Don't Ask, Don't Tell legislation coming to an end

[Da Skinna]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/pr...litary-servic/

Uh oh — this could be a bit of a test for President Obama: The office of Dem Rep. Ellen Tauscher confirms that she will introduce legislation today ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy — a measure she says we need to “tear down” so that the military can be “better.”

Tauscher will formally announce her plans at a speech she’s giving later today at the Center for American Progress, and her office sends over an excerpt of her prepared remarks.

“We have a military that is truly the finest in the world but we can be better,” Tauscher will say. “There is one last, final barrier that we need to tear down. We need to end the `Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ policy.”

Politico quoted an anonymous Tauscher aide this morning saying she’d be introducing the measure, and Politico opined that such a move could bedevil Obama — as it did Bill Clinton — at a time he’s trying to push through a range of enormous initiatives that will consume a great deal of his political capital.

Tauscher’s office tells me she will address this criticism today.

“Many have asked me why now and I have always said that there is no right time to right a wrong,” Tauscher will say. “So, today, I am introducing the Military Readiness Enhancement Act. This bill will once and for all end the discriminatory practices of the Department of Defense. It will allow the men and women who have been administratively discharged to have the opportunity to serve again if they want.”

The administration is on record saying that Obama will eventually follow through on this policy, and public discussion of it right now will be grabbed onto by the right, could reveal differences on the issue between Obama and uniformed military and put pressure on the Obama administration to reaffirm his commitment to it.

Finally. What a stupid law, even Israel, a much more religious state, has gays in the army.

[Mikelus Trento]

3 words....Alexander the Great

[Zephyrus]

3 words....Alexander the Great

6 other words...he had kids and was married

Gays in the armed forces could be a great thing - new Theban sacred band anyone?

Oh dear god...Are we fighting Sparta now!? I had no idea such a war was taking place!

Wasn't that the basis for the Sacred Band?

And coming down to it, women have a harder time being in the military than gays.

Dude, I would LOVE girls into the military, just would not support them being in combat roles.

The military should be kept professional. Relationships between solders [of any gender] could cause, if it goes wrong, problems. Hell, people in love might take unnecessary risks in combat. The private life of a solder should be kept private and separate from their career. There are still gays in the military, they just don't announce it. Why? Because it has nothing to do with their job in the military.

QFT.

[Mikelus Trento]

6 other words...he had kids and was married



Oh dear god...Are we fighting Sparta now!? I had no idea such a war was taking place!

Dude, I would LOVE girls into the military, just would not support them being in combat roles.

QFT.

So you are disputing the fact he had a lifelong gay lover?

[Zephyrus]

So you are disputing the fact he had a lifelong gay lover?

I'm disputing the fact that your calling him a hardcore homosexual as comparable to that Chris Crocker guy on youtube. If you called him a bisexual, i wouldn't see a problem with it. If the stories about him having a gay lover are true and not just made up to portray him in that way, that is. We must remember that Alexander didn't make his own autobiography, so we need to lose our assumptions on modern concepts when judging his sexuality and lifestyle choices.

In any event, gay or not, he kicked major ass!

Just out of curiosity, wasn't there some report done that showed that integrated squadrons of both heterosexuals and homosexuals suffered from fighting prowess, while all-homosexual units performed the best in the military compared to everyone else?

I'll try to find it. If the study is true, it might create some new discussion in this thread, since I'd like to see your opinions on it.

... and a search on Google renders me unable to find that study, and even if I did find it, a billion other studies would have proven it wrong anyway. Ah well.

If it were true, do you think we should recruit all gays for automatic service in the military? Because that leads to two problems. 1) Manpower issues (get it? ) and 2)Their conduct.

I don't see the point of this law...especially in the navy. I mean the word "sailor" and the word "gay" pretty much walk hand in hand.

Well, the marine corps is as hetero (as far as i know : ) as they come, thk god for that!

Seriously, it must be awkward to be the only hetero guy in a ship full of horny gay men...:

[Orko]

If it were true, do you think we should recruit all gays for automatic service in the military? Because that leads to two problems. 1) Manpower issues (get it? ) and 2)Their conduct.

1. Haha,very funny

2. what problem is there about their conduct?

[Phoebus]

Until such a time as co-ed showes and barracks become a reality, I will at least maintain a tongue-in-cheek opposition to gays serving openly in the military. If people are going to be checking out my sexy ass, I feel that I should be able to make someone of the opposite sex feel just as uncomfortable to make up for it.

Slightly more seriously, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a joke. Who knows, if they repeal it, the number of "classified ads" for man-on-man loving in our latrines downrange will go down.

3 words....Alexander the Great

So you are disputing the fact he had a lifelong gay lover?

I'm disputing that there's even any evidence to reasonably prove this. Aside from a single letter allegedly written by Diogenes--who hardly engaged in long-term interaction with the Macedonian king--not one of the extant four sources on Alexander so much as mentions Hephaistion as erastes or eromenos. Quintus Curtius alone mentions Bagoas the eunuch as being his lover... so if you're trying to argue that Alexander was gay... you're probably backing the wrong horse for "most likely bed-buddy".

Just out of curiosity, wasn't there some report done that showed that integrated squadrons of both heterosexuals and homosexuals suffered from fighting prowess, while all-homosexual units performed the best in the military compared to everyone else?

I wonder what units it could possibly be referring to.

I wonder if even the Sacred Band of Thebes could not be described as "all-homosexual". I would imagine its members would at least be bisexual, would they not? Well, I suppose one could argue that marriage in their case was just a matter of procreating. I couldn't be sure, though.

[spartan117]

Finally. What a stupid law, even Israel, a much more religious state, has gays in the army.

As i recall the law was passed because clinton wasnt able to gather enough support to end discrimination in the military based on sexuality. This was the next best thing. I wonder if there will be any significant opposition this time around.

[tree151]

blocking all gay people from the military is just pure... stupid. If it will come to an end it will do only good. (plus, Israel is not a religious state, it's primarily led by secular people.)

[Scar Face]

Honestly, I agree with this policy, it should not be changed. The sexuality of anyone in the military shouldn't come up. Relationships between people in the military should not happen period.

[Farnan]

Honestly, I agree with this policy, it should not be changed. The sexuality of anyone in the military shouldn't come up. Relationships between people in the military should not happen period.

Why not?

[Scar Face]

Why not?

The military should be kept professional. Relationships between solders [of any gender] could cause, if it goes wrong, problems. Hell, people in love might take unnecessary risks in combat. The private life of a solder should be kept private and separate from their career. There are still gays in the military, they just don't announce it. Why? Because it has nothing to do with their job in the military.

[Da Skinna]

The military should be kept professional. Relationships between solders [of any gender] could cause, if it goes wrong, problems. Hell, people in love might take unnecessary risks in combat. The private life of a solder should be kept private and separate from their career. There are still gays in the military, they just don't announce it. Why? Because it has nothing to do with their job in the military.

Wasn't that the basis for the Sacred Band?

And coming down to it, women have a harder time being in the military than gays.

[imb39]

The military should be kept professional. Relationships between solders [of any gender] could cause, if it goes wrong, problems. Hell, people in love might take unnecessary risks in combat. The private life of a solder should be kept private and separate from their career. There are still gays in the military, they just don't announce it. Why? Because it has nothing to do with their job in the military.

It's not about 'announcing it.' You talk about professionalism - where's the professionalism when one person could be summarily sacked for the 'crime' of being a homosexual. It doesn't matter how effective a soldier they were, they would be sacked - all due to the fact there is some fear that men trained to kill others are scared that a poofter might drop a bar of soap. Ridiculous.

[boofhead]

all due to the fact there is some fear that men trained to kill others are scared that a poofter might drop a bar of soap. Ridiculous.

Too right.

About time this silly thing was quashed. All you have to do, really, is just like with heteros, ensure anyone in a relationship is in seperate units during combat, and of course no officers + enlisted relationships.

I think half of the problem here is that some people think gays tend to be effeminite and woosy, which most certainly isn't the case. I know of at least one former aggressive rugby league player who is gay, and I've met some huge bodybuilding gay men who could crush your average straight person with their bare hands.

[Farnan]

The military should be kept professional. Relationships between solders [of any gender] could cause, if it goes wrong, problems. Hell, people in love might take unnecessary risks in combat. The private life of a solder should be kept private and separate from their career. There are still gays in the military, they just don't announce it. Why? Because it has nothing to do with their job in the military.

That's why you can't have a relationship within you're unit.

[Thanatos]

That's why you can't have a relationship within you're unit.

Doesn't stop half of my detachment from dating itself. I kid you not, we have so many relationships going on.

Amazingly, nothing bad has come of it yet.

[Tom Paine]

The military should be kept professional. Relationships between solders [of any gender] could cause, if it goes wrong, problems. Hell, people in love might take unnecessary risks in combat. The private life of a solder should be kept private and separate from their career. There are still gays in the military, they just don't announce it. Why? Because it has nothing to do with their job in the military.

Just out of interest, would you argue that heterosexuals need to keep their private lives out of the military? No discussion of wives and girlfriends back home, for instance? Those are the strictures currently placed, by DADT, on homosexuals: They can't discuss partners back home honestly and openly, or write to them, or call them and say "I love you", for fear of people finding out that they are gay.

What does that do, but sap morale, one wonders?

[Thanatos]

Relationships between people in the military should not happen period.

Good luck keeping that from happening.

[cristophe el perno]

Gays in the armed forces could be a great thing - new Theban sacred band anyone?