terrible that we are no longer allowed to get counseling in order to lead healthy, fulfilled lives. Oh, wait, in the wingnut’s head-in-the-sand world, there is no such thing as a gay who is also living a healthy, fulfilled life. I understand.

We can expect to see promiscuity increase in the military, as homosexuals have many more partners than heterosexuals.

Yes, because straight soldiers are never slutty.

What about clergy and their religious freedom? Will they be forced to perform civil unions for homosexual soldiers? How can they counsel freely?

Wingnut definition of “freely”: Will they be free to unleash unnecessary, medieval hatred upon gay and lesbian servicemembers?

What about living quarters? Will the military and our tax dollars now have to pay for homosexual “bathhouses?”

Because all civilian homosexuals live in bathhouses.

If you think this can’t happen, then you are very naïve.

That’s why we are very thankful that Random Wingnut Lady wrote a letter to the paper. Otherwise, I don’t even think the worst, dumbest professional gay-hater has ever suggested that the military will have to fund bathhouses. Because, hi, it makes no sense.

There’s a reason that homosexuality has been anathema in human history for thousands of years. It is an unnatural manifestation of the human condition and is an aberration in society that requires help for those afflicted with it, not validation of their disorder.

Such big words for such a small mind!

The far-reaching ramifications of this decision are too numerous to list in a short letter.

Therefore she won’t! Time to go learn more about bathhouses and stuff, I guess.

“Delicates in a wad,” indeed.

*Great article, by the way, about straight people attending gay pride in Memphis. Read it!

Ding dong, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell really is dead. The Marines showed up with a booth at a Pride event in Pasadena, California:

With the official repeal last month of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the Marine Corps, the service that was most opposed to ending the policy, appears to be leading the charge into new recruitment territory.

The end of the hush-hush era opens up another qualified pool of applicants, said Sgt. Monique Wallace, marketing and public affairs representative for the Marine Corps’ Recruiting Station Los Angeles.

Carlos Ramirez, a board member of San Gabriel Valley Pride, said he believed that his group’s Community Unity Day was the first Southern California pride event to host military recruitment. San Gabriel Valley Pride is a nonprofit group dedicated to raising awareness about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture. Other pride groups in the region, Ramirez said, had held events before Sept. 20, the formal end of the military’s 17-year policy that barred gay men and women from serving openly in the military.

Here is the part that will annoy Tony Perkins:

Tom Carpenter, a former Marine fighter pilot and a member of the board of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said he was impressed “Marines are leading the charge.” He said the move would improve the pool of candidates strained by two wars.

“They had tens of thousands of felony waivers, and they were taking people convicted of drug use,” Carpenter said. “This will increase the pool of people available and allow people who want to serve the country to join.”

Translation: with gays allowed to serve openly, the quality of recruits will go UP, which will make the military, even the Marine Corps, ultimately stronger. Sorry, bigots.