Approximately forty House Representatives are urging the Pentagon to reconsider its ban on gay Arabic linguists. Spearheaded by Representative Marty Meehan - the Massachusetts politico who regularly fights "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" - the collective asks the Pentagon to justify booting 58 gay Arabic linguists.

Speaking on his own behalf, Meehan pondered:

At a time when our military is stretched to the limit and our cultural knowledge of the Middle East is dangerously deficient, I just can't believe that kicking out able, competent Arabic linguists is making our country any safer.

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Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York gave Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice an earful at Congressional hearing on the 2008 State Department Budget. After Rice repeatedly bemoaned the government's lack of Arabic translators, Ackerman wondered if it had something to do with Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Though Rice said her department doesn't follow such discriminatory standards, Ackerman quipped:

It seems that the military has gone around and fired a whole bunch of people who speak foreign languages - Farsi and Arabic... For some reason, the military seems more afraid of gay people than they are [of] terrorists, but they're very brave with the terrorists. If the terrorists ever got hold of this information, they'd get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad.

In response to the verbal throw down, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network - the organization that sent us press release on the matter - deputy policy director Sharon Alexander retorts:

Secretary Rice would have no trouble finding gay linguists. In fact, our government could go a long way in addressing the shortage of language expertise by doing just as Congressman Ackerman suggests. SLDN would be happy to introduce Secretary Rice to our many clients who speak Arabic but have been dismissed because of the ban.

(Full release after the jump.)

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This may be the ugliest case of deja vu in history - five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor have been sentenced to death by Libya's Supreme Court for "infecting" up to 400 children with HIV.

The wellness workers - who have been imprisoned for the last seven years - were actually found guilty of the same crime before, but political pressure kept the sanction-prone country from following through with the execution.

The retrial came just before Nature Magazine reported that the children, fifty of whom have already died of AIDS-related complications, were infected with the retrovirus before the workers arrived in the African nation.

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A tipster just sent us this link. Apparently, an equally inquisitive and bored denizen of our beloved cyberspace decided to do a little poking around the MSNBC site and found some interesting correlations. Type the word "fag" into their search engine and not only does a story on Lance Bass' coming out appear, but so does a story on everyone's favorite Gay American Jim McGreevey. As if that's not enough, type in the word "cunt" and one gets a story on good ol' Condi "Cunty?" Rice. Apparently MSNBC is having some technical - and psychological - difficulties.

Condoleeza Rice has expanded on First Lady Laura Bush's sentiments about not using gay marriage as a political tactic. Speaking to North Carolina's News & Record, the secretary of state seemed to contradict President Bush's anti-gay marriage agenda.

When we get into difficult debates about social policy, we get into difficult debates that touch people's lives. The only thing that I ask is that Americans do it with a kind of sensitivity that real individuals and real human beings are involved here.

Now, when we get into difficult debates about foreign policy, we get into difficult debates that end people's lives. But let's be sensitive about that discussion, especially to the press, mmm-kay?

Condoleezza Rice urges respect in same-sex marriage debate [Out Q News]

In case you weren't sure they were running for President in 2008, both John McCain and Hillary Clinton have already hit the campaign trail, amassing donations and political allies.

• Hillary Clinton has received the largest support of all Democratic hopefuls so far, already earning $20 million in political donations. And she has over two years to go. Clinton has long been of interest to the gay community, repeatedly speaking in favor of gay rights; and even though she recently announced her non-support of gay marriage, saying instead she favors "civil unions," it's these word plays that are really meant to placate critics of her long-standing support of gay rights.

• John McCain, who also hit the campaign recently, often angers his fellow Republicans with surprisingly-liberal views on issues of human rights (i.e., immigration reform, ban on torture), but then often swings to the far-right on other domestic policies. His views on gay topics is hard to measure, as he usually steers away from the topic; but he has taken a pro-gay stance on issues like the proposed federal ban on gay marriage, saying it is unnecessary and "un-Republican."

Keep reading political things:

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