Meme Dump

The Funny Papers

Matt Wuerker, Nick Anderson, Pedro X Molina, Trevor Irvin, Michael de Adder, Chris Britt, Lalo Alcaraz, Dennis Goris, Daniel Boris, Rick McKee, Gary Huck, Randy Bish, Mike Luckovich, Marc Murphy, Jesse Duquette

Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore May Get The Last Laugh

Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore was in the Navy for thirty-five years, starting in the cockpit and finishing with three stars and command of the entire Navy Reserve of some 59,000 sailors and Marines; she has thirteen hundred flight hours under her belt, and command of the US base in Djibouti, and dozens of medals.

Last August, DUI Hire Pete Hegseth removed her, with no hearing, no charges, no reason on the record; a firing without cause. Lacore lost her job the same afternoon Hegseth fired the intelligence chief whose agency had just concluded that the strikes on Iran set the nuclear program back by months, not the total obliteration the president kept selling . The people closest to that inconvenient truth were swept out en masse. Competence no longer mattered, only loyalty and maintaining the lies put forth by Hegseth and an inept and incompetent regime.

Lacore could have taken the pension and the silence but instead she chose to run for Congress in the South Carolina seat Nancy Mace walked away from to chase the governor's mansion—and lose it. Last week Nancy Lacore won the Democratic nomination in a runoff, outright, and for the first time in forty years her district might be sending a Democrat to DC if she wins in November.

Hegseth once stood in front of a room of generals and told them that if they did not align with his vision and his story, they should do the honorable thing and resign. Lacore refused to resign and forced Hegseth to fire her …

And now Hegseth may spend next year answering to a Congress with her vote in it, her name on the door, inside the building she spent a lifetime defending. He wanted her out of his chain of command but his actions handed her the seat above it.

A Kiss Is Just A Kiss

I saw that photo and instantly thought it was just a copy of that more famous kiss on V-J Day— Victory over Japan Day—when a Navy sailor grabbed and kissed a woman in Times Square. But this was two men kissing and so I found it all the more fun and interesting and kinda kitschy and hot.

On December 21st, after the USS The Sullivans pulled into port, Kenneth Woodington—the winner of the first kiss lottery—locked lips with his husband, sailor Bryan Woodington, just home from seven months in the Gulf.

As they kissed, many in the crowd applauded and cheered, most notably other service family members waiting for their loved ones, but not everyone was cheering.

WJXT, a Jacksonville, Florida television station, aired the kiss and suddenly all the haters came out …

“How sad your station has dropped to such a low as to show a gay couple kissing on your newscast.”

First off, gay or not, it was a couple kept apart for seven months, greeting one another, but, yeah, I guess because it was two men …

“I thought this was a “family-friendly” news channel.”

This one slayed me; just WTF is a ‘family-friendly news channel’? No stories about crime or murder or destruction? Just puppies and kittens and babies?

We are on the precipice of 2019 and people are still shocked, and disgusted, by the sight of gay couples acting like couples? We have been allowed the rights to marry for nearly four years now, so all of you who find the sight of two men, or two women, kissing, for any reason, need to turn off your TVs, discontinue the newspaper, unplug from the internet, and go live in a cave.

We’re here, we’re queer, and we kiss our spouses and partners whenever we f**king want to kiss them.

Good News Friday: The Navy Will Name A Ship After LGBT Activist and Hero Harvey Milk

Of course, I didn’t know Harvey Milk personally, but I know of him quite a great deal. And I think he’d be kind of stunned, honored and giddy with this news …

Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, has announced that the Navy is set to name a ship after the gay rights icon and hero, and San Francisco politician, Harvey Milk. The ship, a Military Sealift Command fleet oiler will be called the USNS Harvey Milk, a John Lewis-class oiler. Those classes of ships are named after Georgia Congressman, and civil rights activist, John Lewis.

Other names in the class include former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren whose court ruled to desegregate U.S. schools, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, women’s right activist Lucy Stone and abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth; and in the past, Mabus has named ships for other civil rights icons, including the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships USNS Medgar Evers  and USNS Cesar Chavez. They are all in good company alongside Harvey Milk.

Harvey Milk came from a Navy family and joined the service in 1951. He served as a diving officer during the Korean War on the submarine rescue ship Kittiwake until 1955. He was honorably discharged from the service as a lieutenant junior grade.

After serving his country, Harvey Milk moved to San Francisco where he was elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors and was the first openly gay California politician to be elected to office. He was killed in office in 1978.

Since the 2011 repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell there has been a concerted effort from California politicians to name a ship after Milk. Harvey’s nephew, Stuart Milk says that naming a ship after his uncle “will further send a green light to all the brave men and women who serve our nation that honesty, acceptance and authenticity are held up among the highest ideals of our military.”

I just think Harvey would be grinning like mad hearing this news.

His march goes on …

USNI News

DADT Still Exists For The 'T' In LGBT

Landon Wilson seemed destined to join the military from an early age, having been born in Warner Robins, Georgia where everyday life centered on its namesake Air Force Base, but there were battles to overcome and struggles to endure before he could do so.

See, Landon realized at a very young age that he felt different; his body felt different; his thoughts, too. He remembers one day, at age four, shouting to his mother, “Hey, I’m a boy.” But the reaction he got from her, and other people nearby, made him believe that he needed to tamp down the feeling that he was the wrong gender; he was born female, and even though he felt it was wrong, he thought he should live life as a female.

But then, as a teenager, a young girl in the eyes of everyone who knew him only from the outside, Landon took to wearing men’s clothes and cutting his hair very short. And growing up near that air base he saw the military as a way to fit in once he learned that, according to research, the percentage of transgender people in the military is twice as high as it is in the civilian population.

So Landon Wilson enlisted and in 2012, stationed in Hawaii, he began reading up on transitioning; he began connecting with other transgender men and women in the military online and learned that men who struggle with a desire to transition to women see the military as a barrier to keep them from taking that step. Landon saw it differently; as a biological girl who wished to finally be male, it was an easy environment in which he might fit, and he decided it was time to act.

He obtained a formal diagnosis of gender identity disorder from a counselor — a step transgender people sometimes take before undergoing hormone therapy — and after coming out to his mother, he began the process of taking hormones once a week.

“I knew everything that was on the table, but at the same time it was completely worth it. It was like taking my first breath.”

And the changes came about almost instantly; the hormone injections deepened his voice and changed both his face and body; his muscles and strength grew, along with light facial hair, and, because the hormones trigger a reaction similar to puberty, he also developed acne. But Landon Wilson finally felt at home in his skin; his skin. It’s a feeling not many of us can even fathom because we’ve known that feeling our whole lives, but for Landon Wilson he was finally himself. It seemed like his life had started, though soon it would seem to end.

After volunteering for a year-long deployment in Afghanistan, he arrived at the Navy processing center in Virginia, where he was assigned to male barracks and given male uniforms. But that same day medical personnel noticed paperwork which indicated Wilson was female and they inexplicably ordered a pregnancy test, while allowing him to still be housed with the men and clothed as a man.

And then, when he was sent to South Carolina for combat training, he again was assigned to male barracks and all of his paperwork was changed to reflect the gender that everyone assumed he was, at least outwardly. And because his former name — which he has since changed to Landon — was somewhat androgynous, no one asked questions; even the men who shared his living quarters assumed he was a man.

Last fall his assignment came up, and he was sent to Afghanistan, where he went to work on the night shift, intercepting communications by militants and then guiding Special Operations troops in carrying out missions. Feeling indispensable in his new position, Landon stopped worrying about being discovered.

 “At that point, I had no concerns about it. I felt confident about my ability to do my job and I was hopeful that would be enough if everything did come out. That that would be enough to stay.”

But his secret came out when one of his commanders spoke to his superiors in Hawaii to make arrangements for a promotion; the officials in Hawaii used female pronouns to refer to Wilson, while those in Afghanistan referred to him as male, and then, one night while on duty, a superior asked him to step outside.

“This Navy record says female, but this paper says male,” the sergeant major said, comparing two sets of personnel records. “So, what are you?”

Landon, who had joined the navy as a female — a woman whom most colleagues assumed was a lesbian because of the short hair and masculine attitudes — but since he’d begun the transition process, gave the only answer that fit.

 “I am a male.”

His commanders in Afghanistan decided to send him home and within hours he was on a plane.

 “I didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone. I have no idea what they told people.”

And strangely enough, when he arrived back on base in Hawaii, a few days later, his commanders promoted him; he even received a commendation letter from Vice Admiral Jan Tighe, who oversaw his unit. His superiors in Hawaii were respectful and at times almost sorry, with one telling Landon, “You know, we are overreacting because we have no idea what to do with you.”

However, that feeling of belonging, of being acknowledged for being a model soldier, was short-lived; after weeks of deliberations, Landon was given a choice:

“You can transition, or you can serve.”

Landon Wilson, who wanted both, signed his honorable discharge papers and left Hawaii and even though most officials in the Navy won’t comment on record, one did say, simply, “Petty Officer Wilson served honorably.”

Now Landon is sleeping on the floor of a friend’s apartment in Manhattan. E still has his security clearance and could easily find work as a civilian for an intelligence agency or even the Pentagon, he wants to return to the military.

“The military gave me the backbone to transition, to be who I am, because they look so fondly on honor and courage and all those things you have to have to be fully authentic. I don’t think I would have gotten to where I am today without that.”

Even with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell [DADT], the law that banned gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military, transgender service members can still be dismissed from the force without question and that subtle difference left Landon feeling resentful.

“I knew that the lesbian and gay community were getting all these freedoms and all their privileges. There was still that silent T that was completely ignored.”

And all of this is because of a decades-old policy that dates back to when gender nonconformity was widely seen as a mental illness. Although the American Psychiatric Association revised its manual last year to indicate that gender nonconformity is “not in itself a mental disorder,” the Defense Department still relies on the outdated guidelines that call transgender individuals “sexual deviants” and so there are thousands of transgender military personnel serving today that stay closeted.

The good news is that now the policy is coming under scrutiny with more and more service men and women like Landon Wilson stepping forward and becoming more visible. And more of those transgender service members are beginning the process of transitioning, causing most medical experts top ask the Defense Department to rescind that discriminatory policy as some of America’s closest allies, including Canada, Britain and Australia, have done.

And hopefully, one day, sooner rather than later, Landon Wilson can return to the job for which he was trained; the job at which he excelled,; the job which brought him commendation after commendation for his excellent service.

His excellent service.

source

Happy Memorial Day ... Say Thanks

A Memorable Memorial Day: After DADT

from left: gay midshipmen  Caitlin Bryant, Kay Moore, Nick Bonsall, and Andrew Atwill   

Last year, Andrew Atwil's roommate at the Naval Academy joked that Atwill was gay, and Atwill told him to cut it out; because he is gay. And because, last year, Atwill could have jeopardized his military career if anyone know.

This year, though, it's a different story at Annapolis. Now, with DADT repealed Atwill says the academy has changed, and that now, talking about his sexual orientation is no longer a reason to be drummed out of the military. In fact, most in the academy now come to the defense of its gay and lesbian cadets.

Andrew Atwill:  "Pretty much everybody in my company knows now, [and] they actually stand up for me." 

As it should be.

Eight months after the repeal, midshipmen both gay and straight describe a quiet but significant transformation at the Naval Academy. Gay midshipmen are seeking recognition for a student club, and, just last month, for the first time, faculty members and staff openly attended an off-campus dinner that had been organized secretly every year by and for gay midshipmen.

And this year, Andrew Atwill and his boyfriend, classmate Nick Bonsall, are going to Saturday’s Ring Dance, a formal ball held each spring for third-year midshipmen.

"It's been really great, actually," says Nick Bonsall. "Everyone has been really accepting of us."

As it should be.

The experience at Annapolis this year mirrors those across the country at the other service academies, but some future officers worry about what might happen upon graduation. While their generation might be accepting, the majority of military personnel is still made up of people of all ages and backgrounds, and some senior officers say privately that they won't come out for fear of jeopardizing their careers.

Even Andrew Atwill, while aware of this new level of understanding and tolerance, wonders what life will be like after leaving Annapolis and joining the fleet: "For me, personally, it's still a concern. When I become an officer, I'm kind of worried about whether or not my sailors will take it the wrong way if I give them a pat on the back or, you know, happen to be in the bathroom at the same time as them. I'm afraid that if they know that I'm gay, that if I was even to look at them wrong, they may end up somehow turning that against me."

But not everyone sees any problems arising. Caitlyn Bryant, a second-year midshipman, says, "In the fleet, it will be good, you don't have to worry about what they might think your orientation is. You can just focus on being a leader….People have accepted it."

As it should be.

And Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, however, doesn’t foresee a problem. He says the repeal of DADT is going very well: "It's not impacting on morale. It's not impacting on unit cohesion. It's not impacting on readiness."

As it should be.

And change is coming to all branches. Gay cadets at the U.S. Military Academy and the Coast Guard Academy are forming clubs, while gay alumni at the Air Force Academy hosted their first football tailgate last fall, and Air Force Academy and West Point gay alumni held their annual dinners on campus for the first time.

Kara Yingling, a fourth-year midshipman , who is not gay, says the majority of the student body "didn't make a big deal" of the policy change: "We have seen more openly gay people, and I think that's good for them, because they no longer have to live their lives in fear that something's going to happen just because of their sexuality."

This Memorial Day will be, if possible, more memorable, because of this new openness and honesty and acceptance.

As it should be.

source

Say 'Thank You' ......