At a campaign event in Los Angeles on Friday, Sen. Hillary Clinton mentioned improving care for our troops once they return from Iraq. Well, according to 2004 estimates by the Urban Institute, a non-partisan economic and social policy research firm, there are more than 36,000 gay men and lesbians serving in active duty and an additional 29,000 in the National Guard and Reserves.
What happens to those gay and lesbian soldiers who are injured in duty? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they will be cared for. But, are their domestic partners allowed to visit them at Walter Reed Army Medical Center? According to the Fisher House website, the organization provides homes that "enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times - during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease or injury." The Fisher House Program provides "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major military and V.A. medical centers in order to provide military families places to stay. Are gay or lesbian domestic partners allowed to utilize this unique private-public organization's homes? Are they allowed to help make important medical decisions?
The men and women of the military have the upmost respect from the majority of Americans. A growing number of people feel that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy banning gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans from serving in the armed forces should be repealed - probably due to the fact that we are in the midst of two wars and the supply of able-bodied soldiers is at a premium. Thus, the issue has been mentioned in many presidential debates so far. Healthcare, the war, the strength of our military, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy - are all hot-button issues this year. Then, there is same-sex marriage, an issue that has been touched on slightly throughout the campaigns, but seems to be getting further and further away from the debate floor as we edge into primary season.
If you look at the above scenario of a gay or lesbian soldier returning home from Iraq injured and his/her domestic partner not being able to help make important decisions for that soldier or even be with him/her, we have a problem that is greater than "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." This is a problem of national discrimination in our healthcare and in our military. It creates second-class citizens who do not have the rights that the majority of Americans treasure. It may seem a little far-fetched to relate all of this back to the core LGBT issue in the 2008 Presidential debate of same-sex marriage, but retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American soldier to be seriously wounded in Iraq, has now come out of the closet and is working with the Human Rights Campaign to speak out against the DODA policy.
As we approach both the S.C. Republican and Democratic Presidential Primaries, the fact is that the same-sex marriage debate is at the core of LGBT equality. With it will come equality in healthcare, anti-discrimination in the military and a free and better nation. Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the only Republican candidate to openly support domestic partnerships and legal benefits for same-sex couples. Democrat Dennis Kucinich remains the only candidate who supports full marriage equality, and we all know that he's pretty much out of the running. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama support civil unions, where the rest of the bunch either oppose all forms of marriage equality or take the safe way out and say it should be left up to the states. Being optimistic, I guess we're in better shape than we've ever been before in a presidential election.
Clinton and Obama seem to be leading the way for many LGBT voters and have reached out more to the community, realizing the importance of our support and of our vote. And let's not forget John Edward's wife. She has spoken out against her husband in full support of same-sex marriage, where he, in a case of honesty toward the subject, says that he his still on a journey to better understanding of gay issues. As Kerry Eleveld, a writer for The Advocate put it in a recent article, "the question for LGBT voters seems not to be which of these candidates is more supportive of gay issues - they have all conducted more LGBT outreach than previous politicians in their shoes. It's more a matter of which candidate one believes will achieve the best results." This year at the polls, make sure we don't let this opportunity toward securing a better country pass us by.
Until next week, have fun and be safe.
-Chris Rudisill, Weekly Surge