Muammar Al Khadafi

One of the things the trans community is painfully aware of is that the ballyhooed repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell last month still left the trans community behind and vulnerable to the same discharges that GLB soldiers used to endure but no longer have to worry about.  

Staff Sergeant Rebecca Grant was discharged under the DADT policy two weeks before it ended.

Besides TAVA who is leading this fight to allow trans people tom openly serve, we just picked up an ally in pleading our case to allow trans people to openly serve in our country's military in Ivy League institution Brown University.

Brown President Dr. Ruth J. Simmons called on the university to "commit to helping to arouse greater national attention to the discrimination of the military and others against transgender individuals."

She wrote in a letter to the university community,"We must do all in our power as an institution to carry the message to Congress, the executive branch, and the military establishment that the policy barring transgender individuals from military service must be changed,"  

Brown ended its ROTC programs during the contentious Vietnam War era in 1969 and kept the bans in place due to anti-GLBT discrimination in the military.   In the wake of the passage of the repeal legislation and September 20 implementation of the end of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the Providence, RI based school was in the process of reconsidering lifting the ban and allowing the ROTC programs to resume on campus. 

Dr. Simmons favors continuing the on campus ROTC program ban while favoring expanded options for Brown students to participate in ROTC programs on other campuses

The proposal by President Simmons to continue the ROTC ban must go to the university's Corporation for the final say.

"Many speak about the importance of service to the nation through the military and they are correct," Dr. Simmons wrote in the letter. "However, to root out the manifestation and vestiges of discrimination from our national life is an equally important dimension of serving the nation."

Thank you Dr. Simmons and Brown University community for being willing to add your voices to others who speak loudly and clearly against anti-transgender discrimination and are standing up for our right to serve in our nation's military.

Wow, didn't see this coming.   Dave Gavitt, the man who founded the Big East conference in 1979 and was its first commissioner until 1990 passes away on Friday.   Sunday the news gets leaked that founding member Syracuse and Pittsburgh are leaving the conference for the ACC.  

While Syracuse and Pitt have the right to look out for their schools interests, it's still some foul and nekulturny timing to make this kind of announcement in light of the fact the founder of this league isn't even cold in his grave yet. 

TCU, y'all sure y'all want to head to the Big East seeing that serious sporting drama is about to break out on the East Coast?

Now the fun and drama the Big XII-3 is having over Texas A&M's SECession is about to take place on the east coast.   There are rumors the ACC is about to extend invites to Rutgers and UConn as well, but we'll have to stay tuned to see if this plays out

That unexpected ACC raid of the Big East may set off another frenzied round of expansion and soap opera level intrigue.  Will the SEC get busy and make an expedited adoption of a 14th team and who will it be?   Will the Big Ten wait or expand?   Will the Pac-12 grab more teams?  Will the ACC do the same?  

What happens to Louisville, West Virginia and the rest of the Big East's remaining members?   Will everybody in the BCS wait and see if the Big 12 and Big East implode, then pick up the leftovers and the AQ BCS conference status that go with it?


And to think I was upset about All My Children being canceled and the last broadcast of it happening on Friday.

Time to pass the popcorn, the latest chapter of 'As the College Conferences Realign Turns' is about to take place.

While we football fans were waiting for the NFL to get cranked up since ratifying a new CBA agreement and prepare for the upcoming 2011 season, on July 1 the moves of Boise State to the Mountain West Conference, Colorado and Utah to the Pacific 12 and Nebraska to the Big Ten conferences became official.

That means in this 2011 college football season we're going to see old faces in new conference places for the first time since the last major conference reshufflings in the 1990s.  TCU's move to the Big East will take effect in 2012    But this post is going to focus on the Pac-12 and Big Ten, and I'll talk about the other permutations in the college football landscape later.   

With the moves of Colorado, Utah and Nebraska to their new respective conferences, it also means the Pacific-12 and the Big Ten have the required 12 teams in order to host conference championship game at the end of the season.

Starting with the Pacific-12 Conference, they went to a north-south divisional setup for football.  In the Pac-12 North the teams competing in it will be defending champ Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Cal and Stanford.   The Pac-12 South will have the conference newbies Colorado and Utah, Arizona, Arizona St, UCLA and USC.  

The California schools will continue to play their traditional rivalry games against each other with the winner of the Pac-12 North facing off against the winner of the Pac-12 South in the Pac-12 Championship Game.  

That new Pac-12 title game will be hosted by the division champion team with the best record.

The Big Ten not only got a new logo with the entry of Nebraska into the league but also went to a divisional setup for football as well with the divisions being named the Leaders and the Legends Divisions. 

The names of the divisions have gotten some heavy criticism from Big Ten fans and others (I don't like them either) so the Big Ten powers that be may consider new names for them in the future. 

The divisional lineup memberships were also set up with an eye not only on geography and competitive balance, but making sure the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry game and other traditional rivalries weren't diminished to being a battle for just a division title.   The Wolverines were placed in the Legends Division with Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, Michigan State and newcomer Nebraska.  Ohio State was placed in the Leaders Division with Indiana, Penn State, Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin    

Division winners will square off in the Big Ten Conference Football Championship game, which will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis through 2015.

I'm interested in seeing how the newbies do in their brand new conferences this fall and how the brave new world of Pac-12 and Big Ten football plays out.   In any case, should be fun to watch, including those new conference championship games on December 3.