I read there are 65,000 gays & lesbians in the service now. What would happen if they ALL came out?

[BigBearJohn]

Think the government would kick 'em all out of the military?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. How quickly do you think

DADT would cease to exist?

What a great idea.

I wish .............................

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Yes, or force the hand of the president to go for an executive order

but somehow I doubt people will do that... Not a bad idea... but... it is my job to use my voice for them and demand DADT be thrown out

[EFerrari]

3. Last night I heard a report in the Arab media that was really odd.

It was about how unstable US troops are because of their lengthy deployments, how 1 in 10 thought torture was all right and how there are much too few of them for their mission. The story was probably a response to the guy that shot his fellow soldiers and then, himself. The report made is sound as though the American effort in Iraq and Afghanistan is coming apart at the seams.

If 65K gay uniformed personnel decided to come out now, it's hard to believe ALL of them could be discharged.

[targetpractice]

4. *poof*

[EFerrari]

9. What does that mean to you?

[targetpractice]

10. My mistake...

I meant "*poof*" to mean the same as "self-delete" when I was unhappy with my reply to the "I heard a report in the Arab media" response.

I replied that "I think many soldiers may feel led astray, and reconciliation must be difficult for many." However, I considered my response somewhat trite, and wanted to reconsider and re-post after more careful thought.

So, I deleted my reply by editing the content. Instead of writing "self-delete" in the subject like I normally do, I wrote "*poof*" instead (i.e., when you delete things in Mac OS X... they disappear in a *poof* of smoke).

But, according to Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development... "poofter" is another name for a British tourist. So, now I realize my mistake considering the subject matter of the original post.

BTW. I am gay... and I am embarrassed.

[EFerrari]

13. LOL! Okay. Actually, that story stuck with me because I've been watching

that news round up from the Middle East for about a year and they don't do overt anti-American propaganda as a matter of course. So, somehow this must have been a special occasion -- either because it was purposely negatively slanted or because it was a subjective response to so many soldiers being killed in that situation.

I guess the idea that the services are already maxed out and couldn't sustain so many discharges reminded me of the segment.

:)

[targetpractice]

15. This may seem silly...

But, I was enlightened by MTV's Real World: Brooklyn.

The most recent Real World season had a housemate who was an Iraq war vet... His name was Ryan.

I don't know any Iraq war vets personally, but it was interesting to watch and listen to this young man... First, in my opinion, he was the smartest and funniest housemate on that series ever... And, he was extreme handsome (I digress).

As the season unfolded the viewer could see a glimpse of this young man trying to reconcile his own heroic behavior (acknowledged by the US government and his fellow vets) in the context of a war that he personally disagreed with... By the end of the season he was recalled for another deployment in Iraq.

My point... I can't imagine being in a "situation, project, mission or whatever" trying to do the best I can... then suddenly later learning that "situation, project, mission or whatever" itself was ill-conceived and morally wrong.

But, I'm sure that our armed service men and women are dealing with that reality these days.

[EFerrari]

16. As a veteran of two marriages, I do understand being deployed in an ill-conceived mission

that is morally wrong.

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. "I heard a report in the Arab media"

I love your posts, but um, really? You heard a report in the Arab media?

Sixty THOUSAND gay uniformed personnel, according to media beholden to an Islamic text? My eighteen year old daughter is gay so don't accuse me of being blind to what's going on in that respect...

Really...

Fucking A I'm down with that. Sixty thousand gay soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Anecdotally.

Personally, I believe EVERYTHING that an anti-US government entity has to say... Just as I believe EVERYTHING that my OWN government has to say.

Mexican standoff. Who's lying?

Does it seem odd to you that every "misguided" bomb and every "misguided" attack kills either people attending a "wedding", or "funeral procession"?

[EFerrari]

7. Yep. You can go hear it, too, here:

http://www.linktv.org/mosaic

There are subtitles and/ or English translations in this good round up.

I watch M-F to get a sense of what the stories are and what the mood is. That report last night was weird because usually, their reporting isn't very different than most stories you read in the foreign press. That one story must have triggered some kind of cultural response that I don't understand.


ETA: I didn't say I believed the story, cp, I just recapped what it was. I don't believe any teevee news. lol

[Occam Bandage]

6. It would probably force the issue, resulting in a repeal. nt

[sakabatou]

8. It'd be hard to find people to fill their shoes voluntarily

[bridgit]

11. 'the government' would modulate their affairs as per imo

[ThomCat]

12. They would probably stop kicking people out only until

after the wars are over, and then kick them all out all at once.

Affording to friends in the military, that was what happened during the first Gulf War. They no longer cared whether or not you were gay as long as you were stationed in the middle east, but kicked you out as soon as you were stateside.

[sarge43]

20. Exactly what happened during the Nam War.

Before it heated up the harassment of gays and lesbians was savage, especially for lower grade enlisted. It always amazed me how few senior noncoms and officers were g/l. Once that cluster fuck got activated, surprise, surprise the discharges/investigations dropped way off. Afterward it somewhat picked up again, but nothing like before. I suspect due to the cancellation of the draft and the post war condition of the service - it sucked. Also some of the more draconian regs were gone, such as 'tendencies', whatever that was.

If every g/l in the service picked the same week and declared themselves, the military would fall on its collective ass. The sheer administrative load alone would be unsupportable.

Such an event would force the issue, but it won't happen. Fun to think about though.

[Old Hob]

14. Some would be discharged. Life would become difficult for many of the others, possibly unbearable.

ultimately, they would probably all be discharged but, even more ultimately, not all of them would come out so the ones who did would be, in all probability, chaptered out. Based on my experiences in the Army, I would say some of them would be beaten and possibly killed. The Navy and the Airforce might be different.

[iamthebandfanman]

17. if it had been during the last administration

definitely.
and then the draft woulda been restarted...

lol..

dunno how theyd handle it now tho

[orleans]

18. reminds me of "what if they gave a war and nobody came" n/t

[timtom]

19. Maybe the damned illegal occupations would end.

Let it be so.

[stray cat]

21. How do they come up with that number?

[Rockholm]

22. According to DADT and the President, they would all be FIRED.