Military ousts more gays for online ads

[ropi]

Tom Musbach, PlanetOut Network
Thursday, August 4, 2005 / 09:18 AM

As a frontline artilleryman during two tours of duty in Iraq, Army Specialist Jeff Howe faced many dangers that could have ended his military career, if not his life. Instead he got tripped up by his online personal ad, which identified him as gay.

Howe set up the ad last year on Connexion.org as a social outlet during a break between his deployments. Though he did not use the ad or discuss it while on active duty, it led to his discharge on Wednesday under the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy against openly gay and lesbian service members.


http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2005/08/04/1

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. "Don't ask, don't tell,

don't run any personal ads."

[best left blank]

2. Ummm

How did they find this ad?

[Ian David]

4. "Retired General, former Secretary of State (un-cut) seeks bottom..."

Hmmm...

[noamnety]

3. unbelievable

Howe's case started this spring in Iraq with a Web log, or blog, the Army asked him to create so that his unit could easily update friends and family back home. One of the photos he posted to the blog depicted a vehicle that was blown up by a rocket. A commander who was senior to Howe's direct supervisor objected to the photo and quietly started a background investigation on Howe, which led to the discovery of his Connexion.org profile from 2004.

[Ian David]

5. That sounds like "asking" and "pursuing" to me

Isn't that illegal, too?

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue?

[best left blank]

6. I would say..

That that sort of thing would be covered in the 'don't ask' part of the policy. As fucked as the policiy is...

[6000eliot]

18. So this was about shutting up a dissenter then.

Funny how having this kind of law on the books could do that.

[enid602]

7. iraq

If I were in Iraq, I think I would be tempted to take out a lurid add just to get out of the war and back home.

[Ian David]

9. What we need is an all-gay mercenary company

Find all the gay people discharged under DADT and give them higher paying jobs with better benefits as a "military contractor."

[DJ MEW]

15. Does that work if....

If there is a draft can I get out of it for being gay too? Or are the rules different when they get really desperate for people?

[Ian David]

8. This is troubling...

<snip>
The individuals affected -- nine men and one woman -- include a Farsi linguist, a doctor, an intelligence analyst and a communications operator. At least three served in the Iraq war. Five of the cases involved profiles on Gay.com, which is owned by PlanetOut Inc.
<snip>
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2005/08/04/1

[ropi]

10. my question is...

(using the republican frame) why do they hate the troops?

[Ian David]

11. The real reason is they don't want gays learning how to defend themselves

Just like it used to be illegal to teach a slave how to read.

[best left blank]

12. Nice.

Well played.

[BOSSHOG]

13. But its alright for straight Soldiers

to beat their wives, abuse alcohol, get out of shape and be a total liability to their command and the service will keep them to "maintain numbers."

This 24 Year Navy Veteran urges all gays in the military to have a mass outing and lets see how the numbers hold up then. Fuck that policy and fuck the bastards that support it. I served with gay Sailors and though my survey is unscientific and very small, they were proud professionals serving their country. Its about time their country said thankyou.

[Not Me]

14. And it's also alright for our troops to fight side by side

with British troops, who have no problems with gays serving openly.

Hmmm, seems I haven't heard anything about the decline in Brit troop morale.

[davidinalameda]

17. I believe that most of our European allies allow gays to serve openly

and I have never heard any problems about those militaries

[teenagebambam]

16. Now that he's out of the service....

....maybe he can pursue his lifelong dream of being a White House correspondent.

[Democrats_win]

19. Pentagon was mad when colleges banned them because of anti-gay stance

Then the house of representatives made a law, the Solomon Amendment, which required colleges to accept military recruiters or loose ALL federal funding.

This witch hunt shows how loyal the pentagon is to our soldiers and freedom of speech.