UPDATE; Madelynn Taylor and Jean Mixner Will Be Buried Together

I first wrote about Madelynn Taylor — a 74-year-old US … United States … Navy veteran — back in April of this year; see post HERE.

Here’s a recap: Madelynn Taylor met and fell in love with Jean Mixner back in 1995, and they were married in California in 2008; afterwards they moved to Idaho and lived happily ever after until Jean died in 2012.

Madelynn Taylor, who had Jean cremated, wanted to be buried in Idaho’s Veterans Cemetery — she’s a veteran, remember — and she wanted to have Jean’s ashes interred with her. She contacted the cemetery to reserve one single plot for both she and her wife, but was told that they could not be buried together, not because of the space, but because, at that time, same-sex marriage was illegal, and unrecognized in Idaho.

To be clear, however, both Taylor and Mixner could be buried together in a national military cemetery — because their marriage is federally recognized — but Taylor wants to be buried in Boise where there are family close by. She even went so far as to ask a friend to hold onto her wife’s ashes, and hers, should she die before marriage became legal, and have them buried together then. And then, Barry Johnson is a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives in Potlatch, Idaho, became involved after he read Madelynn’s story; see that post HERE.

Barry wrote to Madelynn via The Idaho Statesman:

“I'll tell you what. I will donate the plot I earned in the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to you and Jean. I am happy to give my fellow veteran that small peace of mind. And I do it to honor all the great Americans I've served with along the way - gay, straight, whatever.”

Now, it looks like he won’t have to do that; now it looks like Madelynn won’t have to have a friend old onto the ashes, because last week Idaho state officials agreed to allow Madelynn and Jean to be buried together.

The first thing Madelynn Taylor did was to head to the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to make arrangements to have both her ashes and those of her late wife interred together at the cemetery.

Simple, yes, but it took the recent victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found that Idaho’s ban on marriage equality violated the U.S. Constitution, to allow these women, this couple, the rights that every other opposite-sex married couple in this country has taken for granted forever.

“Words can’t describe how incredibly grateful I am for all the work that went into making our wishes possible. Idaho is where some of our best memories together are and it’s where I want to spend eternity with Jean.”—Madelynn Taylor

It seems such a simple request, one that, for many, is a non-issue, but it’s just another perk of equality for married same-sex couples.

Even in Idaho.

via National Center for Lesbian Rights

Have You Heard? If You Don't Swear To 'God' You Can't Join The Air Force

I never wanted to join the military, even though I come from a military family. My father served twenty-plus years in the Air Force and even my sister enlisted. But I never had the inkling to join up, probably because I am staunchly anti-gun, anti-violence, anti-war; yeah, maybe that had something to do with it. But I am grateful for the men and women who do join up, in any branch of the military, and I respect and value their service, and their desire to serve.

Sadly, though, the Air Force doesn’t seem so keen on some enlistees, especially someone who wants to reenlist. At a time when the Air Force, and any branch of service, should be holding the door open to anyone who wants to serve, and is capable of serving, they have decided not to allow one man to reenlist because he crossed out the words "so help me God" at the end of the Air Force oath of allegiance.

His attorney, Monica Miller, with the Apignani Humanist Legal Center, says her client was informed the Air Force would not accept his reenlistment contract because he had crossed out the ‘God’ and that he had just two options: say the oath as written, or leave the Air Force.

In a letter to the inspectors general of the Air Force, Miller said the airman should be allowed to reenlist under a secular oath, and not have to swear to ‘God’ and added that the airman is set to sue the Air Force if he is not allowed to reenlist.

What’s odd is that, up until last October, you were allowed to omit the words ‘so help me God’ from the oath, but for some reason the rules were changed and now this man, who has served his country already, and wants to continue his service, won’t be allowed to because, well, God.

An Air Force spokeswoman confirmed the new policy:

"Reciting ‘So help me God’ in the reenlistment and commissioning oaths is a statutory requirement under Title 10 USC 502. (AFI 36-2606) is consistent with the language mandated in 10 USC 502. Paragraph 5.6 [and] was changed in October 2013 to reflect the aforementioned statutory requirement and airmen are no longer authorized to omit the words ‘So help me God'.”

Basically, the Air Force cannot change its instructions to make “so help me God” optional unless Congress — oh lordy, now the Do-Nothing-Congress is involved — changes the law requiring it. Never mind the fact that to an airman, an atheist airman, swearing to God would be a lie, and never mind that, according to Miller, Article VI of the Constitution prohibits religious tests, and therefore In fact, in the trumps the Air Force Instruction. In fact, in the 1961 case Torcaso v. Watkins, the Supreme Court ruled that “neither a State nor the Federal Government can constitutionally force a person ‘to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.’”

You know, that whole Freedom of Religion thing we thought we had going on in this country.

As I was saying, I never wanted to be part of the military, and yet here we have someone who has served, and wants to continue serving, but will not be allowed to reenlist because he refuses to swear to God.

This is really getting ridiculous, y’all.

source