Florida Candidate’s Signs Defaced by Anti-Gay Slurs
With just two days until election day in Miami Shores, candidate Jesse Walters is fighting back, not against his opponents but rather a hateful message he found plastered on his campaign signs this weekend. Walters filed a police report Sunday after yard campaign signs for the Miami Shores council candidate were defaced with derogatory statements about his sexual preference. Walters, who’s openly gay, says campaign mail was distributed to peoples’ homes Saturday with a picture of his partner of 23 years and their 15-month-old daughter. He believes the picture set someone off.
Anti-Gay Activist Actually Now Supports Gay Marriage
There’s an adage about intelligent people changing their minds, so maybe anti-gay activist Louis J. Marinelli is smarter than we thought. He formerly served as the National Organization For Marriage’s tour organizer and social media expert, and writes that he “spent the last five years putting all of [his] political will, interest and energy into fighting against the spread of same-sex marriage as if it were a contagious disease.” But on his website over the weekend, Marinelli writes that “after several months of an internal conflict,” he can “for the first time simply admit…that I do in fact support civil marriage equality.” He acknowledges those he has “targeted, hurt and oppressed” and hopes to “discus the events that brought about [his] change of heart.” www.BigGayNews.com
Gay Soldiers Can Begin Serving Openly by Summer
Even though the Clinton-era “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed back in December, President Obama and proponents of the move were always clear that it would take some time to enact the chance in blanket military policy on the field level. But progress toward — well — progress is continuing at a steady pace, and the Pentagon says that gay servicemen and women can expect to be able to serve openly for the first time ever this summer. “We’ve not seen issues,” said General James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps and one military leader who was staunchly against repeal. “There’s not been anxiety over it from the forces in the field … there hasn’t been pushback.” Amos was testifying with fellow generals today before the House Armed Services Committee. Likewise, Army General Norton Schwartz said he was even “more comfortable than I was” last year with the repeal.