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  Last week's cover of the Marine Times It’s been a long time in the making but my own very non-military-concerned and currently very work heavy life has made me lackadaisical toward tomorrow’s repeal (finally) of the infamous Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Luckily, the Portland Mercury is all over the best places in to celebrate tomorrow’s lifting of the ban on gays in the military. I don’t have time to reinvent the wheel with my usual witticisms and bad puns so I will simply copy the information, as well as let you know that Mayor Sam Adams tweeted that he wants you to celebrate with him at city hall.
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 Southern Oregon Pride 2010 in Ashland, OR
Good news for our queer brethren in the southern half of state when it was announced yesterday that the city of Ashland, Oregon will co-sponsor their Autumn Gay Pride Parade, saving Southern Oregon Pride about $800 in fees. The city council approved the move yesterday, taking over the cost of overtime for Ashland police and public works employees who will […]
  Double Duchess perform Saturday at Blow Pony Thursday
Not Enough! benefit dance party – Last Thursday becoming a bit too tame and straight and bridge and tunnel for you? It’s our chance to queer it back up while raising some funds for Not Enough! and having a gay ol’ time.
AIDS Walk kickoff party and Swimwear fashion show –
Prom Night at the Cafeteria – Creator DJ Lunch Lady promises to a spiked punch bowl and a pregnancy scare at this wonderful reimagining of the high school night you never had (even if you did go, was it really all you dreamed?). Double bonus for not fearing expulsion and for me to use one of my favorite phrases, “I’m off like a prom dress.”
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  Congressman Barney Frank may look like a muppet but he's tough as nails and funny as anything Jim Henson ever dreamed up Sorry for the hiatus folks, you have evil domain empire GoDaddy to thank for that. This was originally supposed to be a Christmas Eve news roundup but here we are at Boxing Day, the day to return all the horrendous sweaters we got yesterday. So if you’re still trying to avoid the long arms pf the family here’s a little roundup of good news you have have missed over the last few days of Christmas cheer. (And stay tuned for a New Year’s roundup!)
Obama signs the reapeal of DADT with video below. “That’s done!”
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  Today the Senate passed the standalone bill to repeal the ban on gays in the military. Who knew we had to be alert on a Saturday? Congress has been working overtime. In a bill that seemed close to dead this repeal of the 17-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy” now heads to President Barack Obama‘s desk where he will most certainly sign it into law.
From Politico:
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  I am extremely disappointed that yet another filibuster has prevented the Senate from moving forward with the National Defense Authorization Act. Despite having the bipartisan support of a clear majority of Senators, a minority of Senators are standing in the way of the funding upon which our troops, veterans and military families depend. This annual bill has been enacted each of the past 48 years, and our armed forces deserve nothing less this year.
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  Spotlighting John McCain‘s flip floppy nature of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (as if that’s his only contradictory issue) Jon Stewart gives an update on DADT with his segment “Gaypocalypse Now” which I’ve embedded below. This comes directly after the release of an extensive Pentagon survey that found repealing the policy would have little to no negative effect on our armed forces. There is no “queer and present danger” to speak of but I like that bit of humor.
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  Cindy McCain poses for NoH8 This Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell two-step is starting to really get on my nerves.
Only one high ranking military officer seems opposed to the repeal, Marine Corps Gen. James Amos. Even Republican Arizona Senator John McCain formerly stated that he would leave the decision to top military officials. However, as more and more officers came out in support of the repeal he has asserted his own opinion that we needed to wait for the findings of a study currently in progress. Now, as the study draws to a close, showing that most service members are indifferent, he moves even further from the side of rationality by telling reporters that it “isn’t the right study.”
Perhaps less politically important but even more frustrating, is his wife’s betrayal. And I mean to her own beliefs, not to her husband.
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  Lt Dan Choi In an ironic bit of news today MTV reports that A Pentagon memo leaked today, appropriately Veterans Day supports the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Washington Post, quoting two people familiar with a draft of the report, said that it will say that the military’s lifting of the ban would result in “minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts.”
According to the Post, more than 70 percent of respondents to a survey sent to active-duty and reserve troops this summer said the effects of a repeal would be “positive, mixed or nonexistent.” Those results reportedly led the survey’s authors to conclude that objections to gay troops would drop once they were able to live and serve openly with their peers.
In some other gay and vet’s day news, a service was held for gay vets:
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 Law Professor John Culhane Professor of Law, Widener University 365gay.com contributor John Culhane updates us on where, exactly, things stand in the DADT mess. It is, of course, subject to change at any moment…
How long must I continue writing about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?
Don’t ask.
It’s hard to see this drama ending any time soon, and much of what one can write about it, from the legal perspective, is speculative and ever-changing. But this isn’t a subject I can ignore for this week’s column – there have been too many important policy and legal developments.
So let’s try to walk through what’s going on, and what might be expected. Much of what follows is necessarily speculative.
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