(Well, foo. Clark67nt has already diaried this, and likely better than I have. Sorry 'bout that!)
One of the most frustrating things in the past two years to me has been the intellectual gyrations that some Democrats have gone to to apologize for and justify the the President's actions and inactions on LGBT rights. A typical example is the defense of the DOJ's "defense" of laws persecuting queer people on the basis that the President wants to avoid politicizing the DOj, but those claims always seem to ignore the DOJ declining to appeal laws in other politicized cases.
Well, today, the apologyoga is over. Here's the policy you've never heard of that ends this debate once and for all. And as a policy with no basis in law, there's no "law" to defend. It's entirely the President's choice.
As you know, we have this (misnamed) Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and under it, soldiers, veterans, are discharged if anyone catches them being insufficiently straight.
Richard Collins, a "decorated former staff-sergeant in the U.S. Air Force", a servicemember who put nine years into into his military career, is one of those soliders. Some non-military guys catch a glance of him kissing a guy, and his career is ended.
It turns out that when servicemembers such as Richard Collins are discharged for any reason, they are entitled to separation pay.
But, as a pure matter of policy discretion, that if they are discharged due to homosexuality, their separation pay cut in half.
"50% off for gay".
This "half off" policy is a policy, there is no "law" to defend here. There is absolutely no reason that this can't be changed with a penstroke, or even a verbal order from the Commander-in-Chief.
Collins and the ACLU demanded back pay and a change in policy in August, but the Obama administration has so far refused to change this discriminatory policy.
So, it's going to court. Go ACLU! Collins v. United States was filed yesterday.
The apologyoga is over. Occam's Razor was right. It's just bigotry, plain and simple, and a bigotry that disrespects servicemembers who tried to act with good faith under the discriminatory policies they were and are still subjected to.