One of the most talked about events during the weekend's many activities and the speech to which Jones may have been referring was the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner where Obama served as the keynote speaker. The dinner was held on the eve of the March. In his address, he responded to the concerns of Jones and many of the other protesters who say they have waited for their rights for far too long.

"I will end "Don't ask-don't tell," Obama said to a crowd of over 3,000 at the gay civil rights advocacy group's most important annual assembly. "I appreciate that many of you don't believe progress has come fast enough. Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach."

Perhaps the actions of Jones and the surprisingly turnout on the lawn just behind the Capitol may have had more impact that anyone could have known. Earlier this week, the Senate approved a bill named for Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. that would make violence against gays and lesbians a federal hate crime. President Obama, as expected, signed the piece of legislation which includes penalties for assaults based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity, signaling a victory for civil rights groups that have long sought to expand the federal statute beyond attacks motivated by religion, race, color or national origin.

Prior to signing the bill, also referred to as H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, Obama had this to say in a public statement:
"I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance - legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association."

And while the passage of this legislation is certainly good news for all Americans, the March for Equality remains proof positive that other rights for a portion of our population remain unsecured.

Rustin was a central figure of the great civil rights struggles of the last 60 years. Both black and gay and frequently attacked by ally and foe alike for his sexuality, Rustin did not live to see a day when he would be unconditionally welcome in the halls of power, when all of his identities could expect the full protection of federal law. That day at last has come.

Colleagues and protégés in the hundreds describe Rustin as a giant of community organizing and social-justice strategy. He was an inspiring person who unleashed song and sermon to cajole activists of all ages into participation in sit-ins, antiwar protests, and national marches as massive as they were well-orchestrated. Long before the BlackBerry and Facebook, he used mail, the telegraph, the telephone, and contacts in the media to ensure his message reached around the globe.

According to the Los Angeles Times, when passed, the bill would be the first major legislation since the 1968 hate-crimes law, expanding that law to cover acts of violence motivated by a victim's sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity. The Times added that existing federal law defines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on religion, race, national origin or color.

The House passage of this bill comes before the president is scheduled to deliver an address to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) annual fundraising dinner on Saturday in Washington, DC.

"We are closer than ever before to protecting Americans from hate violence thanks to today's action by the House," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "The day is within sight when lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people will benefit from updating our nation's hate crimes laws and giving local law enforcement the tools they need to combat hate violence."

The weekend's events will also include a prayer vigil by Christian supporters at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church (7 p.m., October 10th) and a rally on the Ellipse in front of the White House (5:30 - 8:30 p.m., October 10th) that will feature an impressive and inspiring roster of speakers and performers (mostly HIV-positive) culminating in a candlelight vigil. The march will take place on Sunday morning.

Equality to End AIDS is organized by The Campaign to End AIDS and sponsored by Housing Works, Broadway Cares/Equity Fight AIDS, The Human Rights Campaign, POZ Magazine, National AIDS Housing Coalition, SisterLove and a host of others.

"The weekend is about achieving full equality for LGBT Americans," said Cleve Jones, founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and one of the March's organizers. "We need to use that political power to remind the country that the AIDS epidemic continues."

According to recent date, gay and bisexual men are 50 times more likely to acquire HIV than any other demographic in the US. Among gay men, the number of HIV infections increased by approximately 12 percent each year from 2001 to 2006. And while treatment has become effective enough that many people can anticipate living fruitful lives despite being HIV-positive, some research now indicates that those living with HIV live an average of 21 years less than their HIV-negative counterparts.

"Many of our more energized LGBT activists are too young to remember the devastating impact AIDS had on the gay community," said Charles King, President/CEO, Housing Works, in a prepared statement. "We must re-engage the larger LGBT community in AIDS activism. Ending the HIV pandemic is an issue of justice that must be their fight as well."

GBMNEWS will be on hand covering the rally, March and vigils and interviewing many of the featured speakers, entertainers and activists, as well as some of the key organizers who made this important event possible. We will have a full report and photographs for our readers in the coming days. Stay tuned.

In his essay, “The Efficacy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” Prakash criticizes the primary premise of DADT, that homosexuality will disrupt unit cohesion and impact combat effectiveness.

“There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly,” Prakash states. There is sufficient empirical evidence from foreign militaries to anticipate that incorporating homosexuals will introduce leadership challenges, but the challenges will not be insurmountable or affect unit cohesion and combat effectiveness.”

Legislation to overturn the ban, H.R. 1283, Military Readiness Enhancement Act, has been introduced in the House of Reps. by Iraq war veteran Patrick Murphy (D-PA), but no similar bill yet exists in the Senate. Murphy is lobbying for a hearing sometime this year or early next year. The bill has 176 cosponsors according to Govtrack.us.

Over 12,500 service members have been discharged under DADT since 1994.

Earlier this month data was obtained by Servicemembers United, a advocacy group for gay and lesbian troops and veterans, showing that while ethnic minorities make up approximately 29% of those serving in the armed forces they account for 45% of the total number of DADT firings (619) in the last financial year (FY08).

DADT has cost the nation over $363 million over the first ten years of DADT, according to a revised GAO figure based on a February 2005 report.

Toni Reis

Originally sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the resolution met with concerted resistance from leaders of Arab countries, challenging the statement and condemning homosexuality. Although an anti-gay resolution failed, it garnered 60 signatures on the first day it was presented. An Arab supported coalition decried decriminalization of homosexuality because as they claim, it would lead to "the social normalization, and possibly the legitimization, of many deplorable acts including pedophilia."

It is against this backdrop of anti-gay sentiment that Treki's statements were made and to which Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian Lesbian, Gay and Trans Association (ABGLT) responded by sending him a letter, ABGLT - Letter to UN President.pdf. ABGLT was founded in 1995 and is a national network of 220 lesbian, gay, trans and other human rights organizations in Brazil, and according to Reis, it has the unqualified support of the Brazilian government.

“This is a new opportunity,” Bowman said. Twenty states and the District of Columbia and 17 Ohio cities already have similar laws in effect, she said.

The vote was the first ever by the House and Senate on such legislation, said Bowman.

Rep. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, was one of five Republicans who joined 51 Democrats in supporting the bill. Lehner said that as a long-time opponent of abortion, she supported the “unalienable right to life” contained in the Declaration of Independence. She said she also supported the unalienable rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, also in the Declaration of Independence.

According to police records, undercover vice officers had been to the club and witnessed men having sex while other patrons watched. The department received its first complaints in May and sent officers there undercover before the Sept. 10 raid, Pennington said.

“She should have been invited,” Pennington said. If she had been there, the chief said, any inappropriate behavior by the officers could have been curtailed.

“This is very unfortunate this incident occurred,” Pennington said. “I’m sorry for what happened.”

Pennington said each complaint will be thoroughly investigated. If an officer is found to have acted inappropriately, “we will take appropriate action.”

After the anti-gay rant, Hardaway lost his advertising endorsements and income.

``The endorsements will never come back. People have taken that and it's gone. I understand that. I'm trying to look for work and provide for my family,'' he said. ``All that stuff has left me high and dry. I have to dig for work.''

Hardaway has repeatedly apologized for what he said, but still wants to know who's gay in the locker room:

Back then, he wouldn't have showered with a gay teammate, but today he might.

``I've probably already done it and not even known it.''

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Etemaad newspaper reported that the two had been friends for 12 years after meeting at school and had later studied at the same university, where their close relationship had been well known to fellow students.

After graduating, Negar changed sex under Iran's Islamic laws which deem transsexuals religiously permissible, in contrast to the blanket ban on homosexuality, which is considered a sin.

The abuse began about six-weeks after his deployment, sometime in 2004 and lasted until about 2006. Rocha said he was especially singled out by his immediate supervisor, chief master-at-arms, Michael Toussaint.

"I was in a very small testosterone-driven unit of men," Rocha says. "I think that's what began the questioning-you know-'Why don't you want to have sex with her? Are you a faggot?'"

In a revealing twist, while Rocha's case was being investigated, the Navy promoted Toussaint to Senior Chief even though they were aware of the role he had as a supervisor in creating a climate of abuse and being directly responsible for the violence, as the petty officer in charge of Rocha's unit, and perpetrated or presided over most of the abuse.

Documents from the Navy obtained by Youth Radio, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), confirmed that after suspecting that Rocha is gay, his mates engaged in a pattern of abuse over a period of two years, which the Navy termed hazing and included hog-tying him to a chair and pushing him, still bound, into and leaving him in a dog kennel filled with feces. In the documents Rocha claims that other sailors forced him to simulate oral sex with a man for more than thirty times, recording the activity on video tape, claiming that it is to be part of a training exercise to teach sailors how to respond to hypothetical complaints about homosexual sex. He also claims that the sailors repeatedly hit him as hard as they could, while forcing him to bend over a desk.