Joseph Pryor Bought Into [t]Rump]s Racism And Is Now Paying The Price

We’ve all seen videos of people being removed from _____ rallies for protesting his special brand of bigotry and hatred; I watched a video of a Latino man being spit on for no other reason than he’s Latino and so therefore clearly not American. 

And I read a story about two women who were ejected from a _____ event because they weren’t cheering; seriously. The crowd around them noticed that these women weren’t frothing at the mouth and repeating the Hate Speech that spews forth from _____ and so the crowd turned on them, chanting “Protestor” and “Get out” until security removed the women from the event … because they weren’t cheering.

This case is different and better if only because there is a hint of revenge, an iota of repercussion for being a bigot …

On March 1st, Joseph Pryor went to a _____ event because he’s an AWM™, an Angry White Male who blames all the ills in his life on people of color and he wanted the comfort of other AWMs™. At that same event in Louisville was student Kayisha Nwanguma, who was doing nothing, saying nothing, but was violently pushed around and harassed. Pryor, one of the men involved with pushing this woman around and calling her names was so proud of his special brand of bigotry and misogyny and stupidity that he posted a picture of it, along with a news story about it, on his Facebook page.

Unfortunately for Joseph Pryor, who was enlisted in the Marine Corps’ delayed entry program, Colonel John Bolt — his district’s commanding officer — saw the video and kicked Pryor out of the program:

“The Marine Corps takes situations like this seriously and does not tolerate individuals being associated with this kind of incident…The situation and Pryor’s lack of judgment are unfortunate, so in keeping with our ethos, this command decided to part ways with him. This command encourages equality across the board, and actions that deviate from our values will not be tolerated.”

Good on the Marines for standing up and saying they will not tolerate someone like Joseph Pryor in their ranks. If the military is there to protect Americans we don’t need the like of a Joseph Pryor in their ranks.

Sad on this country that Joseph Pryor is just one of many white racist men listening to a rich white racist bully running for president and get so swept up in the bile and the hatred that they attack, physically and verbally, innocent people just for the hell of it.

And [t]Rump just keeps rolling on without repercussions for his words and deeds. Let’s hope that, come election day, the majority of Americans will say ‘No’ to his Made In America brand of bigotry and send him packing, and then his businesses into a decline.

Karma; that’s what we need.

If You Only News

Happy Memorial Day ... Say Thanks

A Memorable Memorial Day: After DADT

from left: gay midshipmen  Caitlin Bryant, Kay Moore, Nick Bonsall, and Andrew Atwill   

Last year, Andrew Atwil's roommate at the Naval Academy joked that Atwill was gay, and Atwill told him to cut it out; because he is gay. And because, last year, Atwill could have jeopardized his military career if anyone know.

This year, though, it's a different story at Annapolis. Now, with DADT repealed Atwill says the academy has changed, and that now, talking about his sexual orientation is no longer a reason to be drummed out of the military. In fact, most in the academy now come to the defense of its gay and lesbian cadets.

Andrew Atwill:  "Pretty much everybody in my company knows now, [and] they actually stand up for me." 

As it should be.

Eight months after the repeal, midshipmen both gay and straight describe a quiet but significant transformation at the Naval Academy. Gay midshipmen are seeking recognition for a student club, and, just last month, for the first time, faculty members and staff openly attended an off-campus dinner that had been organized secretly every year by and for gay midshipmen.

And this year, Andrew Atwill and his boyfriend, classmate Nick Bonsall, are going to Saturday’s Ring Dance, a formal ball held each spring for third-year midshipmen.

"It's been really great, actually," says Nick Bonsall. "Everyone has been really accepting of us."

As it should be.

The experience at Annapolis this year mirrors those across the country at the other service academies, but some future officers worry about what might happen upon graduation. While their generation might be accepting, the majority of military personnel is still made up of people of all ages and backgrounds, and some senior officers say privately that they won't come out for fear of jeopardizing their careers.

Even Andrew Atwill, while aware of this new level of understanding and tolerance, wonders what life will be like after leaving Annapolis and joining the fleet: "For me, personally, it's still a concern. When I become an officer, I'm kind of worried about whether or not my sailors will take it the wrong way if I give them a pat on the back or, you know, happen to be in the bathroom at the same time as them. I'm afraid that if they know that I'm gay, that if I was even to look at them wrong, they may end up somehow turning that against me."

But not everyone sees any problems arising. Caitlyn Bryant, a second-year midshipman, says, "In the fleet, it will be good, you don't have to worry about what they might think your orientation is. You can just focus on being a leader….People have accepted it."

As it should be.

And Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, however, doesn’t foresee a problem. He says the repeal of DADT is going very well: "It's not impacting on morale. It's not impacting on unit cohesion. It's not impacting on readiness."

As it should be.

And change is coming to all branches. Gay cadets at the U.S. Military Academy and the Coast Guard Academy are forming clubs, while gay alumni at the Air Force Academy hosted their first football tailgate last fall, and Air Force Academy and West Point gay alumni held their annual dinners on campus for the first time.

Kara Yingling, a fourth-year midshipman , who is not gay, says the majority of the student body "didn't make a big deal" of the policy change: "We have seen more openly gay people, and I think that's good for them, because they no longer have to live their lives in fear that something's going to happen just because of their sexuality."

This Memorial Day will be, if possible, more memorable, because of this new openness and honesty and acceptance.

As it should be.

source

Say 'Thank You' ......

Good News Friday: Gay Marine Says "I do" On Base

I can remember being a young kid and going out to McClellan Air Force Base when my Dad returned from TDY in South East Asia, or elsewhere. It was always a big to-do, with all the families and kids and people waiting for their husbands, fathers, or sons to come home.

Still, I never thought I'd see this.

At Camp Pendleton last week, Cory Huston, a Navy veteran, waited for his partner Marine Avarice Guerrero on the tarmac. But instead of balloons or a Welcome Home signs, Huston dropped to one knee and proposed to his partner, in what is believed to be the first proposal of marriage and engagement between two gay men--not to mention two war vets--on a US military base. Ever.

Huston, who was discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, paced nervously, and practiced his simple proposal, as he waited for Guerrero. He knew that, by proposing marriage, and assuming Guerrero would say yes, he would not only be changing their lives forever, but also the landscape of marriage among lesbian and gay servicemembers. 

Finally, Guerrero emerged, beaming as he saw Huston waiting for him. He dropped his bags and hugged and kissed his partner. Less than a year ago, you wouldn't have seen this kind of embrace on the tarmac, and you certainly wouldn't have witnessed what happened next.

After a few minutes of emotional holding and kissing, Huston went anxiously down on one knee; looked up at Guerrero, who was dressed from head to toe in military fatigues; and produced an engagement ring and asked, “Will you marry me?”

Avarice Guerrero answered, “Yes.”

A simple question and a one word answer, and yet it has taken us, as a community, and as a country, so long to get here.

And it's about time.

Best wishes, Cory and Avarice.

via LGBTweekly

Tea Party Activist Gary Stein Gets The Boot

I love this story.

Gary Stein was a Sergeant in the Marine Corps. He's also an avid supporter of the Tea Party and, as they are apt to be, quite the anti-Obama Tea Partying Marine.

In fact, he is so anti-Obama that he is vocal in his opposition to the Commander-In-Chief, and, on his Facebook page has taken to calling the president, "The real enemy."

And or his outspokenness, and threat to disobey any orders sent down via the president, Sgt. Gary Stein has lost his bid to stay in the Marine Corps. Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo ordered the Stein, a veteran of nine years, be removed from the service with an other-than-honorable discharge and reduction in rank to lance corporal.

A Marine can receive an other-than-honorable discharge if the basis for his or her dismissal is a serious offense representing a "significant departure from the conduct expected." And, an other-than-honorable discharge means Stein loses most of his veteran benefits.

Stein's attorney, Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation, says they will fight on, pressing a federal court case and appealing through Marine Corps legal channels for his reinstatement. His defenders are an unusual mix of attorneys with ties to the Tea Party and other conservative causes, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union. 

In fact, ACLU attorney David Loy said the legal team does not believe Stein's Facebook postings on his Armed Forces Tea Party page and other sites are anything more than legitimate and allowable expressions under the First Amendment.

Like when Stein said he would not follow orders given by President Obama, the Commander-In-Chief, nor would he ever salute the president.

When challenged, almost instantly, by his fellow Marines about his comments, Stein backtracked, withdrew them, apologized and later said what he meant was that he wouldn't follow any "unlawful" orders issued by the commander in chief.

Which, of course, is not what he said.

And Marine prosecutors argue that those statements, when combined with Stein's speeches at Tea Party gatherings, and selling anti-Obama bumper stickers on his Armed Forces Tea Party page, clearly broke the rules.

Here's my two cents: if you join the military, your boss is the president of the United States. You don't like that, then ask to be released. otherwise, do the job for which this country and it's taxpayers ask of you.

I imagine there were quite a few members of the military who weren't real keen on W's "War For Oil" or "War For WMD" or "War For Saddam" but they followed orders and did as they were told. Or, they asked to be released. Or, failing all that, simply kept their mouths shut.

Gary Stein could take a lesson from that last bit.

Although now, as a private citizen, her can say and do whatever he wants, and become just another Tea Party wingnut.

source

The Marines Are The First To Step Up

Master Sgt. Anthony Henry, center, and Staff Sgt. Chris Cano at the 
Dennis R. Neill Equality Center in Tulsa

Look at this: the very day the repeal of DADT went into effect, Master Sgt. Anthony Henry, a top Marine recruiting trainer for the southwestern United States, pulled up to Tulsa, Oklahoma’s largest LGBT community center and set up a recruitment stand specially for gay men and women to enlist in the military and serve openly, and, of course, proudly. 
He did joke that he left his Chevy where he could make a fast getaway: “I have an exit strategy. I know where my choke points are, I’ve strategically parked my car right on the curbside, I have an out.”
But there were no protests and no shouts. Instead, Sergeant Henry--who had been invited to set up his recruiting booth at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center--spent the day talking with several gay women who came in to ask about joining the Marines.
“It’s your business and you don’t have to share it,” Sergeant Henry told Ariel Pratt, who was still worried about a lesbian serving openly. “But you’re also free to be at the mall with your girlfriend.”
This is a huge step because the Marines were the service most opposed to ending DADT, and yet they were the only one of the five military invited branches of the military to turn up at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center with their recruiting table.
And, though the Marines pride themselves on being the most testosterone-fueled of the services, they also consider themselves the best, so it was important for them to be the first in line to recruit gay men and women, and to prove they are better than the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.
Still, there wasn't a lot of traffic at Sergeant Henry's booth that day, but it's a first day of many more to come, when all Americans can serve proudly and openly if they choose.

full story at NY Times

Gay Bashing In Savannah

Down Savannah way, two Marines were jailed Saturday on misdemeanor battery charges after they beat up a gay man.

Misdemeanor? Seriously?

At about 4 AM, a metro police officer saw two men running on Congress Lane, and just minutes later he received a call about a man at Congress and Bull streets lying unconscious on the ground. The officer found 26-year-old Kieran Daly at that intersection.

The officer then caught up with the two men who were running away; both men, Keil Joseph Cronauer, 22, and Christopher Charles Stanzel, 23, are stationed at Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Ah yes, another South Carolina connection to hate and violence

Cronauer and Stanzel told police officers that they were being harassed by a gay man--he ALLEGEDLY winked at them--and simply wanted to get away, but witnesses offered a different story. They told police one of the men grew angry because he thought Daly was winking at him and so he naturally felt obligated to strike Kieran Daly in the back of the head with his fist, knocking him unconscious.

Kieran Daly says he never winked at the men, and, in fact, tired to explain what he was doing: "I told him, 'I was squinting, man. ... I'm tired.'" Daly also said one of the men told him he demanded respect because he served in Iraq, and then hurled slurs at him as he tried to walk away. "That's the last thing I remember is walking away."

Kieran Daly was taken to Memorial University Medical Center and diagnosed with bruises to his brain; he suffered two seizures immediately after the attack and was expected to remain hospitalized for several days.

For ALLEGEDLY winking.

When does a wink result in a blow to the head? And when do people wake up and realize that you can't beat someone, almost to death, because they looked at you, or because you think they looked at you, or because you're just a homophobic pig out looking for some gay as to beat down.

This nonsense must end. The perpetrators of these types of hate crimes, and since all parties agree that the Marine thought Daly was winking at him, it qualified as a hate crime, must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

A wink shouldn't land you in the hospital. Or in jail.