Military retaining more gays

[dogday]

WASHINGTON -- The US military allowed at least 36 gay soldiers last year to stay in uniform, despite efforts by their commanders or fellow soldiers to have them discharged under the ''don't ask, don't tell" policy, according to a review of hundreds of cases in which soldiers sought to remain in uniform without denying their homosexuality.

The number of soldiers allowed to stay despite being identified as gay -- 36 of 120 contested cases -- was substantially higher than in 2004, when 22 of 125 soldiers prevailed, and three times as many as in 2003, when only 12 of 107 were able to persuade their commanders or a military review board to keep them in uniform, the data show.

The Pentagon declined to explain why more gay soldiers were being retained, but the lawyers who represent soldiers challenging cases under the policy say the Pentagon seems to have softened its stance on homosexuality.

The lawyers attributed the change both to a growing acceptance of gays within the ranks and to the military's need to keep more highly trained soldiers in the Iraq War.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/03/19/military_retaining_more_gays/

[genie_weenie]

1. Hurray for equality!

Oh wait, the Pentagon is only keeping these soldiers due to the shortage of bodies to deploy...

[MadMaddie]

2. Don't you find this telling...

<snip>
despite efforts by their commanders or fellow soldiers to have them discharged under the ''don't ask, don't tell" policy,
<snip>

So the truth is they are on witch hunts and intentionally trying to get soldiers kicked out even if the gay soldier keeps quiet. This program is a debacle....how much money are they spending on this..cost of training for the soldier-boot camp, job training....tracking them to see if they are gay, processing to kick them out.....

Yea, the Pentegon will soften their stance because they need more bodies but when the Iraq debacle finally ends they won't have a problem kicking them out without benefits!!!

[ihaveaquestion]

4. They did the same thing during the Vietnam war.

When I was in the Army in 1978, I met a soldier named Perry Watkins who was openly gay. He'd been drafted during Vietnam (no problem with gays during wartime!) and had stayed in to make the Army a career. He was one of the best clerks I ever saw and a Staff Sargent by that time. Perry was also a talented female impersonator and even gave put on a couple of shows for our small unit at the NCO club. Most of his commanders seemed to have no problem with him, probably because he did his job so well. He did eventually get booted from the Army for which he sued them and eventually he actually won his case.

Read a bit about Perry here: http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biow1/watk2.html

The University of Michigan Law School even has a Perry Watkins Fellowship: http://www.law.umich.edu/currentstudents/PublicService/pdf/WatkinsFellowship.pdf

[MADem]

3. They're probably just waiting for the next DEMOCRATIC Congress to

officially change the law. That way they'll have red meat for their rabid GOP base.

Quite frankly, I think we need to put MORE ATTENTION on the fact that Marty Meehan has introduced legislation to change the law NOW. Either force a GOP Congress to support it, or vote it DECISIVELY DOWN. They can't play this "ignore the rules for cannon fodder" game without consequences.

Representative Martin T. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, has sponsored legislation to repeal ''don't ask, don't tell," citing figures from the US Government Accountability Office reporting that hundreds of gay soldiers who have been dismissed in recent years were trained in specialties considered crucial in the war on terrorism.

Yet the number of instances in which gay soldiers and their lawyers have persuaded commanders to drop investigations indicates that the standards for discharge are being applied less stringently, according to the data.

''During wartime the military is always desperate," said Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for Sexual Minorities in the Military and a political science professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. ''There have been a declining number of discharges when the bullets start flying."

Meanwhile, there is a growing body of evidence that attitudes have changed within the ranks. A recent study by the Naval Postgraduate School found that a majority of military personnel felt comfortable around openly gay colleagues.

''There is no doubt that the attitudes within the military have changed," said Belkin.

I love seeing a hypocrite in a vise, myself!!!!!!