::: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Tuesday that he’s looking at ways to make the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy “more humane”, Associated Press reports. While Congress slowly works toward repealing the law, Gates said he will consider softening the expulsion rules. As an example, he said the military might not have to expel someone whose sexual orientation was revealed by a third party out of vindictiveness or other suspect motives. Gates said he had talked with President Obama about repealing the policy. “We were talking about how do we move forward on this to achieve his objective, which is changing the policy,” he said.

   ::: After a hearing this afternoon in Syracuse, a military administrative board recommended that New York National Guard officer Lt. Dan Choi, an Arabic-speaking graduate of West Point, should be discharged for violating the military’s “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy. Choi announced on the Rachel Maddow show in March that he’s gay. The army quickly a terse letter informing him he would be charged with violating army regulations. “Your actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard,” the letter said. Before today’s hearing, Choi talked with London’s Guardian for a major feature on his case and the policy that has forced almost 13,000 gay and lesbian personnel out of the military. He says his decision to come out so publicly is part of a love story. He met a man, fell in love, and became increasingly uncomfortable with the lies that were required by military policy. “I started my first relationship ever in life at age 27,” Choi said. “I’m understanding finally what love is. I have to make the decision: am I going to continue lying?” The army’s response to his public coming-out is “an insult to their professionalism," Choi said of the insinuation that his fellow soldiers cannot abide a gay comrade. “They care about what a person can do for the team. We're in a time of war. We have bigger things to worry about than people being gay.”

   ::: A San Diego County campaign event at the home of a lesbian couple turned ugly Friday in the upscale Cardiff-by-the-sea neighborhood. A sheriff's deputy responding to a noise complaint became angry when one of the hosts, Shari Barman, refused to tell him when she was born. According to people attending the fundraiser, the deputy began pulling on Barman's arm, despite pleas from her partner that she had just undergone surgery. “Guests were yelling, ‘What are you doing? Let her go!’ ”  Witnesses said the cop, Deputy Marshall Abbott, who broke up the fundraiser for Congressional candidate Francine Busby “had a raged look in his eyes, and his head was bobbing from side to side,” after he entered the home of Barman and Jane Stratton at about 9 pm. One guest called 911 to report that the deputy was “out of control”. He doused guests who had come to Barman’s aid with pepper spray, pulled out a stun gun, and dropped the 60-year-old host to the floor. Busby said she used a microphone from about 8 to 8:30 pm to address what she described as 30 or fewer guests; witnesses said the unidentified neighbor who later called in the noise complaint had interrupted the candidate’s speech by heckling Busby, calling her a “loser”, and using obscenities. In a fundraising letter, Busby said the neighbor who complained about the fund-raiser was “politically motivated.” Busby said, “There was no noise, there was no problem, these were middle-aged men and women talking very quietly.” The Sheriff's Department has launched an internal investigation into the incident.

dadt: Gates wants to soften gay expulsion rules [AP/Navy Times]
albany circus: Power struggle impedes New York gay marriage vote [Reuters]
florida: St. Petersburg's gay community seeks to become key voting bloc in mayor and council elections | St. Petersburg Times
marriage equality: DC judge rejects suit on recognizing gay marriage [Washington Times]
media: Anti-gay bias still rampant in the media: When will broadcasters grow up? [New York Daily News]
new york: Gay-Bashed on Pride Weekend on the Upper East Side [Village Voice]
Spain: When Gay Pride Day Takes Two Weeks [New York Times]
san francisco: ‘Yay gay!’: San Francisco Pride takes over city streets in its 39th year [Los Angeles Times]