KKTV has an article and short video on the debate here, and you can read the Gazette article about it here.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Citizens Project would like to thank the Independent, as well as our other co-sponsors, the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region, Colorado College, KRCC, FOX21, Inside/Out Youth Services, Artemis, Pride Center, and the NAACP for making this event such a success!

Leading up to his 1992 presidential election victory, Bill Clinton promised to end the ban on gays and lesbians in the US military.  However, once in office President Clinton encountered fierce resistance from Congress.  During the Congressional debates, Dr. Gregory Herek, a respected social psychologist with over 15 years of research in topics of sexual orientation, spoke on the potential consequences of lifting the ban on gays and lesibans in the military.  His ultimate conclusion was that “the research data show that there is nothing about lesbians and gay men that makes them inherently unfit for military service, and there is nothing about heterosexuals that makes them inherently unable to work and live with gay people in close quarters.”  Despite these affirmations, President Clinton was unable to persuade congress, and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was formed as a compromise.  This was, at any rate, progress, because it allowed gay and lesbian troops to serve in the military, as long as they kept their sexual orientation a secret.

Every year, a bill is used to decide the budget of the US Department of Defense, and the 2010 version includes an amendment that would eliminate the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law.  This was voted on by the House of Representatives on May 27, and it passed on a 234-194 vote.  The Senate Armed Forces Committee also voted on the bill, and it passed there with a 16-12 vote.

The biggest argument against passing the bill is that its potential effects on the military are unknown.  The Pentagon is currently undergoing a review that was commissioned after President Obama’s State of the Union Address, where he discussed his desire to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  The goal of the review is to determine whether or not the repeal would affect the “military’s standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruitment and retention,” and to offer strategies on how to implement the law if it was passed.  The results of this review are not due until December, so many Representatives who were not in favor of repeal said that they were reluctant to agree to the bill without first knowing the results of the Pentagon review.

What is known about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is there are many negative consequences.  Apart from its obvious discriminatory nature, which can alienate troops and force them to lie, it is very expensive.  A 2006 study showed that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has cost the US over $363 million dollars in investigations and training replacements.  Over 13,000 people have been kicked out of the military since 1993 due to their sexual orientation, which includes troops with critical skills such as Arabic linguists, fighter pilots and doctors, whose skills are invaluable during a time in which the US is involved in two wars.  There are over thirty countries that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, including Israel, England, Canada, Australia, and Spain.

There are still many obstacles in the way before the repealing of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell can be passed.  The next step is that the Senate must vote on the bill, which could occur this summer.  If it were to pass in the Senate, the president, the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff all must sign off on it as well.  This might be a very significant obstacle because President Obama has threatened to veto the bill because it contains money for defense projects he deems wasteful.

Despite these obstacles, there is more hope than ever that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law will finally be eliminated.  As Dr. Herek mentioned, there is absolutely nothing that prevents gays and lesbians from serving as well as heterosexuals.  And with numerous examples of countries successfully embracing gays and lesbians into their militaries, isn’t it time that the United States, a self-professed powerful force for good in the world, did so as well?  As someone close to me always says, there have always been gay and lesbian troops in the military, and I believe that it is long past due to finally allow them to serve their country openly and freely.

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Attendees included parents,  teachers, school board members, as well as students.  In their evaluations, participants gave the main legal presentation a score  of 4.8 out 5, and most said they would apply what they had learned. Their comments showed how much of an impact the event had:

“This was incredibly insightful and I found this day particularly rewarding.”

“I learned about things I’d only had a very abstract understanding of.”

“My beliefs about religious diversity in public schools have changed, in that I need to think more about what is respectful and inclusive.”

Speakers at the event included Eric Hall, attorney at law with Rothgerber Johnson and Lyons, who presented First Amendment Fundamentals; Lindsey Hodel, a community organizer and consultant for Crossroads Campaign Solutions, presented strategies to organize for social change.  The day included group exercises, an interactive panel and activities to advance participants’ knowledge.

For more information on the next Citizens Religious Freedom Institute and other upcoming Citizens Project events, join our email list list, connect with us on Facebook, or visit us at www.citizensproject.com/events.

Citizens Project’s Executive Director, Barb Van Hoy, who has been a tremendous asset to the organization for seven years, has decided to pursue new adventures, and leave CP to be a full-time mom and a part-time dance teacher. CP is so fortunate that Barb embarks upon

Kristy Milligan

these new endeavors leaving the organization in such a great position, and that Kristy Milligan, our Development Director and Program Manager, has accepted the position of Executive Director. This passing of the baton provides a seamless transition and facilitates the continuation of our great momentum. Kristy’s unique experiences and talents instill confidence in the board for this transition and the future of the organization.

To the Citizens Project community Barb writes,

It has been an extraordinary gift for me to work with so many passionate people in Colorado Springs to make our community a better place. In some ways this was a very difficult decision: I love Citizens Project, and every one of you with whom I’ve

Barb Van Hoy

worked and who have helped magnify our collectivevoice for equality, religious freedom & respect for diversity. It is with both sadness and excitement that I take this leap of faith. I will missworking with you all through CP, but I will continue to be involved in the community. I am also excited for the future of Citizens Project. Though I have been the most visible face of CP, we are blessed with many talented volunteers, supporters, board leadership and of course Kristy Milligan, who will lead Citizens Project to be an even greater advocate for our shared values. I am so grateful for all of your incredible support over the years and for your continued engagement with CP into the future. I won’t be a stranger.

The board has accepted Barb’s intent to resign with sadness for the Citizens Project community, happiness for Barb, and gratitude for her great leadership.

Tempering this regret is our excitement in welcoming Kristy Milligan as our next Executive Director.

Kristy, a native of Colorado Springs who has been involved with the organization for nearly eight years, is ideally positioned to take the helm and will bring exceptional leadership, knowledge and talent to the position of Executive Director. Many of you are very familiar with her enthusiasm and passion for CP’s mission, demonstrated during her three years as CP’s Development Director and Program Manager, which included a stint as Interim Director. Her experience and leadership will ensure a seamless transition. Over the next several weeks, the board and staff will develop a transition time line that honors the organization and ensures continuity for our work in the community.

Citizens Project remains steadfast in our resolve to create a community that values religious freedom through separation of church and state, equality and diversity.  We will continue to be a voice for our shared values, and with your help, that voice will only grow.

With sincerest appreciation,

Karole Campbell
Chair, Citizens Project Board of Directors

If you were asked to revise a school’s curriculum, how would you go about doing this?  You’d probably try to track down experts in the various fields and ask them for their opinions (ask a historian about history, etc) and seek advice by researching other credible sources.  Then, with this information, try to make an informed, unbiased (as possible), recommendation.  Would you, on your next dentist appointment, let the man looking at your teeth make all of the recommendations based on personal opinion more than on historical fact?  Probably not.  Unless, of course, you are the Texas Board of Education, whose chair from 2007 until 2009 was a dentist.

The conversation on the idea of historical facts is a difficult one because historians do not always agree on how to interpret historical fact.  Taking the Venona papers for example, which “document communication between the Soviet Union and its spies” in America during the Cold War, for every historian saying these are important and justify, to an extent, McCarthyism, there is another that “dispute[s] the extent to which transcripts show Soviet involvement in American government,” (Washington Post).  In addition to this, the Texas board of Education is also trying to minimize the efforts of some in the civil rights movements, including an amendment that states “that the movement created ‘unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes’ among minorities,” (NY Times).  What can be agreed upon, however, is the absurdity that anyone, let alone an entire state, would be allowed to rewrite history.  The members of the Texas Board of Education are making their decisions based not on what history is, but what they want it to be.

One of the recent proposed and accepted changes is related to separation of church and state.  The board decided to exclude Thomas Jefferson from “the list of world thinkers who inspired 18th- and 19th-century revolutions,” (NY Times).  Thomas Jefferson is well-known for coining the phrase ‘wall of separation between church and state.’ Texas, trying to minimize the significance of this idea, presented an alternative idea about religious freedom, and how that idea is different from Thomas Jefferson’s famous phrase, despite historical evidence to the contrary.  Jefferson’s demotion by the Texas Board of Education from being a ‘founding father’ is an attempt to undermine the credibility that anything he said or wrote might have.

Whatever your personal views on history are, it is hard to deny that Texas is trying to rewrite history in their vision, and by doing so brainwashing the young, impressionable children in their state to think like they do.  Unfortunately, their influence does not stop there.  Texas’ “huge market for textbooks gives Texas a huge influence on education across the country…” (Texas Freedom Network).  This is a dangerous slippery slope that can have impacts across the country because Texas is trying to diminish the idea of the separation between church and state, and by doing so use the public schools to promote their beliefs to children. Texas is going down a path that does not celebrate religious diversity, and is trying to take the rest of the country along.  Students deserve to learn in an environment that is free from political and religious influence and ideology and focus more on pure academics.

If you are interested in being a table captain at next year’s event, please email Kristy.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Cameron just finished his junior year at Michigan State University, where he is majoring in Comparative Cultures and Politics.  After moving around a lot as a child, he now resides in Colorado Springs, and calls this city ‘home.’

Cameron is thrilled to be working for Citizens Project, and is excited for the many upcoming events during the summer.  Cameron will be contributing to Freedom Watch Online, as well as coordinating voter education and outreach, among other things.

Congratulate Cameron at luckecam@msu.edu!