As reported earlier this week, Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), an Iraq war veteran, announced “Voices of Honor: A Generation Under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,'” a national publicity tour focusing on the damage caused to soldiers and national security by the DADT. The tour is joint effort by Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Servicemembers United and will be headed to several cities over the next several months. From HRC:

“This tour focuses on the voices and stories of the qualified, patriotic gay and lesbian service members who are forced out of the U.S. Armed Services simply because of who they are,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “Poll after poll continues to show the vast majority of Americans, including the majority of active members of the Armed Services, support the right of gay and lesbian service members to serve openly and honestly.  We must repeal this discriminatory policy and ensure that our military can recruit and retain the best and the brightest troops regardless of their sexual orientation.”
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“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ clearly isn’t working for our military, and it hurts national security and military readiness at a time when America is fighting in two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA).  “My time in Iraq taught me that our military needs the best and the brightest who are willing to serve- and that means all Americans, regardless of their orientation.  Discharging brave and talented service members from our armed forces is contrary to the values that our military fights for and that our nation holds dear.”

Clips from the announcement below:

To find out more about the tour visit the Voices of Honor website.

As a part of the multi-pronged effort to overturn DADT, Rep. Murphy has also launched his own site, LetThemServe.com. Be sure to sign the petition there.

As of midnight last night, gay marriages performed in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa, and for a brief time in California, will be legally recognized in the District of Columbia.

Gay activists hailed the development as an historic landmark for same-sex couples throughout the country and noted that it opens the way for the Council to pass a separate law later this year allowing same-sex marriages to be performed in the District.

“I think there’s tremendous significance and opportunity in Americans seeing legally married gay couples treated with respect in our nation’s capital,” said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom To Marry, a national same-sex marriage advocacy group.

The recognition entitles gay couples to all the same legal rights extended to straight couples, including inheritance, and spousal immunity benefits.

And Maryland may soon follow. Governor Martin O’Malley on a radio program yesterday said he was open to having his state recognize gay marriage as well.

Chad Gibson, who was injured in a raid at the Rainbow Lounge in Forth Worth on the anniversary of the Stone Wall riots, is now out of the hospital and calling for the prosecution of the those involved.

On June 28, Chad Gibson was at the Rainbow Lounge when two TABC and seven Fort Worth police officers conducted a bar check at the newly opened gay nightclub in Fort Worth. Witnesses said the unprovoked officers manhandled Gibson and slammed him to the ground. Police said Gibson was intoxicated and grabbed an officer’s groin.

Now, Gibson said he wants the officers involved in the raid prosecuted. He also called the response by the city of Fort Worth a cover-up.

Although the city has asked the U.S. Attorney General to review the investigation, Gibson said he has lost all confidence in law enforcement.

“You used excessive force and that’s why I got hurt,” he said.

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Gibson said the city and officers have pointed the blame in the wrong direction.

“They have blamed it on me, that I was drunk [and] that I hit my head,” he said. “I groped the officer. I did this. I did that. You know what, no … Accept responsibility.”

Gibson said he is also frustrated at the city pointing the blame at the TABC.

“Even if the Fort Worth Police didn’t touch me, they watched it,” he said. “They watched other people do that to me.”

Watch Gibson’s interview at WFAA-TV.

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) of Pennsylvania has taken over as lead sponsor of house bill HR 1283, which would repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy. Murphy is the first war veteran elected to Congress, having served in Bosnia (2002) and in Iraq (2003-2004) as a Captain in the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division.

Unwilling to wait for the Obama administration to take action, this Wednesday Murphy will begin a public push to get DADT repealed before the end of the year.

Murphy spoke of his commitment to overturning DADT in Stars and Stripes:

“People ask why does an Irish-Catholic guy who’s straight and married care so much about [overturning] ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ ” he said. “And I tell them it’s because this is something I believe in. It’s a failed policy that hurts national security.

“We all knew people who we served with who were gay, and it didn’t affect their job,” he said. “It didn’t affect me personally. But they were discriminated against, and that shouldn’t be.”

This Wednesday Murphy will launch www.letthemserve.com, advocating for the repeal of DADT, detailing facts and myths about the policy.

Last year Murphy spoke eloquently against DADT during a subcommittee hearing. Despite his Freshman status, he will be a strong voice and a tremendous ally in the effort to repeal the policy. Watch: