Pelosi intervenes to get Rep. Baldwin’s domestic partner on military flight.
Pelosi intervenes to get Rep. Baldwin’s domestic partner on military flight.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was recently “forced to intervene with Defense Secretary Robert Gates” in order to get Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) “domestic partner on a military flight for a congressional fact-finding trip to Europe.” While House rules allow spouses to travel with members of Congress on such missions, “military officials were apparently unwilling to consider” Baldwin’s partner “a ’spouse’ within the meaning of the House guidelines.” Pelosi’s effort was successful, but the Politico reports that “[t]he Pentagon appears to be self-conscious about transporting gay domestic partners at a time when it continues to enforce a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in its own ranks.” Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), another openly gay lawmaker, suggested the military is perhaps “following orders” because “the [Bush] administration disapproves of same-sex marriage.”
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34 Responses to “Pelosi intervenes to get Rep. Baldwin’s domestic partner on military flight.”
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Oh no! A thread regarding teh gay. Oh Daryll, you might want to leave your ranting racism in the other thread and bring it on up to this one.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:01 amThey actually ALLOWED a gay person on an airplane!
I hope they frisked her for box-cutters first!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:03 amWhen are we going to get past this asinine behavior? So Condy Rice is not outed so she can have guests on official flights, but if she got outed then all of the sudden she'd be restricted? I wish the asshats of the GOP would just grow up.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:05 amOr nipple piercings Mugsy. Apparently, nipple earrings are the new WMD.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:05 amIt is amusing that our military is so insecure in its masculinity that it can't allow gay people to serve openly. The repressed sexuality comes bubbling to the surface in incidents like Abu Ghraib.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:07 amI guess one question to ask is if the military has ever flown Liz Cheney and her partner. Any ideas?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:13 amOh, no! A gay on a fact-finding trip. How can the administration tolerate either?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:15 amTruly bizarre even by the screwed-up standards of DADT because the partner wasn't applying to serve in the military, she was merely getting onto a plane. Is she a sexual leper? Will her presence pollute the entire cabin of that plane? It's stories like this that continue to make us the laughingstock of the world.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:19 amWas she frisked for nipple rings? Or witchcraft books?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:24 amWhat the F@CK is wrong with the USA?
Dont people know that the gays are born gay like we straights are born straight?
Is this 2008 or 1008 ?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:28 amWow -- I sure hope none of the GOoPers looked at her domestic partner during the flight -- they probably would have turned into pillars of salt or something...
And Barney Frank is just being a little coy in saying the Pentagon was just following orders because the Bushniks are "against same-sex marriage". Let's face it Barney -- the Pentagon was just following orders because the Bushniks are against gay people in general, not just because they're against same-sex marriage...
April 1st, 2008 at 11:31 amMy god... aren't we past this yet?
We're talking here about the spouse of a sitting member of the House of Representatives, not a military recruit. Why the Pentagon would have had any objection at all is beyond me; it is outside their jurisdiction!! The fact that Pelosi had to intervene in what for practically everyone else in Congress is a straightforward, no questions asked process is ridiculous.
The war on gay America must end. The government should do all it can to eliminate discrimination such as this.
Many thanks to Pelosi for standing up for what is right.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:31 amThe Pentagon should have NO jurisdiction in this matter at all.
The fact that this is a "military flight" is irrelevant.
The Military regularly transports civilian officials as part of scheduled supply flights--it saves the taxpayer the cost of a commercial ticket.
Does the same rule apply to Mary Cheney flying on Air Force One, or Air Force Two? (I don't know if she has actually done so).
Is it okay if you are gay but "not practising" by dindt of a relationship? (It must be, given all the gays that are in the military).
I assume Tammy Baldwin's partner is paying her own way ( or perhaps there's an allowance for spousal travel on the taxpayer dime)
April 1st, 2008 at 11:32 amWhile I'm all for a domestic partner getting the same perks a spouse would get, I have another question. Who pays for spouses to travel? The taxpayers? That's more bothersome to me than who the congressperson is sleeping with.
At the company I work for, spouses (or domestic partners) tag along on business trips only if the employee pays their expenses. This seems sensible. It works out for the employer, since they don't have to pay any more for the spouse. The employee generally only has to pay for the spouse's air fare and meals, since the spouse stays in a hotel room and rides in a rental car the company is paying for anyway, so it's not a bad deal if the employee prefers to have his spouse with him.
If this is the policy for government travel, I don't see how anyone would care if it was a domestic partner or a spouse who traveled, as long as it's on the congressperson's dime.
Although I admit a line needs to be drawn somewhere. Even I would be bothered if the traveling partner turned out to be a $4,000 hooker.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:35 amNancy won't impeach, but I still give her a thumbs up!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:39 amIncoming!
Clinton likens herself to 'Rocky'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080401/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_labor
Honey, I forgot to duck!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:41 amThey all signed their Bush Loyalty Oaths with the blood of puppies and kittens, they all must do as the Dictator demands.
IMPEACH BUSH CHENEY
April 1st, 2008 at 12:04 pmHague Trials '09
Dumb_Hussein_Fox Says:
I guess one question to ask is if the military has ever flown Liz Cheney and her partner. Any ideas?
The gay daughter is Mary Chaney. Liz Chaney is the female version of Dick Chaney.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:04 pmBet Nancy hasn't found a table yet, though.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:15 pmi dont think spouses or domestic partners should be taking vacations on the taxpayers dime.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pmright, the right wing flaghumpers types think gay sex should stay where it belongs (in bathroom stalls).
oh daryll, where art thou?
did i imagine things, or did daryll at one time claim to be black?
April 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pmChocolate Jesus Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
oh daryll, where art thou?
did i imagine things, or did daryll at one time claim to be black?
_______________________________________
Daryll's busy being black over in the Matthews-Obama-basketball thread.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:31 pm@ 18
Thank you.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:31 pmdid i imagine things, or did daryll at one time claim to be black?
Today, on the Matthews thread, he was claiming to be "dark-toned".
How can you call me racist when I have dark-toned skin?
So who knows? Except Daryll. And his maker.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pmShows just how petty these people are. If this (mal)Administration spent as much time on foreign policy concerns as it does on worrying about teh gay, we wouldn't be the world pariah, as we are today.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pmThe Performance Artist Known as Daryll® isn't doing his "gay" material today; he's doing his "self-hating African American" routine.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pmDid they disinfect the plane after 'teh ghey' got off?
April 1st, 2008 at 12:37 pmUnbelievable! My rep. David Dreier, while not openly Gay, has had his partner traveling with him for the last 20 odd years. You think they could be making an issue out of it because she'd a Dem? Not a chance.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:07 pmMcWars Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 11:41 am
Incoming!
Clinton likens herself to ‘Rocky’
______
A heartwarming story of someone who's repeatedly punched in the face?
April 1st, 2008 at 1:07 pmralph the wonder llama Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pm
The Performance Artist Known as Daryll® isn’t doing his “gay” material today; he’s doing his “self-hating African American” routine.
I thought today's posts were by his other brother, Daryll.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:14 pmwoodguy@25 Says: If this (mal)Administration spent as much time on.....
They're actually very, very clever at things having nothing to do with what they were hired for: real governance.
And Nancy can get the dompart on the plane because...well, there's nothing else on her table.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:20 pm2008 years of progress and still we have no idea why Jesus wanted to be surrounded by Men. Get It?
April 1st, 2008 at 7:04 pmOleHippieChick Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
woodguy@25 Says: If this (mal)Administration spent as much time on…..
They’re actually very, very clever at things having nothing to do with what they were hired for: real governance.
And Nancy can get the dompart on the plane because…well, there’s nothing else on her table.
Or on her mind, evidently.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:39 pmWay to go Nancy! I'm sure the Pentagon is feeling all dirty and stuff now. LOL Poor things!
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:10 am