Brave New Foundation has produce in new episode in their “In their Boots” series called “Silent Partners,” which explores the effects of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on the partners of deployed service members. Watch a preview clip below…

There is a also a particularly moving clip at the New York Times.

The episode premieres tomorrow, July 4th, at www.intheirboots.com.

Gay sailor August Provost was found dead Tuesday early morning on the Camp Pendleton base in San Diego, after complaining to his family that he was being harassed. A person of interest is already in custody but no charges have been filed. Gay activists and a local congressman, are viewing the killing as a potential hate crime. Local news coverage below…

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has released the following statement:

“Our thoughts are with the Provost family at this time as authorities work to learn what happened in the early morning hours this past Tuesday,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “The Human Rights Campaign has confirmed Congresswoman Susan Davis has been in touch with officials at the base and is tracking the investigation.  We know that every day members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are targeted for simply being who they are.  Furthermore, our gay or lesbian soldiers struggle with the extra burden of not serving openly and honestly based on the discriminatory policy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ As we monitor the investigation, our community must continue to raise awareness on a law that we know hurts military readiness and national security while putting American soldiers at risk.”

Provost’s partner, Kaether Cordero of Houston, learned of the news of his partner’s death from a newspaper reporter. He said that while Provost was openly gay, he kept his life quiet for the most part. “People who he was friends with, I knew that they knew… He didn’t care that they knew. He trusted them.”

Seaman August Provost was only 29.

Unfortunately, this is not a surprise.

A military administrative board has recommended a discharge for Lt. Dan Choi who violated the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy by coming out on the Rachel Maddow Show last March. From Syracuse.com…

A four-officer panel meeting at Hancock Air Base notified Choi at about 5 p.m. that it would recommend he be discharged because he has publicly said he is gay.

The recommendation now goes to Lt. Gen. Thomas Miller of the First Army Division, and Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, who will make the final decision.

“Today was a setback for me,” Choi said at a 6:10 p.m. news conference. “I got in trouble for saying three words. ‘I am gay.'”

But he said he refuses to lie about being involved in a relationship with another man. Choi said the relationship has made him a better person, a better Christian and a better officer.

Choi, an Arabic-speaking officer who served for 15 months in Iraq as a member of Fort Drum’s 10th Mountain Division before joining a New York National Guard unit based in Manhattan, said he would appeal to the higher-ranking officers to stay in the National Guard.

And an update from tonight’s Rachel Maddow Show:

The discharge process may take up to one year, and Choi may lose veteran benefits as a result.

I covered the San Francisco Pride 2009 Media Party this evening honoring the grand marshals for this year’s Pride parade. I was really happy to meet Lt. Dan Choi, who is serving as one the Celebrity Grand Marshals along with Cloris Leachman and Milk producer Bruce Cohen. Lt. Choi has been in the news lately for outing himself on the Rachel Maddow Show and getting ejected from the military for violating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He’s a real nice, standup guy, who shouldn’t be punished for who he is or who he loves. Some snapshots from the event below: