Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Marches On, Technologically
In 1994, the company I was running, ApolloMedia, purchased the electronic rights to “Conduct Unbecoming,†the journalistic masterpiece written by the late Randy Shilts that provided the most comprehensive to date overview of gays and lesbians serving in the U.S. military.
Released in 1995, rich with photographs, video and complementary documents and articles, the CD-ROM contained ePost, the first ever technological tool enabling users to find, and communicate directly with, their elected representatives (through email for the few who had it back then, or by fax, simply by typing in your zip code). Rolling Stone magazine called Conduct Unbecoming “a political statement” and “an evolutionary CD-ROM.â€
In the course of the production, we met and interviewed a small but dedicated organization that had formed a couple of years earlier, founded by attorneys Michelle Benecke and Dixon Osburn. In a very short time they had already become an invaluable resource for servicemembers becoming dangerously ensnared in the newly implemented, vague, unconstitutional “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†(DADT) policy, providing, in addition to life-saving information, free, confidential, high quality legal service.
The language of the policy, which among many insidious things, failed to distinguish between content and conduct. Saying you were gay was indistinguishable from being gay, and being gay was indistinguishable from engaging in same sex conduct. Even if you were a celibate, virgin who had never been touched. The very CD-ROM we were producing, if caught in the possession of a servicemember, would be more than enough to trigger an investigation and lead to a discharge under the DADT policy. (The Navy attempted to block release of the CD-ROM itself.)
Stretched for resources as word of their existence spread, a mechanism was needed to enable them to communicate as much information as possible to as many servicemembers possible. They also needed to communicate with the media, who had become reliant on them to provide accurate information as to what was happening under the policy.
And so in 1995, we built them a website, establishing them as among the first of pioneering non-profit organizations to turn to the Internet as more than simply a static, electronic marketing brochure. The information, advice and warnings on the website provided invaluable assistance to those finding the vague tenets of the policy almost impossible to navigate.
The organization — Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) — proved to be a lifeline to countless servicemembers. Having responded to over 11,000 requests for assistance to date, SLDN was a powerful and primary player in the repeal of DADT, and remains a critical resource in a post-DADT military environment, still worthy of support.
Michelle Benecke and Disxon Osburn, Co-Executive Directors, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, 1994
On January 12, 2012, SLDN launched a new online toolkit to assist veterans discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) or the prior regulations prohibiting gay and lesbian service in the military seeking changes to their discharge paperwork.
“Since repeal, word has spread rapidly about this opportunity, and our attorneys have experienced a surge in calls from veterans seeking our services. This toolkit will streamline the process for them and help us get results for them more quickly. We urge anyone interested in this assistance to contact our office and let us help,” said SLDN Legal Director David McKean in a SLDN press release.
According to SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis, more than 100 gay and lesbian veterans who were discharged under DADT have already sought to have their discharge paperwork changed or upgraded.
“Sometimes it’s for reasons of personal pride and setting the record straight about honorable service to our country. But often, there’s also a very practical reason, like urgently needed VA medical benefits or issues of employment. Employers routinely request discharge paperwork when reviewing job applicants who have prior military service. A narrative reason for separation of ‘homosexuality’ or a negative reentry code can mean forcing veterans to out themselves to future employers or being denied employment altogether,” Jarvis stated in a SLDN press release.
In September 2011, Melvin Dwork, a World War II veteran who served in the Navy and was discharged in 1944 for being gay was able to upgrade his discharge paperwork owing to SLDN’s assistance.
As the organization continues its valuable work and continues to use technology in pursuit of its formidable goals and objectives, I feel privileged to have worked with Michelle Benecke and Disxon Osburn, who quickly saw the resource value of a website beyond a simple fund-raising vehicle. From the outset, SLDN served as an online destination that could save careers and in some cases, even lives.
Our collaborative efforts relating to the development of the web site allowed us to explore and innovate privacy solutions that were virtually non-existent, so that accessing the site wouldn’t compromise the identity of its visitors. A site that made (and continues making) life better for servicemembers who served their country with honor; setting legal precedents that ultimately led to DADT’s demise; and restoring the respect and dignity they so richly deserved.
As SLDN prepares to celebrate is 20th anniversary this year, the release of their new online Discharge Upgrade kit suggests the organization will continue to build and innovate on its strong foundations and technological legacy.
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Clinton Fein is an internationally acclaimed author, artist, and First Amendment activist, best-​known for his 1997 First Amendment Supreme Court victory against United States Attorney General Janet Reno. Fein has also gained international recognition for his Annoy​.com site, and for his work as a political artist. Fein is on the Board of Directors of the First Amendment Project, “a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting freedom of information, expression, and petition.†Fein’s political and privacy activism have been widely covered around the world. His work also led him to be nominated for a 2001 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award.
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
