via Americablog: The military continued to fire mission-critical specialists for being gay in fiscal year 2009, according to new data released today. The data show that gay discharges included 8 linguists, 20 infantrymen, 16 medical aides, 7 combat engineers, 6 missile artillery operating crew members, and one member of the Special Forces, among others.
Active duty servicemembers understand the impact of these discharges on their own safety and our security:
The data confirm a long-term trend, and a 2005 Government Accountability Report found that the military fired 757 mission-critical specialists, including 322 linguists, in the first decade of "don't ask, don't tell." JD Smith, co-Director of OutServe, said that today's news shows how "don't ask, don't tell" jeopardizes the safety of the troops. "These discharges put our lives at risk," Smith said. "As leadership continues to fire gay service members in critical career fields, it is the troops on the ground who will pay with their personal safety." OutServe is the first-ever organization made up exclusively of currently-serving gay and lesbian troops. It now includes more than 500 members.
You know mission critical specialists are still being discharged. DADT is a threat to our national security. It needs to end.
The Senate will be -- or should be -- debating the Defense Authorization bill in September. That legislation includes the compromise DADT repeal language. Assuming the legislation actually passes, we still don't even know when the discharges will end.
This report from the Palm Center shows the need to end DADT. Combine this information with the strong public support and it makes we wonder why the White House offered such a complicated compromise on DADT. The people involved with concocting that compromise did a disservice to the troops.
http://gay.americablog.com/2010/08/in-2009-dadt-caused-discharges-of.html
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