Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Don't Ask, Don't Tell...

The United States Senate is about to consider repeal of the Don't

Ask, Don't Tell policy on gays in

the military.

The Senate is somewhat behind the power curve. California U.S. Federal District Court Judge, Virgina Phillips, has declared that the ban violates free speech and due process rights.

Some Senators like Senator John McCain, (Republican - Arizona) "Unambiguously maintains tha

t open homosexuality within the military services presents an intolerable risk to morale, cohesion and discipline." (From Earth Times - April 16th Letter from McCain to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network).

If that is so, the countries of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada,

Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Uruguay disagree with him. All of the countries listed have successfully integrated homosexual and lesbian citizens into their armed services.

I am disappointed with my government. We used to lead the world in the liberties granted to our citizens. We now straggle along, not only in the area of gay rights, but in healthcare, education and standard of living. The country that used to be first, now places in these critical areas, below the top ten.

When we deny other citizens their rights we live with the potential that someday, someone, somewhere will pick on a minority group in which we hold membership and discriminate against us. They will only need to cite precedent.

It is time for all of us who value human rights to band together and lobby our congressional representatives and senators to immediately grant gay citizens all of the rights and privileges including service in the armed forces and marriage to the person of their choice. If we don't, who is next? Hitler also discriminated against gays.

I look forward to your comments and opinions. Come and visit my website at www.ackatt.com, my book blogs, www.ackattsjournal.blogspot.com and www.ackattsnips.blogspot.com. I also have a facebook page, a Yahoo and Live Journal Blog and videos on YouTube. My latest book is Shattered Glass, a story about gay rock musicians. It is available from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com.

Why Does An Author Do a Political Blog?

Taxes, Global Warming, Unemployment, Jobs Shifted Overseas, Social Security, Healthcare, Wars, Poverty, Discrimination...

Every writer, whether they write fiction, non-fiction, romance, poetry or erotica has a point of view substantially influenced by the world around them. I write GLBT erotic romance. Because of what I write, politics influences my work. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," gay marriage rights, fundamentalist parents reactions to gay children, prostitution, job discrimination-- all of these factors play a part in my novels, whether the novel is a contemporary novel about rock and roll bands like Shattered Glass, or a SciFi novel like The Sarran Plague.

However, there are situations that I don't get to write about going on in this country. In this blog I will discuss these issues both large and small. Last week I heard a news item on both radio and television that struck me as incredulous. They made an action figure out of Dexter, the character from the Showtime show of the same name. If you are not familiar with the character, he is a serial killer who murders other serial killers and then proceeds to butcher them in his basement. Personally, I'm not fond of the show. It is too bloody and nasty for me. However, it is a popular series.

I don't object to the doll, however bizarre I think it is to sell an action figure of a serial killer as a hero. What I do object to is the hypocrisy of the retail outlets that have it for sale. Most of the time, if you wish to read a gay erotic romance, you have to download the item from the publisher on line. If it is presented in paperback, you still have to order it and have it shipped to your home. Erotic novels contain sex and romance. GLBT erotic novels describe sex between men, between women or between males plus a woman or females plus a man. In the general context of erotic romance, the sex leads to love and what writers call HEA (Happily Ever After). The market for these books is not limited to to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered persons. Ordinary American men and women buy, read and enjoy these books. The problem is, they are not available at most retail outlets.

Can someone please explain to me why a romance book that contains sexual acts leading to commitment and, if they live in the right state, marriage, is so bad it can't find a place on a retail shelf or even on the shelf in a mainstream bookstore? Yet some of these same stores put dolls exploiting the TV notoriety of a serial killer in the toy aisle, complete with fake blood, saw and plastic bag of sawed off body parts. Does this mean that a loving relationship between two people of the same gender is, in fact, worse than idealizing a serial killer? This country is more comfortable with horrific violence than it is with sex. Very strange...