don't ask-don't tell

here is one man's hell

it should NOT be like this. in or out of the service. when we can't treat each other with respect and kindness, we will never be able to respect our OWN selves


I Didn't Tell. It Didn't Matter.
Trying to serve his country, a young man faced bigotry and abuse
By Joseph Rocha

I was 18 years old when I landed in the kingdom of Bahrain, off the coast of Saudi Arabia, in the winter of 2005. It was the first time I'd ever left the continental United States. My joints ached after more than 24 hours of travel, but I knew that a new life of service and adventure awaited me on the other side of that aircraft door.

This was the day I had been dreaming about since I'd enlisted in the Navy a few months before, on my birthday. I loved my country, and I knew that I was ready to prove myself in action.

I also knew that I was gay.

However, I chose to put service above my personal life. My understanding of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was that if I kept quiet about my sexuality and didn't break any rules, I would face no punishment. I was wrong.,,,,,,,,

clearly 'the gays' will bring an end to the

world as we now know it. clearly if 'the gays' join our armed forces the real men (and women) of our armed forces will no longer be able to defend the great nation we call the united states of america. clearly 'the gays' will disable the entire structure of how we defend ourselves.

CLEARLY

but neo-nazis. naw. we love 'em! they won't disturb a thing. they won't find it hard to serve next to people of color or people who are not of the same beliefs they are. and of course the people of color, the people who have a different belief system and even the people with brains and souls and real courage who are the same color as the neo-nazis - they will find it quite easy to serve side by side with them, right?

RIGHT?

what's wrong with THAT picture?

p.s. who would YOU want covering YOUR back? timothy mcveigh or lt. dan choi?

US military: Gays not welcome; white supremacists 'OK?'

Recently, an Army National Guardsman and Arabic translator who openly challenged the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, was recommended for discharge by a military administrative board because he has publicly said that he is gay. Yet a watchdog group claims dozens of US military personnel have been spotted on a white supremacist social networking Web site in an apparent violation of Pentagon regulations prohibiting racist extremism.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate-group watchdog based in Alabama, will present a report to Congress today and urge them to investigate evidence "that racial extremists are infiltrating the U.S. military in order to ensure that the armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists."

The SPLC also notes:

In recent months, SPLC investigators found approximately 40 personal profiles that listed "military" as an occupation on the Internet forum New Saxon, which is operated by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. One individual, who claims to be serving in Afghanistan, lists as his favorite book The Turner Diaries, which was written by neo-Nazi leader William Pierce. The book served as a blueprint for the Oklahoma City bombing by Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh. Another individual said he was about to be deployed overseas and was looking forward to "killing all the bloody sand niggers." Still another spoke of his hatred for undocumented immigrants......

don't ask don't tell....but go ahead and kill 'em!

don't ask don't tell MUST be thrown out. if someone is a good soldier, sailor, airman, marine or whatever, they not only should be allowed to serve, they should be WELCOMED to serve. discrimination is steeped in fear and ignorance plain and simple!

president obama, STOP THIS SHITE RIGHT NOW. GET RID OF THIS STUPIDASS LAW/POLICY

As gay discharges continue, sailor is murdered

By John Byrne

A 29-year-old Navy sailor was found dead at a Southern California military base Tuesday in a suspected homicide that activists say may have been related to his sexuality.

An unnamed individual is being held as a “person of interest” in the case.

Navy seaman August Provost of Houston, Texas, reportedly complained to his family that was he being harassed; his sister told a local newspaper that they’d advised him to tell his supervisor. If Provost revealed his sexuality, however, he could have been discharged from the armed services.

The news comes on the heels of the military’s recommended discharge of gay Arabic translator Daniel Choi, and discontent within the gay community about the Obama Administration’s actions on gay rights. President Obama says he will not stop the military discharges, which have resulted in the expulsion of more than 250 servicemembers since he was inaugurated in January.

A spokesman for a group that provides legal counseling to gays in and out of the military said the federal law that mandates discharging gay servicemembers certainly didn’t help............

this was written by a (retired) general

and what he has to say (unlike the other article referred to in this article. by the way, i did post that prior one as well. i tried to find it but i can't.) makes sense. period. LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE WALKIN'. LET YOUR ACTIONS DO THE TALKIN'. the evidence is out there.

you are letting effing neo-nazis white supremacists serve openly. what's wrong with THAT picture?

you are always going to have people in military life, in civilian life, wherever or whatever use words like faggot. it's THEIR problem. not ours. if someone is a good soldier (marine, sailor, airman/woman) their sexuality has NOTHING to do with it.

let's get over our fucked up way of looking at things. we are equal.


Gays in the Military: Let the Evidence Speak
By John M. Shalikashvili
The Supreme Court announced last week that it would not review a lawsuit challenging the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy forbidding homosexuals from serving openly. The Obama administration had asked the court not to take the case as the president considers ending the ban. News that the president would change the policy had inspired a group of retired flag officers to argue on this page this spring that service by openly gay individuals would harm morale, discipline, cohesion, recruitment and retention in the U.S. military ["Gays and the Military: A Bad Fit," op-ed, April 15]. They wrote as part of a larger effort by more than 1,000 retired officers to keep the ban in place............

here's the wiki entry on (retired) general shalikashvili (and it's a mighty mighty mighty impressive one at that)

well they'll kick you out if you tell

('em you're gay that is). even if you're a valuable translator (of let's say an arabic language). but it seems (according to this article at least) they AIN'T gonna boot your ass if you're a white supremacist. nice! (not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

a GIANT w t f to the military on this shite

(by the way. i know MANY MANY MANY peeps with celtic crosses. they are NOT necessarily a neo-nazi symbol. i even have some on clothing and i'm planning on embroidering one soon as well)

Neo-Nazis are in the Army now

Why the U.S. military is ignoring its own regulations and permitting white supremacists to join its ranks.

Editor's note: Research support for this article was provided by the Nation Institute's Investigative Fund.

By Matt Kennard

June 15, 2009 | On a muggy Florida evening in 2008, I meet Iraq War veteran Forrest Fogarty in the Winghouse, a little bar-restaurant on the outskirts of Tampa, his favorite hangout. He told me on the phone I would recognize him by his skinhead. Sure enough, when I spot a white guy at a table by the door with a shaved head, white tank top and bulging muscles, I know it can only be him.

Over a plate of chicken wings, he tells me about his path into the white-power movement. "I was 14 when I decided I wanted to be a Nazi," he says. At his first high school, near Los Angeles, he was bullied by black and Latino kids. That's when he first heard Skrewdriver, a band he calls "the godfather of the white power movement." "I became obsessed," he says. He had an image from one of Skrewdriver's album covers — a Viking carrying a staff, an icon among white nationalists — tattooed on his left forearm. Soon after he had a Celtic cross, an Irish symbol appropriated by neo-Nazis, emblazoned on his stomach...............

Photo: Matt Kennard

Iraq veteran Forrest Fogarty sailed through recruitment despite his neo-Nazi tattoos.

mr colbert explains don't ask don't tell (just as well as anyone else)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Formidable Opponent - Don't Ask, Don't Tell
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

she was stationed in iraq

but she got booted (at home, NOT from iraq of course) BECAUSE SHE IS GAY. i want to know what civilian asshole "told" the army on her?

Kansas Guard discharges first gay soldier

TOPEKA | The Kansas Army National Guard has discharged its first gay soldier under the federal “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Amy Brian, who served nine years in the Guard, including a stint in Iraq, was investigated and “separated” last month after a civilian co-worker told authorities they had seen her kissing a woman in a Wal-Mart checkout line.

Brian joins almost 12,500 other lesbian, gay and bisexual service members discharged from 1994 to 2007...........

this IS true of course

it's not gay people we have to worry about. it's the people who are AFRAID of gays. you know, the ones who shoot up children's church plays and the like. THOSE are terrorists.

right at the beginning of this illegal, immoral and unjust war, i read (or saw, i have forgotten) a story about a young man in the military. he was a translator. he spoke arabic. he was also gay. he was booted from the miliary. HOW INSANE IS THAT?

Olbermann: America fears gays more than terrorists
by PageOneQ
The government's more afraid of its own gays than international terrorists, said MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

After firing over 300 gay translators under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which prevents gay and lesbian personnel from serving openly, the military is now preparing to offer retention bonuses of up to $150,000 to those who remain, as the Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday. The policy that put the military in such a position, which Olbermann called "moronic," he notes, remains in place, as costs to replace the translators, in bonuses alone, could reach $45 million............

counter to god's law

and who told YOU what 'god's law' is? GOD? i think not
Calling homosexuality immoral, general draws chants of 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'
Protesters shouting "Thou Shalt Not Kill!" disrupted a congressional hearing Wednesday after the top US military officer defended his view that homosexuality is immoral.
The confrontation began when Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, chided General Peter Pace for his "very hurtful remarks" in May that it was wrong to "condone immoral acts" by allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
Pace, who steps down next week as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded that he supported the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military because it allowed homosexuals to serve their country.
"And we need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it," the general said.
"And that is, very simply, that we should respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law of the land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God's law," he said.
Anti-war protesters then started shouting, but Pace went on to say his responsibility was "to obey the law of the land and to object if something is either illegal or immoral.".........

you giant ASSWIPES

perhaps if you didn't KICK PEOPLE WHO SPOKE ARABIC out of the service solely because of their sexual orientation, we wouldn't have such PROBLEMS (problems IS an understatement of course)
U.S. military continues to discharge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearing


Slim Chance Of Finding an Arabic Speaker at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

Jonathan Karl and Maddy Sauer Report:

Of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic, according to the State Department.
That is still a slight improvement from last year when, according to the Iraq Study Group, six people in the embassy spoke Arabic.
A 2006 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report noted the shortage of speakers of Arabic, which the State Department classifies as "superhard," is acute at U.S. embassies in the Muslim world.
The report found that more than one-third of public policy diplomacy positions at Arabic language posts were filled by people who did not speak the language at the designated level.
In April, the director of the International Affairs Office at the GAO said the State Department had started taking action to correct the problems from last year's report.
"State has begun to address these language deficiencies by increasing its overall amount of language training and providing supplemental training for more difficult languages at overseas locations," Jess Ford told the House Committee of Foreign Affairs............

Gay Arabic Translator: "I'm Here, I'm Willing to Serve"

By Adam Howard, AlterNet. Posted June 20, 2007.

Over 11,000 service members have been discharged from the military in the past 14 years because of their sexual orientation. It's time to lift the ban on openly gay people in the military.

Stephen Benjamin describes himself as a "recruiter's dream." He is a highly trained, award-winning Navy Arabic translator who is eager and "willing to serve," yet because of the outdated and discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the U.S. military, he has been discharged and denied the opportunity to serve our country. Celebrated filmmaker Robert Greenwald and his Brave New Foundation, in collaboration with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), hope to set this injustice right with a new campaign being launched at LiftTheBan.org.
"The 'don't ask don't tell policy' is legalized discrimination," said Greenwald. "Stephen Benjamin is the subject of our film, but the problem is a huge disgrace."............

wow, a step in the RIGHT direction perhaps?

we can only hope so

Discharged gay sailor is called back to active duty

By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Sunday, May 6, 2007

On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had fought against for years: he was gay.
Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he’d married. And when it came time to explain his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.
But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.
Since promoted to petty officer second class, Knight is finishing a scheduled one-year tour in Kuwait with Naval Customs Battalion Bravo. And, already kicked out of the Navy once, he sees no need to hide his sexual orientation...........