re: Don't Ask, Don't Tell ........ did I hear right today?

That a group of recently retired flag officers issued a joint statement asking that the law be repealed and that gays be allowed to serve openly? I heard this on the radio only once, and missed the opening of the story. It seems this is the biggest bloc of officers to ever come out in favor of sanity (my word) on this issue.

I caught part of it as well and didn't know what the whole story was. DADT is downright stupid. I had gay sailors work with and for me, no problem. I had "straight" Sailors working for me who beat their wives and couldn't balance a check book and drank to excess but by god they fucked women so all was well. There are good servicemembers and bad servicemembers and that status has zero to do with their sex lives. But I don't have conservative values so what the fuck do I know?

When It comes down to it in the end... Are we not all SeaMen? :rofl: :rofl: :hi:

SO many opportunities to post it this week...



I will say this. Some of the subvets I know knew gay sub sailors. But they said it was no problem. In a sub you pee by yourself and shower by yourself - if you're permitted to take a shower....

It's also reported on the CNN website.

"A coalition of gay rights groups has launched a renewed assault on the U.S. military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, marking its 14th anniversary by planting 12,000 U.S. flags on the National Mall to recognize troops discharged over the policy and releasing a letter signed by 28 retired general and flag officers calling on Congress to repeal it.

<snip>
"Two of the generals — retired Army Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich, of Dublin, Ohio, and retired Maj. Gen. Alexander Burgin, of Salem, Ore. — attended a Friday morning news event that followed the planting of the flags, and Laich addressed reporters. Also speaking was Rhonda Davis, a former Navy mass communications specialist first class who was discharged in 2006 after attending a gay-marriage march in New York City and then admitting in two news interviews that she is gay.


<snip>

"'... it's up to Congress to get rid of it,” said Steve Ralls, director of communications for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “The American people, however, have long been far ahead of Congress on this issue. Every poll shows that a majority of Americans favor repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ ”


http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/military_dontask_... /

On the one hand, gay Canadians, unlike gay Americans, have served openly for years with no ill effect.

On the other hand, gay Canadians, unlike gay Americans, have all the rights that any other citizens have.

Until it's the law of the land throughout the United States that gays can get married, adopt children, and not suffer job or other discrimination because of their sexual orientation, why on earth would they want to serve such a system? I know I wouldn't want to be part of an army pledged to protect a society that considered me a second-class citizen. It's like what happened to black people who served honourably in the Second World War and then came back to find that they couldn't drink from the same fountains as white people, that they had to ride at the back of the bus, and that they were discouraged from voting.

Everything would be hunky-dory if there wasn't systematic discrimination against homosexuals, but till things change down there, I think gays should tell the armed forces to go fuck themselves, preferably without lube. Duties and rights go hand in hand.

I can tell you this, though. If the government ever institutes a draft in order to boost the troops in Iraq, you're going to find that there are a lot more "gay" people (as opposed to real gay people) in the United States than you thought. There'll be a bunch of straight (Republican) boys blowing the sergeant-major down at the recruitment office, just so they won't have to go.

Apparently there are many gay and lesbian folks in the U.S. armed services.

..... but consider this: The military was the first segment of our society to be fully, officially integrated. Perhaps having the military be the first segment to accept gays on equal footing is not such a bad thing.

Again, I see your point and respect it.

gays and lesbians continue to serve and continue to make noise about the injustice of the system. I'm basing this on the situation of black Americans (although I realize blacks did not have the opportunity to legally refrain from service). As long as they serve and people are confronted with the fact that they are serving their country yet being treated unequally, the pressure will be on the powers that be to change the situation.

...whether the military are willing to admit it or not, and in all that time it still hasn't resulted in gay Americans having the exact same rights as straight Americans. People have long been confronted with the fact that gays are serving their country, yet being treated unequally, and they've simply chosen not to acknowledge it. If over 200 years of valiant military service by gay Americans hasn't been enough to persuade the haters in charge by now, it's never going to happen.

It's up to the straight world to make the next move. So, first you give the rights, and then you get the soldiers.