Whisper (not a tampon) plugs social "leakage"
This report appeared in NYU's student paper and what's noteworthy is that it caused hardly a ripple. Students laughed it off or couldn't care less if Pentagon thought this student gay group was Satanic. I'm thinking what might happen if the Ministry of Defence or a minister said the same of any student body at NUS. Call me peevish or intemperate, but I think if that happened, the entire Singapore society would be whispering in low tones and this social chatter would inspire fear and discipline in the undergrads. Someone tell me I'm out of touch. (Wait, that someone has to be a person of import, because that's how it works at home. If you're really somebody, what you say will get reported by the usual media suspects, thereby becoming received wisdom. But if you're average Johnny, yours is only an opinion.)
Report: Gov't watched gay groups
by Liz Skalka
News Editor
January 17, 2006
The Pentagon has classified NYU School of Law's gay and lesbian advocacy group as “potentially violent” following the surveillance of a February counter-military protest at the university, according to media reports.
NYU’s OUTlaw is one of many “suspicious” civilian groups across the country surveyed by the Department of Defense over a recent 10-month period, according to a 400-page defense department document obtained by NBC News last month.
The document cites nearly 1,500 incidents that might be considered threats by the defense department, including antiwar and counter-military demonstrations at the State University of New York at Albany, William Patterson College in New Jersey, and the University of California at Santa Cruz, according to NBC News.
Several of the demonstrations condemned the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gay military personnel, including OUTlaw’s February 2005 protest at NYU and an April 2005 event at UC Santa Cruz.
The OUTlaw demonstration noted by the defense department protested the arrival of military recruiters at NYU. The protest lasted throughout the day and maintained a presence of nearly 30 demonstrators, said Karlis Kirsis, a second-year law student and OUTlaw admissions co-chair.
Kirsis said he disagreed with the defense department report’s findings that the group may be violent, and said the protest was “jovial” and “relaxed.” Fourth-year law student and OUTlaw member Bert Leatherman did not attend the protest, but said the activities of a gay advocacy group should not be a focus of government intelligence.
“This is a good example of the pervasive hostility toward gays and lesbians in the United States,” Leatherman said. “Now we’re somehow a threat to national security.”
Although certain OUTlaw members said they are "surprised and offended" by the government’s surveillance of their group, Leatherman said he does not believe it will have an adverse affect on the organization’s turnout.
OUTlaw draws anywhere from 10 to 50 students at meetings, with more subscribing to its listserv, Leatherman said.
Second-year law student Sam Castic, an OUTlaw member who does not actively participate in the group’s planning, said group members continue to communicate through e-mail, and have not yet expressed concern that their personal communications may be monitored by the government.
“Who knows if there are secret files and records about [group members]?” Castic said. “It’s frightening.”
The group will hold its first meeting since news of the surveillance next week, he said.
Since the controversy, OUTlaw has also communicated with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based advocacy group for gay and lesbian soldiers, about signing SLDN’s Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to government surveillance of groups protesting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Castic said.
Students Against War, an anti-war and counter-military group from UC Santa Cruz that was also named in the defense department’s report, has also communicated with the SLDN about the Freedom of Information Act request, said Josh Sonnenfeld, a junior at UC Santa Cruz and a Students Against War member.
Only eight pages of the 400-page defense department report have been released so far to the public by NBC News, specifying nearly 50 “suspicious incidents,” Sonnenfeld said.
These incidents include a campus job fair action by Students Against War in which 300 students rushed military recruitment tables at the university, Sonnenfeld said.
Sonnenfeld said that although group members are upset by the spying incident, none are surprised.
“Our generation, we came of age after 9/11,” Sonnenfeld said. “It doesn’t seem out of the ordinary for the federal government to be spying on its citizens.”
Since the spying, even more students have joined Students Against War in support, Sonnenfeld said.
“Rather than go hide in some corner, it’s more effective for us to come out in numbers,” he said.
Report: Gov't watched gay groups
by Liz Skalka
News Editor
January 17, 2006
The Pentagon has classified NYU School of Law's gay and lesbian advocacy group as “potentially violent” following the surveillance of a February counter-military protest at the university, according to media reports.
NYU’s OUTlaw is one of many “suspicious” civilian groups across the country surveyed by the Department of Defense over a recent 10-month period, according to a 400-page defense department document obtained by NBC News last month.
The document cites nearly 1,500 incidents that might be considered threats by the defense department, including antiwar and counter-military demonstrations at the State University of New York at Albany, William Patterson College in New Jersey, and the University of California at Santa Cruz, according to NBC News.
Several of the demonstrations condemned the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gay military personnel, including OUTlaw’s February 2005 protest at NYU and an April 2005 event at UC Santa Cruz.
The OUTlaw demonstration noted by the defense department protested the arrival of military recruiters at NYU. The protest lasted throughout the day and maintained a presence of nearly 30 demonstrators, said Karlis Kirsis, a second-year law student and OUTlaw admissions co-chair.
Kirsis said he disagreed with the defense department report’s findings that the group may be violent, and said the protest was “jovial” and “relaxed.” Fourth-year law student and OUTlaw member Bert Leatherman did not attend the protest, but said the activities of a gay advocacy group should not be a focus of government intelligence.
“This is a good example of the pervasive hostility toward gays and lesbians in the United States,” Leatherman said. “Now we’re somehow a threat to national security.”
Although certain OUTlaw members said they are "surprised and offended" by the government’s surveillance of their group, Leatherman said he does not believe it will have an adverse affect on the organization’s turnout.
OUTlaw draws anywhere from 10 to 50 students at meetings, with more subscribing to its listserv, Leatherman said.
Second-year law student Sam Castic, an OUTlaw member who does not actively participate in the group’s planning, said group members continue to communicate through e-mail, and have not yet expressed concern that their personal communications may be monitored by the government.
“Who knows if there are secret files and records about [group members]?” Castic said. “It’s frightening.”
The group will hold its first meeting since news of the surveillance next week, he said.
Since the controversy, OUTlaw has also communicated with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based advocacy group for gay and lesbian soldiers, about signing SLDN’s Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to government surveillance of groups protesting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Castic said.
Students Against War, an anti-war and counter-military group from UC Santa Cruz that was also named in the defense department’s report, has also communicated with the SLDN about the Freedom of Information Act request, said Josh Sonnenfeld, a junior at UC Santa Cruz and a Students Against War member.
Only eight pages of the 400-page defense department report have been released so far to the public by NBC News, specifying nearly 50 “suspicious incidents,” Sonnenfeld said.
These incidents include a campus job fair action by Students Against War in which 300 students rushed military recruitment tables at the university, Sonnenfeld said.
Sonnenfeld said that although group members are upset by the spying incident, none are surprised.
“Our generation, we came of age after 9/11,” Sonnenfeld said. “It doesn’t seem out of the ordinary for the federal government to be spying on its citizens.”
Since the spying, even more students have joined Students Against War in support, Sonnenfeld said.
“Rather than go hide in some corner, it’s more effective for us to come out in numbers,” he said.