Gays and the Military - Life after DADT

[fritzkep]

Oh yes! Can't remember the name of the artist, but I like his stuff!

mod: oh year, Joe Phillips.



Always someone with a dropped jaw in the background!

Caution, some NSFW.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Joe+Phillips&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=sFlaT4LDGcq40AGR8KDJDw&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=1017

[Lyle (Mooska)]

This one looks like Jake:

[fritzkep]

How the unofficial but widely read Armed Forces newspaper Stars and Stripes portrayed the kiss. Neither headlined (page 5) nor underplayed. Text was the standard AP article.

http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.171157!/menu/standard/file/crop030312_p6.pdf

It of course received (at least) one negative letter from an active duty (presumably Marine) Master Sergeant, with more comments than the standard letter.

http://www.stripes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/photo-of-gay-kiss-over-the-top-1.170875#disqus_thread

And a note from the Ombudsman of the paper about the rightness of running the article.

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/ombudsman/ernie-gates-ombudsman-1.168713/gay-marine-homecoming-photo-fair-play-1.171149

Other letters to S&S:

http://www.stripes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/bible-not-template-for-us-laws-1.171030

http://www.stripes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/bible-preaches-tolerance-1.171145

[fritzkep]

Another nice summary of the event, with a few more pictures.

http://anitakinley.com/?p=171

[fritzkep]

A statement from Brandon on FB today:

Hey friends. I just wanted to Drop a line really quick. I have been getting a lot of invitations, requests, and interview requests lately. I am sorry if I haven't gotten back with you, my Facebook inbox is crazy. So if you are still following my page,Please know that Dalan and I do not wish to do any more interviews. Our story is out there and it's not gonna change. We have barely had time to spend with each other and though we do care about helping people, with the sudden rise to fame, we haven't had much time with each other. So, no more interview requests please. Also, the book I was going to write, is getting started today. Its going to be about my life, but names and places will of course have to change. It won't be fictional, but it will be altered a little bit. The story though will have the same path though. Other than that, how you folks doing?

[fritzkep]

Came across a new picture of my favorite couple!

[fritzkep]

Good to hear.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/03/military-times-2012-poll-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-has-less-impact-than-expected-031212w/

[fritzkep]

I love the way this is written, in response to a letter complaining about an article in Stars & Stripes, the (un?)official American Armed Forces newspaper, about the Marine homecoming kiss.

Here's a scenario that often plays out in my mind when I read anti-Gay screeds like this:

It's 2062. I'm 90 years old, enjoying the company of my husband. We're both in a fine suburban home, and our federal and state benefits are safely protected by a wall of Constitutional oversight. After a day of walking in the park, hand-in-hand, browsing at the local mall, and tending to the garden we put our feet up for a quiet evening at home.

We receive a visitor - a great grand-nephew, who is glad to see us. He comes and visits us all the time, with his own husband, who also enjoy the benefits of full constitutional protection. While we sit and reminisce about the 'good ol' days' he mentions that he had overheard some Christians say that it was *their* religion that was instrumental in the Gay Civil Rights movement.

I look over at my husband, who rolls his eyes, and then I say to the house, 'Please download Archive file 774 to micro-drive 8.' The house's CPU quickly complies, and one of the many portable micro-drives and palm 'puters scattered on my desk 'dings'. I get up with some difficulty (bad knees, dontchaknow) and quickly retrieve it. I shuffle over to my great-grand-nephew and say, 'Next time you hear someone say that, show them this.'

Somewhat bemused, my great-grand-nephew slots the microdrive into his palm-pad, and sees on the screen a virtual mountain of hatred, anti-Gay bigotry, and discrimination-as-morality. Laws, proposals, and 'declarations' - all pushed with one purpose; to marginalize and discriminate against LGBT Americans. Page after page of it scrolls across his widening eyes - all cross-checked and verified for accuracy, and both he and his husband can see that the files are arranged by one key phrase:

'As a Christian...'

There's coming a day when Christians are going to hang their heads, turn away, and mumble an apology for all the blatant anti-Gay animus that these 'Christians' are now gleefully spewing, for all the world to see.

Posted by: Ozymandias71 | Mar 8, 2012 11:41:36 AM



Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2012/03/master-sgt-in-afghanistan-condemns-military-paper-for-printing-photo-of-gay-marine-homecoming.html#ixzz1owLYTr3B

It's not unheard of for churches which were against civil rights at the time now declare themselves as having been always for them.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I liked this post from one commenter, because I've thought the
exact same thing:

How about getting some quotes from political leaders that predicted
dire consequences? They made the most noise previously; how do they
feel now?

Yes, let's get those people who didn't want to repeal DADT to comment
on how all of their dire predictions evaporated.

Of course, the article quotes that NOMesque Elaine Donnelly, the head of an obviously homophobic group called the Center for Military Readiness.
She's now saying, in essence, nothing happened yet, but just you wait!
I wish these people would stay under their rocks.

[fritzkep]

Oh yeah, her. She's in the process of suing the Navy saying that they hid any and all pro-DADT evidence.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/02/navy-lawsuit-records-study-dont-ask-dont-tell-022512w/

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Egads, that woman!  This is someone (a group) in search of a problem
where there isn't one.  I'm imagining what she looks like.  (I'm thinking
a church lady type.)  Think I'll google her.

***
Yup.

[fritzkep]

http://www.stripes.com/news/six-months-after-repeal-military-says-dadt-died-quietly-1.172070

Six months after the military dropped the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” law barring gays from serving openly, Pentagon officials and gay rights advocates say the policy change has largely been a non-issue, with few complaints and no major headaches resulting from the new rules.

Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said the repeal is “proceeding smoothly across the Department of Defense,” which officials there credit to the “enforcement of standards by our military leaders” and “servicemembers’ adherence to core values that include discipline and respect.”

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Which is what we knew would be the case all along, right Fritz?

[fritzkep]

To use the proper military expression, fuckin A!

[fritzkep]

The Marine Corps University is publishing a book about the end of DADT.

http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/03/20/the-marines-publish-a-book-on-the-end-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/

When the Pentagon was wrestling with the idea of ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gay men and women serving openly in the military, the Marine Corps quickly came to be seen as the service most opposed to the change. After all, General James Amos said he feared lifting the ban would be a “distraction” that could lead to casualties on the battlefield.

But once the Marines got their marching orders, they saluted and began carrying them out. “The law has changed, we follow the law,” Amos said after Congress voted to lift the ban. “We’re the Marines, and that’s what we do for a living.” So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Marine Corps University Press has just published The End of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: The Impact In Studies and Personal Essays by Service Members and Veterans. Battleland recently conducted this email chat with editors J. Ford Huffman and Tammy S. Schultz:

Two of the essays:

http://timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/end-of-dadt-kearney-essay.pdf