Posts Tagged DADT
Retired Military Officers: Keep DADT
(365 Gay.com, by AP, 4/1/09)
(New York City) More than 1,000 retired military officers, including several who were top commanders, are urging President Barack Obama and Congress to maintain the law that bars gays from serving openly in the armed forces.
Obama is consulting with the Pentagon on the issue and says he supports eventual repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which prohibits gays in the military from being open about their sexual orientation. A bill that would allow gays to serve openly has been introduced in Congress.
A statement issued by the retired officers Tuesday said passage of that bill “would undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadership at all levels, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lend their sons and daughters to military service, and eventually break the All-Volunteer Force.”
Among the signatories were Gen. Carl E. Mundy, Jr., a former commandant of the Marine Corps; Adm. Leighton W. Smith, a former commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe; Gen. Charles A. Horner, who commanded U.S. aerial forces during the 1990-91 Gulf War; and Adm. Jerome L. Johnson, a former vice chief of Naval Operations.
The retired officers said they strongly supported the principle that “homosexuality is incompatible with military service” and warned that repeal of current law could jeopardize morale and “unit cohesion.”
April 1, 2009
38 West Point Grads Come Out and Form Knights Out
From the Navy Times:
Thirty-eight graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., came out of the closet Monday with an offer to help their alma mater educate future Army leaders on the need to accept and honor the sacrifices of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops.
“Knights Out” wants to serve as a connection between gay troops and Army administrators, particularly at West Point, to provide an “open forum” for communication between gay West Point graduates and their fellow alumni and to serve in an advisory role for West Point leaders in the eventuality — which the group believes is both “imminent and inevitable” — that the law and policy collectively known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” are repealed by Congress.
“We’re publicly announcing our sexuality, our orientation,” said 1st Lt. Dan Choi, a National Guardsman with the 1st Bn., 69th Infantry, based in Manhattan. “It’s just one part of who we are in saying that we are standing to be counted.”
Link to Knights Out
h/t Towelroad
March 17, 2009
Kansas Army National Guard Discharges First Gay Soldier
(AP) The Kansas Army National Guard has discharged its first homosexual soldier under the federal “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy. Amy Brian, who served nine years in the guard, including a stint in Iraq, was investigated and “separated” last month after a civilian co-worker told authorities they had seen her kissing a woman in a Wal-Mart checkout line.
“I’d never really tried to hide my homosexuality to the close people I worked with,” Brian said. “And they didn’t seem to care or think any different of it.”
Brian joins almost 12,500 other lesbian, gay and bisexual service members who the Pentagon has discharged from 1994 to 2007.
The Washington-based Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonprofit organization formed in response to the “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy, said women are discharged at a rate disproportionate to their presence in the military.
Read the Story
February 9, 2009
Supporters of gays in military urge Obama to move quickly
(Washington) Supporters of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” are calling on President Obama to stop dragging his feet in ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
The President has said that he supports repeal of the ban, but reports indicate he has called for a study that could take up to a year to determine the effect of allowing gays to serve.
“Let’s be clear: A commission or a study group is not about change. That’s business as usual. We do not need another report to tell us what we already know and what earlier reports have long since concluded: the sexual orientation of a service member is irrelevant. What is relevant is how well he or she does the job,” said Aubrey Sarvis, the Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network on the SLDN Blog.
365gay Newscenter Staff
February 5, 2009
