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Can you just say you're gay to get out of the military?

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HalfManHalfBiscuit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:01 PM
Original message
Can you just say you're gay to get out of the military?
Or do you have to "prove" it somehow. Seems like a pretty easy way out.

==========================================
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040621/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_gays

Brian Muller, an Army bomb squad team leader who served on a security detail for President Bush (news - web sites), said he was dismissed from duty after deciding to tell his commander he's gay.

"I didn't do it to get out of a war — I already served in a war," Muller, 25, said in an interview. "After putting my life on the line in the war, the idea that I was fighting for the freedoms of so many other people that I couldn't myself enjoy was almost unbearable."

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name not needed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:03 PM
Response to Original message
1. I'm not gay
Edited on Mon Jun-21-04 05:03 PM by name not needed
But I'm willing to learn. :)
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freetobegay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:04 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. First you have to know the secret handshake.
:)
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aquart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:08 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. It's how my boyfriend got out of Viet Nam.
Edited on Mon Jun-21-04 05:12 PM by aquart
There was a line on the form: Have you ever had a homosexual experience? and Ted checked it. (In summer stock, very drunk, woke up to find himself being molested. This happened, he said, twice. Once a girl, once a guy. I believe he was bragging.) They made him go and sit on a bench for hours. At the end of the day, he was called into a shrink's office.

"You checked homosexual experience?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

And he was out.

Small detail to keep in mind. You'll be coded. Your draft status will follow you for the rest of your life. If you lie, and then deny being gay, people can call you a coward and a fraud. People who believe the status may discriminate. It didn't matter to Ted because he's a theatre technician. It might matter to you.
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Misunderestimator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:11 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Nah... if the question is just, Have you ever had a homosexual experience?
Then it doesn't matter whether you identify as gay or straight or have 10 children in the future. Sounds like the question is ultimately discrimatory in that even one homosexual experience would render you incapable of service...
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theivoryqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 09:30 PM
Response to Reply #6
15. exactly. All the Rudy Kos kids would have to answer "Yes".
and no, none of them want to discuss it anymore.
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jjmalonejr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:17 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. Does entertaining the notion that David Bowie is kinda hot for a guy...
...count as a homosexual experience?
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Scooter24 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-22-04 08:20 AM
Response to Reply #5
22. I'd love...
to see professional drag queens go in front of the draft boards...would make for quite a show...DIVA! lol
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Dookus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:04 PM
Response to Original message
2. yes
it would seem.

I'll be happy to hang out at recruitment centers to provide any proof they need. :evilgrin:
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freetobegay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:04 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. SNARF!!!!!!!!
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Brahma Bull Donating Member (210 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:13 PM
Response to Original message
7. I'll pretend I'm gay to get out.
I'll kiss a man. I'm comfortable with my sexuality to do that.
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pagerbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 09:31 PM
Response to Reply #7
16. Put a picture in the gallery and I'll consider helping you out!
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Brahma Bull Donating Member (210 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 11:28 PM
Response to Reply #16
18. Hahaha....
I'll put one up when it's time to worry. :)
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HawkerHurricane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 05:41 PM
Response to Original message
9. Yes, but...
It's actually fairly common. When I worked at Recruit Training San Diego, it was one of the 3 classic 'get out of jail free' cards, along with 'I'm thinking of hurting myself' and 'I'm going to kill (blank)' for getting yourself out on a early service discharge.

Later in service, some would claim it to get out. Many just walked, some C.O.'s required 'proof'. It would occur in waves, some smart guy would claim it to get out, and when he did his immitators would try it, and as C.O.'s got disgusted with it, they'd start asking for proof... especially with two sailors claiming to be homosexual lovers to get out...

Wait until the draft starts... during the first year, a claim of homosexuality will get you out. During the second and later years, they'll take you anyway. Then punish you for being gay, even though you said you were.
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bleedingheart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 09:28 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. my cousin got out of Vietnam on a section 8
he couldn't find a job anywhere because of this status, which was made up by him and his family to get him out of the service....

However the Miami police department was happy to take him ....and he went on to become quite wealthy while working in the narcotics group and retired early...(makes you go hmmmm)
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Mayberry Machiavelli Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 06:12 PM
Response to Original message
10. My understanding is that under the current situation they are not easily
allowing people to do this, otherwise there'd be a lot of "curious" stop lossed soldiers right now.

Would appreciate input on this thread from those currently active duty who are familiar with the current policy on this and how it is being executed. I can only imagine there are many people who've tried this tactic.
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prole_for_peace Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 06:38 PM
Response to Original message
11. i have a friend who did that. he is gay ...
but he was in the army for 6 years. he finally decided he had enough and told them he just "turned" gay. and after a lot of crap (they tried go back on the college fund thing) they finally let him out.
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soothsayer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 09:04 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. Yup, that was my thought! Use their stupid no gays in the military policy
Edited on Mon Jun-21-04 09:05 PM by soothsayer
against them. Suddenly, everyone should be GAY! That's good trickster magic.

Especially in case of a draft. Gay gay gay gay gay
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Sapphocrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 11:04 PM
Response to Reply #12
17. That would be fine with me...
...IF every last one of these pretend-homos will sign a pact, in blood, that AFTER they've all used MY LIFE as a pawn in THEIR ruse, they will spend the rest of THEIR lives fighting alongside me in the quest for full and complete equal rights for all LGBT people.

Otherwise, the whole idea of anyone treating homosexuality as a convenience makes me want to vomit.

Would it be just as OK with everybody to "pass" for white if they were only drafting African-Americans?

This whole conversation makes me angry, more than any of the would-be "posers" could ever comprehend.

And frankly, I'm shocked -- and just as angry -- at the gay men in this thread who make light of the issue. What are you thinking?!
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Scottie72 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-22-04 07:43 AM
Response to Reply #17
20. Agreed!
Claiming to be gay is not to be taken lightly.

I am living in the most homophobic state in the nation! Don't believe me check this out.

<http://www.virginiaisforhaters.org/>

It makes me sick. :puke:
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UTUSN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 09:22 PM
Response to Original message
13. That Happened n/t
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testing123 Donating Member (617 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jun-21-04 11:31 PM
Response to Original message
19. That worked during the Viet Nam war
It's not going to work now but you can wear some weird shit under your clothes and act like a crazy person and that might work.
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Neshanic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-22-04 08:01 AM
Response to Original message
21. Titter uncontrollably every time they say "big guns".
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