Posted: September 23rd, 2011 | Author: Crystal | No Comments »
Want to know the freshest news your gay friends will be talking about this weekend? Look no further! You’re a few short blurbs away from seeming super tapped-in with the world in which your friends live. This week: the world doesn’t end when gay folks serve openly in the military, the freedom to marry receives bipartisan and overseas support, and SQUID. Yeah, that’s right, the octopus’s punchier cousin, right here with the other gay news for straight friends on the Friendfactor blog.
The country's now with the ACLU: No!
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Posted: September 20th, 2011 | Author: Dinah | 4 Comments »
“Repeal Day” celebrations are being held across the country in honor of the U.S. lifting its ban on gay military service today, Tuesday September 20th, 2011.
The former policy, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” was originally intended as a compromise to allow gay citizens to serve, albeit from the closet (not a place I’d personally choose to fight a war from. You know, poor visibility and all). The result of the policy, however, was far from a victory for gay troops. Living in fear of being outed, these men and women selflessly serving their country were forced to hide their identities, despite their willingness to sacrifice so much.
There were also widespread allegations that DADT was used maliciously by service members who wanted peers or superiors kicked out for personal grievances — just the suggestion of being gay could ruin a military career. Count that as another big reason for straight friends to care about gay rights: legalized discrimination puts us all at risk.
After months of controversy over lifting the ban, reports from the military itself indicate the policy shift won’t be a disruption to operations:
Pentagon press secretary George Little said Monday that the military is adequately prepared for the end of the current policy… “No one should be left with the impression that we are unprepared. We are prepared for repeal,” Little said.
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Posted: December 22nd, 2010 | Author: Friendfactor | No Comments »
Something historic happened this morning. President Obama signed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a 17-year old law that prohibited gay and lesbian Americans from openly serving in the military. For the repeal to be implemented, the Pentagon must first certify the legislation. This could take up to a year depending on how much political pressure the Pentagon receives.
On Friendfactor, we calculate a Freedom Index for the advocates on our site. While straight people experience 100% of freedoms, gay* and transgender Americans have far fewer. Today, those numbers are changing.
As a result of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the Freedom Index scores for our gay* friends just went up!
Here are the nuts and bolts of the changes at Friendfactor: The Freedom Index is based on a number of factors including “Freedom to Serve.” Starting today, Freedom to Serve will move from 0% to 90% for gay, lesbian and bisexual advocates. Once the repeal is implemented and an anti-discrimination law is passed, that number will move to 100%. Because transgender individuals are not included in the bill, their Freedom to Serve calculation will remain unchanged at 0%.
The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is just one step towards helping our gay* and transgender friends get to 100% full legal freedoms. Stay tuned as we build tools next year for you to help your friends get to 100%, faster.
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