Gay Servicemembers Seeking Help Hit New High

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/01/011105military.htm

An organization that provides legal advice to gays and lesbians in the military said Tuesday that it received a record 1025 requests for assistance in 2004, up from 991 similar requests in 2003.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network also said that the number of gays being drummed out of the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” despite a shortage of troops in Iraq and Afganistan.

“Service members continue to report to SLDN that they face a hostile military environment rife with anti-gay harassment and discrimination,” said SLDN Executive Director C. Dixon Osburn.

[Ian David]

1. So, let me get this straight

1) The army is fighting to force gays to leave the military
2) The army is fighting to keep anyone else from leaving the military
3) Gays are fighting to stay in the military
4) The army wants more people in the military
5) Gays want to join the army
6) The army says they don't want gays to join the military

As an aside, remember the story in The Onion:
"Gays fight for right to love, kill other men."

Why doesn't anyone who doesn't want to be in the army anymore just become gay?

[Adamocrat]

2. You cannot 'become' gay...

You're either born gay, or you're born to shop retail. It's that simple.


-A

[Ian David]

5. I don't mean they should REALLY become gay

I mean, they should suddenly declare the love that dare not speak its name.

Actually, did you know the army is working on a non-lethal weapon to make enemy soldiers have homosexual relations on the battlefield?

I kid you not!

I can email you the link later.

[davidinalameda]

3. it's the Bush Defense Dept.

of course it's confusing

[xchrom]

4. feh! don't ask --don't tell

i can't forgive clinton for that.

that there are more at this time -- w/ rev. george at the helm is no surprise.

[Ian David]

6. Don't Ask Don't Tell was probably honestly misguided

1) This came from a guy who didn't tell about several illicit affairs
2) He smoked pot but "didn't inhale."

In Clinton World, Don't Ask Don't Tell was a viable option.

My opinion is he didn't know how bad it would really be.

But I could be wrong.

[Spangle]

7. Actualy

Before, they DID ask. And if your answer turned out to be a false one, you could be in major trouble. Now they can't get a person for false documents, etc.

It's a step. Wish it could have been the "big" one. But it does offer some legeal protection from the military.

[Kolesar]

8. Are there still "fascist" cliques in the US Army like Tim McVeigh was in?

There was a white supremist movement in the US Army back in the bad old days of the 1990s. (The era of the Michigan Militia and the Montana Freemen.) I just wonder if that is the source of the divide in the Army.

[Southern Dem 2005]

9. While I think gays

should be allowed in the military I am surprised that any gay person who joins the military would be shocekd at discirmination--they had to expect discrimination when they joined. The military as a whole is the most conservative institute in America. Additionally, the military leadership is typically older white males who are rigid social conservatives who have no desire to let gays in. I also wonder if some of the cries for help aren't straight service members seeking a way out of the military. The whole establishment is a mess right now and a lot of people will do anything to avoid going to Iraq.

[Ian David]

10. The "cries for help" are gay people trying to stay IN

However, there are plenty of straight people (and I guess gay people) trying to stay OUT.

Something like 1/3 are refusing to report back for active duty when they are called.

My question is, why would a gay person WANT to be in the army?

Their rights are being trampled by the government they are supposed to protect, and the military they want to join doesn't even want them there.

Actually, they're probably joining for the same reason as everyone else-- there aren't any other jobs.

IMHO, if they want to defend America, they should join The Peace Corps or become cops, firemen, forest rangers, or something. Or maybe the British military, which actively seeks to recruit gay people. The British army kind of helps defend America. Anything but joining the American military that has institutionalized hatred against them.

[Laurab]

11. Well, there's my answer to the upcoming draft

The day it's announced both my son and daughter are going to become "gay". I think the RW lunatics think it's a choice, anyway.