i want to be happy

i want to be overjoyed. i'm just afraid. i'm afraid of what will happen when the close minded, intolerant, judgmental, right wing NUTJOBS take over. 

that said (and i hate to be a downer, but 'those people' (meaning the HOLIER THAN THOU asswipes)

we are ALL equal. we all MUST have the SAME rights. not MORE rights, THE SAME RIGHTS. that is ALL ANYONE WANTS. there is NO agenda. there is NO master plan. we all must have the SAME rights.

thank you to those who voted for the civil rights of all of our military members. thank you to those who have served in the past and are serving now and will serve in the future (gay, straight, to the left or the right or anything in between. JUST THANKS is all)

'Don't ask, don't tell' is repealed by Senate; bill awaits Obama's signing

By Ed O'Keefe

Washington Post Staff Writer  

The U.S. military will for the first time in history allow gays to serve openly after the Senate voted Saturday to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," the policy that has required such troops to hide their sexual identity or risk being expelled from the services.

While opponents said repeal would create a battlefield distraction that could endanger troops, supporters drew parallels to the military's decision to end racial segregation in the 1950s and the admission of women to military service academies in the 1970s.

"This is the defining civil rights initiative of this decade," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. "Congress has taken an extraordinary step on behalf of men and women who've been denied their rightful integrity for too long."....................

DADT passes Senate, bill on way to President for signature. Historic civil rights victory.

by John Aravosis (DC)  

UPDATE: 3:30PM 65-31 DADT bill passes the Senate. Next stop, Obama for signature. Then the hard work begins... read below. GOPers Burr (R-NC) and Ensign (R-NV) voted with us as well, after first voting to kill the bill by filibuster.

Please join us in thanking all the troops and vets who got us here.

UPDATE: The final Senate vote on DADT is expected at 3pm Eastern. We should easily win that. Then the bill goes straight to the White House for the President's signature, from what I understand.

And here's the vote count. We got all the Ds, exception Manchin, who chickened out and didn't vote at all (history repeats itself and West Virginia takes a proud stand against the major civil rights bill of the day, again). And we got the following Rs: Snowe; Collins; Murkowski; Voinovich; Brown; Kirk...............