There's a new battle plan for bringing the battleship Iowa to San Francisco. The battleship's supporters now hope to gain the support of city leaders by turning part of the vessel into a museum about the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the contributions of gays, lesbians, ethnic minorities and women to the military. The Board of Supervisors rejected the ship in July, and two supervisors explained their "no" votes by saying they objected to the military's policies toward gays and lesbians, while others opposed the war in Iraq.
"I think the Iowa could be a very powerful teaching tool regarding recruitment and U.S. defense policy," said Merylin Wong, president of the Historic Ship Memorial at Pacific Square, the San Francisco organization lobbying for the ship. There's a tremendous amount of archives documenting the contribution of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) veterans," she said. "It's all part of naval history, and it's all fact."
| Transgender? |