Nation In Brief

Staff Reports

Former Hawaii Governor Lingle Who Vetoed Same-Sex Civil Unions Announces U. S. Senate Bid
HONOLULU, HAWAII -- Former Republican Governor Linda Lingle announced today that she will be a candidate for the U. S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Democrat, Daniel Akaka. Lingle, whose 2010 veto stopped a civil unions bill giving the Aloha state’s same-sex couples the same protections under the law that married couples have, is already drawing sharp criticism.

Matt Canter, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper:

"Today marks Linda Lingle's biggest announcement since she nominated Sarah Palin for Vice President, an event that typifies Lingle's partisan Republican approach to governing," said Canter. "Now Lingle wants to go to Washington to become a rubber-stamp for Mitch McConnell and the Republican party whose sole priority is to defeat President Obama at every turn."

Lingle disagreed saying in an interview with a local radio show:

"I want to be real clear on this point: I don't work for (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell, and for that matter I don't work for President Obama. I work for the people of Hawaii.

[...] "And if there is a law being proposed, whether it's from the president or from Mitch McConnell, if it's good for Hawaii I'm for it. If it's not good for us, I'm against it regardless of who introduces it."

Get Equal Activist Dan Choi Suffers Legal Setback In White House Protest Arrest Case

WASHINGTON -- LGBTQ equality rights activist Dan Choi- a West Point graduate discharged from the U. S. Army under the now repealed "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" policy for revealing his sexual orientation on-air during an episode of MSNBC's the Rachel Maddow Show in 2009- has been dealt a setback in a court case resulting from his arrest during a White House demonstration in November of 2010.

U. S. District Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled Tuesday that Choi’s attorney should have raised the issue of harsher treatment before trial during pretrial motions and therefore cannot use at trial as a defence.

Prosecutors had appealed an earlier ruling by U. S. District Court Magistrate Judge John Facciola, which was in agreement with Choi’s lawyer who had argued that his client was being treated more harshly.

Choi and 12 other activists were arrested November 15 of last year for handcuffing themselves to the White House fence to protest the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. Choi faces a possible sentence of six months in jail or a $5,000 fine if convicted on a misdemeanor charge of disobeying a lawful order to disperse from the fence.

"In a tense exchange between U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John Facciola, prosecutor Angela George announced she would file a request for a writ of mandamus or legal challenge before the court’s chief judge to contest Facciola’s decision to allow Choi’s attorneys to pursue a vindictive prosecution defense.

[...] Such a defense would allow Choi’s attorneys to pursue documents and subpoena witnesses that Choi’s supporters say could possibly link the alleged effort to go after Choi for a harsher prosecution to higher-level government officials, including officials at the White House.

Defense attorney Robert Feldman called Facciola’s finding that the defense presented a “prima facie case” that a vindictive prosecution occurred a “vindication” of Choi’s longstanding contention that his arrest and prosecution violated his constitutional right to free speech.   ~ Washington Blade

Online petition Urging Investigation Into Allegations That Tennessee High School Principal Assaulted Student Reaches 83,000

MADISONVILLE, TENNESSEE -- The Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper is reporting that more than 83,000 people have signed an online petition at Change.org, demanding that authorities launch an investigation into allegations that a Monroe County Tennessee high school principal assaulted a student for wearing a homemade t-shirt in support of another student's efforts to form a Gay-Straight alliance in the school.

Chris Sigler, a 17-year-old Senior, was reportedly shoved, bumped in the chest and verbally harassed by Principal Maurice Moser of the Sequoyah High School in Madisonville. Moser told the teenager to either change the shirt or leave school, according to Sigler, and Sigler's mother who was called to pick him up. Before she arrived at the school, Moser cleared the classroom Sigler was in and — Sigler alleges — pushed him and chest-bumped him while saying "You think you're a big man now?" and "What you gonna do about this?" According to the Siglers, sister Jessica Sigler witnessed the incident.

The Change.org petition was started by the Gay Straight Alliance Network, based in San Francisco, and the Tennessee Equality Project on Oct. 4 after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Monroe County Schools warning it was contemplating a lawsuit.

“It is totally unacceptable that a young man who was peacefully exercising his First Amendment rights would have his speech shut down by the public school principal,” said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee.

“Last week’s incident clearly illustrates the hostile environment LGBT students face at Sequoyah High School. Given this context, it’s especially important that supportive voices like Sigler’s can be heard in order to overcome the school’s resistance to a GSA.”

Chuck Cagle, attorney for Monroe County Schools, said Monday he had not seen the petition and had no plans to look at it. Cagle said the ACLU will receive a response. 

"We plan to respond. I'm not sure that it's going to get done by tomorrow," Cagle said. "The people who write letters like that like to place arbitrary deadlines on them." 

Tricia Herzfeld, ACLU of Tennessee legal director, said it is normal practice to give schools a week to answer ACLU requests.

"We gave the school district a week, which is the amount of time we usually give schools to respond to our requests that they stop violating students' rights. After speaking with the school district it sounds like they need more time to come in line with the Constitution. Given that it is fall break we will give them until early next week," she said.

Former Ex-Gay Leader: "Can No Longer Condemn Gays"

GERMANTOWN, TENNESSEE -- The former Executive Director of Exodus International’s oldest ministry Love in Action, John Smid- writing on the website of his new ministry, Grace Rivers- says being LGBTQ is an intrinsic part of a person’s being, not a "behaviour" one can repent from and Smid also publicly admits he is gay himself.

"One cannot repent of something that is unchangeable. I have gone through a tremendous amount of grief over the many years that I spoke of change, repentance, reorientation and such, when, barring some kind of miracle, none of this can occur with homosexuality."

Smid, who resigned as Executive Director of Love in Action in 2008, is now disavowing the message he preached for years as the head of LIA that promised gays they could change.

Smid in acknowledging that being LGBTQ was most likely an immutable trait of the human species said:

"I also want to reiterate here that the transformation for the vast majority of homosexuals will not include a change of sexual orientation. Actually I’ve never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual."

He also writes that the Exodus policy is that homosexuality is a behaviour and a “choice;"

"I used to define homosexuality or heterosexuality in terms describing one’s behavior. I thought it made sense and through the years often wrote articles and talked from that perspective.

Today, I understand why the gay community had such an issue with my writings. My perspective denied so many facets of the homosexual experience. I minimized a person’s life to just their sexuality but homosexuality is much more than sex."

Writing about his own sexual orientation Smid says:

"I am homosexual, my wife is heterosexual. This creates a unique marriage experience that many do not understand. For many years I tried to fit into the box of heterosexuality. I tried my hardest to create heterosexuality in my life but this also created a lot of shame, a sense of failure, and discouragement. Nothing I did seemed to change me into a heterosexual even though I was in a marriage that included heterosexual behavior. 

Today, I understand why the gay community had such an issue with my writings. My perspective denied so many facets of the homosexual experience. I minimized a person’s life to just their sexuality but homosexuality is much more than sex."

He ends by saying that honestly accepting your sexual orientation can open the door to a faith and life that makes sense.

"I hear story after story of men and women who accept themselves as being gay, in Christ, and finally find that life makes sense to them. Many are able to then nurture an authentic relationship with Christ because they are being honest and authentic with themselves and finally are able to accept His love unconditionally which changes the dynamic of their understanding of Him. Far too many homosexuals who are seeking Christ perceive that they cannot come close to Him if they remain a homosexual. In this mindset they search feverishly for change that will not come to them."