Before it was made official, there were plenty of gay people in the military. Everybody knew they were but they just didn’t talk about it the way the guys would talk about their shore leave in the Phillipines.

In fifty years people are gonna look back at us in much the same way we look back at white Americans from fifty years ago (no, not just the Southern ones).

I am straight woman, married, children and all of that hullaballoooo…

But I think I may want to have your babies.

AAAAAAAAmazing.

I will say at the outset, I agree that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is crap and should be repealed… I said that when I was in the military. I’m not a spokesperson for the military nor am I an advocate for anyone. But I can tell you from my experience:

1. To the person that alleges that their “friend” came out after 20 years and received a dishonorable discharge – bull. First, the DADT discharge is administrative, NOT punitive. As a result, the worst discharge that a person discharged as a result of DADT is an OTH (other than honorable). Absent a criminal act and subsequent courts-martial, nobody would be dishonorably discharged… let alone a 20 year veteran, as a result of the DADT policy. In my 7 years in, the only discharges based on the DADT policy were General Discharges (non-punitive) and they went to individuals that sought out discharge. They would have received “honorable” discharges, but for they had a history of misconduct and it was obvious they were using the DADT policy to get out (some even admitted it afterwards as sort of their way to say “fuck you” to the military on the way out the door.)

2. Most, if not all, senior commanders do not want to get into their soldiers and sailors private bedrooms. There are rules in the MCM (Manual for Courts-Martial) violated by service members that these commanders regularly do not pursue. For example, in the military “sodomy” is illegal and defined as oral or anal intercourse. As a result, a military member could be technically imprisoned for receiving a blowjob from their wife. The reality is, this is never charged… the only time this would appear on a charge sheet at a courts-martial is if there was a sexual assault of some sort.

3. My own doctor, an 0-6 (one rank below an Admiral or General) had a rainbow flag in his office, lived with another man who was his “friend,” and was obviously gay. A damn good doctor, a damn good officer, and a damn good guy. He wasn’t pursued or outed, and was well-respected. I also had a commanding officer (another 0-6) who was obviously a lesbian, lived with her “friend,” went to certain events, etc. and was a damn good officer… and nobody disturbed her. It wasn’t a witch hunt.

4. I was involved in an investigation regarding child porn. We seized computers and analyzed them for evidence of illicit photographs and other such materials. During the investigation was stumbled upon gay porn that was downloaded by one of the junior officers at the command. As utilizing a government computer to access porn (straight or gay) is a violation, we provided that information to the junior officers commanding officer. The commanding officer (who is the prosecuting authority for his command) opted not to pursue charges because the junior officer was a good officer and although punishing him for misusing a computer would not be a career ender, doing so for gay porn would have resulted in his discharge. The commanding officer didn’t want him to be discharged.

I could go on with examples forever. My point is, YES, the policy needs to change. However, throwing out numbers and statistics in support of this (and condemning the military) is irresponsible and doesn’t accurately reflect what is going on. Those numbers don’t account for those in the military that abuse the policy to avoid service in Iraq or Afghanistan, or because they just don’t want to live a military life any longer. Those numbers also don’t account for the activists that join the military and then seek a high-profile discharge to bring light to the issue (yes, it happens.)

It is a policy from the executive branch and it’s disturbing to see comments generalizing military personnel as homophobes and intolerant. That’s not the case at all. Anyhow, I’ll get off my soapbox. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, right or wrong… that’s what I and my fellow service members fight to preserve.

it’s a shame, because obviously these people care a lot more about their country then dumb straight people like me that would NEVER go to war.

ugh ugh ugh “don’t ask don’t tell” should switch to “don’t care”

IF I was in the military, I just don’t think I would care if a gay person saved my life or a fucking straight one. GOD.