An Open Letter to Senior United States Air Force Academy Leadership
Dear Senior United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) Leadership,
Hey, I have a quick question for you all. What is it, do you imagine, that Bruce Springsteen, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and an ever-increasing host of artists, organizations and corporations understand about standing up to fundamentalist-Christian infused, LGBT prejudice and bigotry that YOU all simply do not?
Well, of course I am speaking about USAFA’s “Concert Band” performing last Thursday evening, April 21, 2016, at the fundamentalist Christian New Life Church (NLC) in Colorado Springs.
Just so you know, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is representing 145 USAFA cadets, staff and faculty in their collective furious rage that you all enthusiastically allowed this concert to even take place. Seven of MRFF’s clients are LGBT. They are particularly aggrieved by your despicable actions here. Oh, and not that it matters, but 114 of MRFF’s clients self-identify as Christian faith practitioners.
Without going into the minute detail of your sad stupidity or willful deceit, (and it’s hard to decide which it is) the facts are the facts. The band’s own regulations quite clearly prohibit its participation “... in events…associated with religious or ideological movements..”. To argue that the infamously homophobic, proselytizing Prometheus NLC is NOT precisely THAT is disingenuous at best and just plain dishonest at worst. Indeed, the NLC actually fired the female security guard who heroically stopped a vicious attack at their church not long ago at the risk of her own life. Her “crime” and cause for termination; she is gay.
I guess by now you know that the official event brochure handed out by the NLC at this massively attended event even proudly announced that the USAFA Concert Band was “in partnership” with the NLC. “I-N P-A-R-T-N-E-R-S-H-I-P”?!
Please let us know ALL about USAFA’s “partnership” with the NLC, would you please? Soon, very soon, MRFF will be providing you with "extra motivation" to so disclose these matters as our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) demand will be arriving on your desks shortly.
Regarding the "non-responsive response” which USAFA gave to media inquiries about this outrage, it is MOST enlightening to note that USAFA claims that 3.2% of its band performances have been at churches since January of 2015 and then lists them. It is absolutely fascinating to note that, apparently, ZERO percent of the USAFA band’s concerts have been performed at other than exclusively CHRISTIAN houses of worship or CHRISTIAN private schools. Is it ACTUALLY possible that the famed USAFA Concert Band has NOT played at ANY Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Native American, Sikh or any of the literal plethora of other minority faith worship centers or schools in that same 16 month time span? Further, has the famed USAFA Concert Band EVER performed at other than a Christian faith center or other than a Christian school? We’re all ears, tell us please!
Look, we all know that USAFA has a remarkably disgraceful and miserable record of ensuring First Amendment church-state separation civil rights. We also know all too well that, despite USAFA’s constant claim of universally supporting diversity and ensuring respect for all, it is the fundamentalist, evangelical Christian faith which USAFA never fails to elevate to “most beloved” status in every way it possibly can. Just look at USAFA’s wretched track record since February of 2004 when Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” movie debuted.
Don't you get it, Lt. General Michelle Johnson and senior USAFA Staff? By having the USAFA band play “in partnership” at the NLC, you are only further exacerbating USAFA’s well-deserved reputation for fundamentalist Christian triumphalism, supremacy and primacy. Do you REALLY not see how having your band play at the NLC does PRECISELY that?
By performing at the NLC, USAFA doesn’t just PARTNER with the NLC, they seem to implicitly ENDORSE the NLC! How freaking hard is that for you to comprehend?
Let’s get real here, shall we? MRFF and its USAFA clients think you ALREADY understood that fact quite well indeed, just as Bruce Springsteen and the NBA and many others “understand" that if they perform in North Carolina they are, likewise, endorsing that state’s anti-LGBT, shameful legislation. That’s “Shameful.”
That’s “Shameful” in every sense of that word.
Now THERE’S a word you just might understand as senior USAFA leaders. Why? Because that’s EXACTLY what you all have proven yourselves to be in supporting the USAFA band’s “in partnership” Musical Pageant Spectacular, that included the traditional “Amazing Grace,” at the equally shameful NLC. By the way, our 145 USAFA MRFF clients aren’t seeing a lot of “grace" here, “amazing” or otherwise; especially the 7 who are LGBT.
Regarding that FOIA demand, prepare for incoming. This latest breach of the law by USAFA isn’t over and not by a long shot.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is up against well-funded extremist religious organizations. Your donations allow us to continue our fight in the courts and in the media to fight for separation of church and state in the U.S. military. Please make a fully tax-deductible donation today at helpbuildthewall.org.
Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, Esq. is founder and president of the 7-time Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), an honor graduate of the Air Force Academy, and a former J.A.G. in the U.S. Air Force. He served as a White House counsel in the Reagan Administration and as the Committee Management Officer of the "Iran-Contra" Investigation. He is also the former General Counsel to H. Ross Perot and Perot Systems Corporation. His two sons, daughter-in-law, son-in law, and brother-in-law are also graduates of USAFA. In December 2012, Defense News named Mikey one of the 100 Most Influential People in U.S. Defense. He is the author of "With God On Our Side" (2006, St. Martin's Press) and "No Snowflake in an Avalanche" (2012, Vireo).