Hump Day Treat, DO Ask, and DO Tell! Doubleheader

Right now, US Americans are debating a big, gay issue (or at least, our government is): all day yesterday, the big news was about the Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) hearings. For those of you outside of the US, DADT is a policy that effectively excludes the homos from serving in our Armed Forces, the logic being that men in uniform will trust each other and work together better if, you know, the gay ones are forced to lie about their love lives.

Yeah -- it sounds absurd. But it's a lot more sobering when you consider that many highly qualified, compassionate men and women have been discharged from the army just for being gay. Par example: Lt. Daniel Choi, a West Point graduate who bravely came out on national television, and has since become an LGBTQ activist.

This is the sort of thing that reminds us punk, diy, somewhat cloistered queers that systemic homophobia is alive and well. Watching Rachel Maddow, and seeing clips of congressmen talk about the need to keep gay service people on the down low brought me right back to my junior year of high school. I felt like I was 16 and terrified of 'coming out' all over again.

And of course, this made me think of Team Dresch. Blatantly political, sickeningly talented, and all around dyketastic, this old school Portland queercore quartet and their Personal Best LP got me through high school. And so we salute them on this hump day.