My Gay Online

A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted “first kiss” on the pier after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.
The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.
For the historical significance of the kiss, there was little to differentiate it from countless others when a Navy ship pulls into its home port following a deployment. Neither the Navy nor the couple tried to draw attention to what was happening and many onlookers waiting for their loved ones to come off the ship were busy talking among themselves.
The commanding officer of the USS Oak Hill, said that Gaeta and Snell’s kiss would largely be a non-event and the crew’s reaction upon learning who was selected to have the first kiss was positive.
“It’s going to happen and the crew’s going to enjoy it. We’re going to move on and it won’t overshadow the great things that this crew has accomplished over the past three months,” Bauer said.
The ship returned to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story following an 80-day deployment to Central America. The crew of more than 300 participated in exercises involving the militaries of Honduras, Guatemala Colombia and Panama as part of Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station 2012.
Both women are Navy fire controlmen, who maintain and operate weapons systems on ships. They met at training school where they were roommates and have been dating for two years, which they said was difficult under “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
“We did have to hide it a lot in the beginning,” Snell said. “A lot of people were not always supportive of it in the beginning, but we can finally be honest about who we are in our relationship, so I’m happy.”
Navy officials said it was the first time on record that a same-sex couple was chosen to kiss first upon a ship’s return. Sailors and their loved ones bought $1 raffle tickets for the opportunity. Gaeta said she bought $50 of tickets, a figure that she said pales in comparison to amounts that some other sailors and their loved ones had bought. The money was used to host a Christmas party for the children of sailors.
Snell said she believes their experience won’t be the last one for gays and lesbians in the military.
“I think that it’s something that is going to open a lot of doors, for not just our relationship, but all the other gay and lesbian relationships that are in the military now,” she said.
Snell is based on the USS Bainbridge, the guided missile destroyer that helped rescue cargo captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in 2009.

The NBA might currently be without an openly gay player, but according to one top basketball honcho, it’s going to happen soon.
In an interview with TMZ, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he expects the NBA to welcome an openly gay player within the next three to five years.
“I think there’ll be guys who’ll come out of the closet and continue to play in the NBA and be accepted,” After noting that he believes an openly gay player will come before a female coach, he added, it will be “more of a media sensation….than a player issue.”

Mitt Romney had an uncomfortable exchange over same-sex marriage with a gay veteran having breakfast in New Hampshire. At an event that was meant to highlight the endorsement of Romney by Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas, veteran Bob Garon of Ebson, N.H., asked the presidential candidate, who stopped by his breakfast table, whether he supports the repeal of the New Hampshire same-sex marriage law.
A Republican-controlled legislature has moved toward repealing the law, enacted in 2009 when Democrats controlled the legislature. A vote could come next month.
Romney told Garon, who was chowing down on his everyday staple of scrambled eggs and shaved ham at the restaurant Chez Vachon, that he supports a repeal of the same-sex marriage law, prompting an emotional exchange.
“I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman,” Romney said, joining Garon in the diner booth after shaking hands with several other patrons.
Garon responded, clarifying that what that meant was that if Romney is elected he would not support any legislation that would change the law so that gay servicemen would get the same benefits as heterosexual couples.
“I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman,” Romney said. “We apparently disagree on that.”
“It’s good to know how you feel, that you do not believe everyone is entitled to their constitutional rights,” the 63-year-old New Hampshire resident responded.
“No, actually I think at the time the Constitution was written it was pretty clear marriage was between a man and a woman,” Romney said, just as one of his campaign aides chimed in that they had “to get going” to another Fox interview.
“Oh, I guess the question was too hot,” Garon quipped to Romney and his aide.
“No, I gave you the answer, you said you had a yes or no answer and I gave you the answer,” Romney said, turning back to face Garon.
“You did and I appreciate your answer. And I learned something, New Hampshire is right, you have to look a man in the eye to get a good answer and you know what governor?” Garon said, pausing. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
Romney laughed and agreed with Garon that he’d need the luck, shaking his hand before leaving. Garon then held court with the media, voicing his anger of Romney’s answer while also saying that he had “got what he asked for” when he poised the yes or no question.
Asked by reporters after Romney left why he feels so strongly about the issue, Garon grew even more passionate.
“Because I’m gay, all right?” he said. “And I happen to love a man just like you probably love your wife.”
Garon was sitting in a booth with his husband, whom he said he married in June.
“I went and fought for my country and I think my spouse should be entitled to the same [benefits as they would] if I were married to a woman,” he said. “What the hell is the difference?”

The gay half-sister of Republican presidential candidateNewt Gingrich slammed his position on gay rights on Wednesday and said she will support President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the 2012 election.
Candace Gingrich-Jones, a gay rights activist, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that she and her older half-brother, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, were “mutually respectful” but disagree on gay rights.
“He is definitely on the wrong side of history when it comes to those issues,” Gingrich-Jones said.
She said she would “work really, really hard to make sure thatPresident Obama is re-elected next year no matter who theRepublican candidate is.”
Gingrich’s campaign nearly sputtered to a halt last summer, but he has recently soared to the top of the polls in the Republican contest to choose a nominee to face Obama in the 2012 election.
Gingrich is known for his socially conservative views and has said he opposes gay marriage. Gingrich-Jones, a director at the Humans Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, said he did not attend her wedding.
A spokesman for Gingrich was not immediately available for comment.

In the state Senate, Bachmann led a campaign to ban gay marriage. Some Republicans saw the issue as needlessly distracting and gay rights activists called for a boycott of stores in Bachmann’s hometown. But Bachmann urged 3,000 supporters at a 2004 rally at the Capitol to “storm the doors.”

Her push came despite divisions within her own family. One of the most notable opponents of the gay marriage ban was Bachmann’s stepsister, Helen LaFave, a lesbian who came to the Capitol with her partner to “bear witness on what she’s doing that’s so personally hurtful to me and to so many others.”

The Labor Party has voted resoundingly to change its policy to one of supporting gay marriage.
But federal MPs will not be forced to support gay marriage when the issue comes before Parliament next year because the party also voted to endorse a conscience vote for its politicians.
The votes were held this morning after passionate debate for and against the changes at the ALP national conference in Sydney.

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, had called for a conscience vote and personally moved the amendment backing this.
Had this been defeated, Ms Gillard’s leadership would have suffered a serious blow. She dodged a bullet when the conscience vote was endorsed by 208 votes to 184.
Support to change the platform to one of explicit support for gay marriage was much stronger and some see this as a defeat for the Prime Minister.
She has not publicly opposed a platform change but she does oppose changes to the Marriage Act which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The platform change endorsed today says ‘‘Labor will amend the Marriage Act to ensure equal access to marriage under statute for all adult couples irrespective of sex who have a mutual commitment to a shared life’’.
The amendments to the platform also exclude the churches and other religious organisations from having to marry gay people if they do not want to.

Opening debate this morning, Ms Gillard acknowledged it was a divisive issue in both the Labor Party and the broader community and urged respect for opposing views.
‘‘When we have had this debate here, that climate of respect now needs to continue,’’ said.
It is now expected a Labor backbencher from the Left will move a private members bill when Parliament resumes next year.
The changes to the platform, driven by the ACT Deputy Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, and the Finance Minister, Penny Wong, was a rare defeat for the powerful and ultra-conservative part of the Right which is allied to the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, headed by Joe de Bruyn. Mr De Bruyn opposed any platform change but could not hold the Right together.
He told the conference that Labor would suffer at the next election because of the change.

To boos and jeers from the overwhelmingly pro-gay marriage delegates, Mr de Bruyn said the change was out of step with mainstream Australia and would cost Labor support especially in Queensland.
Veteran Senator John Faulkner argued for both the platform change and against Ms Gillard’s call for a conscience vote.
The majority of the ALP opposed a conscience vote but could not afford to roll Ms Gillard.

Had the Left and elements of the Right got its way and changed policy to outright support for gay marriage, there was a risk of a split.
But Senator Faulkner said ‘‘human rights can never be at the mercy of individual opinion or individual prejudice’’.
‘‘It’s not for governments to grant human rights but the recognise and protect them,’’ he said.
He said a conscience vote on human rights ‘‘is not conscionable’’, especially as a conscience vote has never been allowed on sending troops to war, even conscription.

Senator Wong said the policy platform change was not a diminution of Ms Gillard’s authority.
‘‘It says something about the measure of the woman (for allowing the debate),’’ she said.
With the momentum for the policy change unstoppable, Ms Gilllard attempted to distance herself from the inevitable outcome by ordering faction bosses to allow a free vote.

First Presbyterian Church of North Palm Beach tonight will begin discussing whether it should split from the Presbyterian USA group, which recently approved openly gay clergy and lay leaders, and join another Presbyterian group, which does not.
First Presbyterian has about 1,100 members, among them golf legend Jack Nicklaus and former GE head Jack Welch.
Ken Kirby, one of the members that organized the meeting at the church, said that it would be oversimplifying to reduce the decision to the issue of gay clergy. He is part of a growing group of Presbyterians who feel that the Presbyterian Church USA has taken a radical step away from traditional beliefs.
In July, Presbyterian Church USA put in place a “new form of government.”
Also this year, it allowed the first openly gay clergy to take the pulpit. The change was approved by a majority of the church’s regional bodies in May and was the source of a fierce debate inside the 2.8 million-member denomination.
The Presbyterians follow the Episcopal, Evangelical Lutherans and the United Church of Christ as the fourth mainline Protestant denomination to allow gay ordination.
But they also risk the schism that resulted after 2003, when the Episcopal Church allowed an openly gay man to serve as a bishop in New Hampshire. The worldwide Anglican-Episcopal community was rocked by dissension and many have distanced themselves from the American Episcopal organization.
Acknowledging the dissension in its ranks, the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church USA put in place “gracious separation agreements,” a mechanism for allowing individual congregations to go their separate ways.
In a Nov. 18 letter to the First Presbyterian congregation announcing tonight’s meeting, Kirby wrote that as many as 40 percent of PCUSA’s members could leave and that 10 of 58 churches in the regional group that includes First Presbyterian have begun the process that could lead to separation. The process takes at least three months of discussion within the congregation, followed by a decision to stay or go. If the decision is for separation, the Presbytery, or regional governing body, will make the ultimate decision to allow the churches to leave or not.
Kirby said that the new form of government is so radically different that it is as if the larger group were separating itself from a belief system that Presbyterians had grown up with. “This is not the same church we were in a year ago,” he said Tuesday.
Reached at his home in North Palm Beach, Jack Welch said he had not had a chance to study Kirby’s letter. He said he goes to First Presbyterian on Prosperity Farms Road because he likes the pastor, Walter “Lucky” Arnold.
Arnold, who has been pastor at First Presbyterian for 31 years, said his role will be a “delicate pastoral task” to keep the conversation open to all views. But he is also well aware that the end result of the meetings that begin tonight could be that many in his flock will be permanently alienated.
“It’s very sad,” said Arnold. “I was meeting with a pastor from Cuba, and he said that ordination and sexuality is so 50-50 in the Cuban church that they were not going to deal with the issue. He said, ‘We can’t afford to be split up.’
Since the new form of government was approved, the Mexican Presbyterian organization has broken with PCUSA and African Presbyterian churches have sent letters indicating their disapproval of PCUSA’s position on sexuality and ordination.
The Presbyterian church was divided on slavery in the 19th century and women’s ordination in the 1970s.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) took a few swipes at Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich Monday at a press conference in Newton, Mass. announcing his retirement.
“I did not think I had lived a good enough life to be rewarded by Newt Gingrich being the Republican nominee,” Frank said. “I look forward to debating, to take one important example, the Defense of Marriage Act with Mr. Gingrich. I think he is an ideal opponent for us, when we talk about just who it is, is threatening the sanctity of marriage,” he said. The Defense of Marriage Act bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and allows states not to recognize other states’ same-sex marriages. Frank is gay, while Gingrich has been married three times. “He would be the best thing to happen to Democrats since Barry Goldwater,” added Frank.
“Let me be very clear, I will be neither a lobbyist nor a historian,” he said when asked whether he would be a lobbyist. Frank was referring to Gingrich’s role as a strategic adviser for Freddie Mac, which the Republican candidate described in a GOP primary debate as being a “historian.” Former Freddie Mac officials have described his role as persuading Capitol Hill Republicans not to dismantle the government-sponsored enterprise.
Frank also answered a question on whether the electoral chances of House Democrats in 2012 contributed to his decision. “I think frankly things are looking better for the Democrats, if Newt Gingrich is the nominee, then wow,” he said. He added that House Democrats’ 2012 chances did not figure into his decision.
Frank recently called Gingrich a “lobbyist and a liar.” Gingrich suggested in October that the House member and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the two top Democrats behind Wall Street reform legislation, should be in jail for the financial crisis.
Gingrich was not the only Republican candidate targeted by Frank. “The Republican party today in the House … it consists half of people who think like Michele Bachmann and half afraid of people who are afraid of losing a primary to someone who thinks like Michele Bachmann,” said Frank.