The Senate Armed Services Committee has agreed to hold hearings on Don’t Ask, Don’ Tell (DADT) this fall thanks to a commitment secured by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) who is trying to overturn the policy. The agreement comes on the heels of an amendment floated by Sen. Gillibrand two weeks ago which would have placed a temporary moratorium on discharges under DADT. The amendment was never introduced as Gillibrand failed to gather the 60 votes necessary for passage.

This will be first time Congress has evaluated the policy since it was enacted in 1993 under President Clinton. There are also efforts to overturn the DADT in the House under the leadership of Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), an Iraq war veteran.

Update: Jonathon Campos has committed suicide.

Navy petty officer Jonathan Campos has been charged with the murder of August Provost III, a gay sailor who was shot multiple times while standing guard duty at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. Provost had confronted Campos as he attempted to break into a secure compound and set fire to a hovercraft.

“The Navy lost a well-respected sailor who was standing his assigned watch, who was standing at his appointed place of duty,” Capt. Matt Brown, a Navy Region-Southwest spokesman in San Diego, said during a news conference at Naval Base San Diego. Provost was training to go on his first deployment later this year.

Brown refuted allegations that Provost’s shooting was a hate crime, a charge raised by some of the sailor’s relatives and friends because Provost had not hid his homosexuality or bisexuality from others and reportedly had complained that he had been harassed.

“No information has been gathered to date to support allegations of a hate crime or a crime that was gang related,” Brown said, adding that the command had received no complaints from Provost of harassment.

Brown said he didn’t know if Campos and Provost knew each other well in the 500-member unit.

Campos has recently been arrested for DUI, and is now alleged to have committed other illegal activities,  including the “use of psilocybin mushrooms, and breaking into another service member’s home to steal $5,400 worth of electronics, jewelry and a .45 caliber pistol.”

Campos is now facing ten criminal charges, including murder, arson, attempted arson, wrongful possession of a concealed and stolen firearm, unlawful entry and stealing military property.

Dr. Li-ann Thio, an anti-gay professor from the National University of Singapore, has decided not to accept an invitation to teach at NYU this fall, citing lack of enrollment in her classes and a hostile atmosphere. Many among the faculty and student body expressed outrage with the invitation over anti-gay remarks made by Dr. Thio while serving in the Singapore Parliament in 2007. Dean Richard L. Revesz, Law Dean at NYU, released a statement in response to Dr. Thio’s withdrawal.

I am writing to let you know that Professor Li-ann Thio informed me today that she is canceling her Fall visit to NYU Law School as a Global Visiting Professor as a result of the controversy surrounding her views regarding homosexuality and gay rights. She explained that she was disappointed by what she called the atmosphere of hostility by some members of our community towards her views and by the low enrollments in her classes. The Law School will therefore cancel the course on Human Rights in Asia and the seminar on Constitutionalism in Asia, which she had been scheduled to teach.

…

In the last few weeks, a number of members of our community wrote to Professor Thio indicating their objection to her appointment as a visiting professor. She considers some of these messages to be offensive. In turn, she replied to them in a manner that many member of our community—myself included—consider offensive and hurtful. These exchanges have been circulated on various blogs. Members of our community have questioned whether Professor Thio’s statements create an unwelcoming atmosphere, one in which students in her classes would have been unable to participate effectively in the learning experience. Determination of where that point is on the continuum of free speech is a difficult, case-by-case judgment based upon context, history of the relationship, and many other factors. But it would be an extraordinary measure, almost never taken by universities in the United States, to cancel a course on the basis of e-mail exchanges between a faculty member and members of the student body. To do so would eviscerate the concept of academic freedom and chill student-faculty debate.

The letter in full attempts to absolve the NYU of any responsibility, citing the invitation was extended under  standard academic practices, while at the same time remaining  sympathetic to those who were offended by her views. It’s a difficult to line to straddle, and it’s unclear how the faculty, student body and community will receive it.

Over 20 gay and straight kissers rallied near a Mormon temple in San Diego late yesterday, showing their support for a Utah gay couple who were cited and detained for trespassing after kissing on LDS property. From the Fox affiliate in San Diego:

This is the third kiss-in in as many weeks, and appears to have inspired a movement which is now going national, with kiss-ins tentatively planned in the following cities:

The movement is being spearheaded by bloggers David Badash and David Mailloux.