Gov’t Must Turn Over Documents Of Spying on LGBT Groups

[struggle4progress]

By Stefen Styrsky
Published: April 27, 2006



Federal Judge Rosemary A. Collyer of the D.C. District has ordered three government agencies to turn over by the end of May all documents they have regarding covert surveillance of domestic LGBT groups. The order is the culmination of a months-long struggle by the Service Members Legal Defense Network to force the Departments of Justice and Defense to release any information they possess regarding the matter.

In December, NBC News reported that the Pentagon had been monitoring college student groups opposed to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy which forbids open service by gay and lesbian personnel. According to NBC News, and later confirmed by a partial release of documents from the Defense Department, the LGBT law student group at NYU, OUTLaw, was labeled “potentially violent” by Pentagon officials, who believed “the term Outlaws is a backhanded way of saying it is alright to commit possible violence and serve as vigilantes...”

The Pentagon began an investigation of OUTLaw when it was learned that the group would be participating in a February 2005 student protest against military recruiters on the NYU campus. Defense intelligence officials reported that the event “may involve Outlaws” a possible security threat to the recruiters. <snip>

http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=4931

[ShockediSay]

1. Anyone who disagrees with the corporofascists in power

is a terrorist threat, subject to warrantless eavesdropping, warrantless arrest, "rendition" to Bulgaria or the like, and torture.

What has our so-called democracy come to?

[ShalachEtAmi]

2. Perverts...

What kind of spying? Video surveillance?

[Democrats_win]

3. Checking on the spring fashions no doubt. Tell them: Accessorize!

[readmoreoften]

4. I'm on the group's listserve and I'm on strike with members of OUTLAW.

OUTlaw is the gay law student's organization, many of whom opposed military recruitment on campus. The debate over whether or not they are violent is a hilarious misreading of the name "Outlaw" by the pentagon. I saw the declassified papers and there is much back and forth about what "outlaw" could signify? Is it that they intend to do violence? Are they a criminal organization? Finally, someone explains that "Out" is a gay slang term and that the name is a pun. After discovering this, they decide to keep an eye on them "just in case."

They surveilled them with a spy, btw, not cameras (as far as I know).


Trivia: the fellow who asked Scalia on C-Span if he engaged in anal sex with his wife is also a member of OUTlaw.