My Metro Weekly article about the Palm Center’s planned summit, “Voices of Experience,” is up:
From Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), many substantial questions raised at last week’s hearing regarding the future of the military’s ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy related to the experience of other nations that have ended their bans on openly gay and lesbian soldiers. The Palm Center is taking action to answer those questions, announcing a spring summit in Washington, D.C., to bring together military and civilian experts who have knowledge of those nations’ experiences.
Christopher Neff, a spokesman for the Palm Center, said on Monday, ”Our goal was to get people who had direct knowledge and expertise” about implementing an end to bans on openly gay service and running military operations without such bans. The center already has confirmed the participation of British and Israeli experts, two countries that allow openly gay or lesbian service. The summit is to be held in the weeks before Memorial Day, depending on the schedules of attendees.
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Chris Geidner is the senior political writer at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found