The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Showing posts with label gays in the US military. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gays in the US military. Show all posts
Friday, May 28, 2010
US Senate Armed Forces Committee Votes for Repeal of Military Anti-gay Law
THE GUARDIAN: Gay rights groups celebrate key step in scrapping controversial 1993 'don't ask, don't tell' legislation
America moved a vital step closer to repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" anti-gay legislation that forbids homosexuals from serving openly in the US military.
Gay rights activists have long sought to repeal the controversial 1993 law, which has seen thousands of Americans forced out of the armed services since it was brought in under President Bill Clinton.
Now that dream is almost certain to happen, after the powerful Senate armed services committee voted 16 to 12 in favour of an amendment that would pave the way for getting rid of the law. The measure was tacked on to a larger defence bill and the House of Representatives was also expected to pass a similar amendment.
That will clear the hurdle for a full vote in the summer, which the measure is now expected to pass, and then it will be signed off by President Barack Obama.
The amendment, however, contains language that makes repeal of the law contingent on the results of a current Pentagon survey investigating the impact of integrating gay people into the military. If the report concludes repeal will not harm the military's ability to fight wars or recruit soldiers, preparations will be made for integration. The survey's conclusions are due to be announced in early December.
Gay rights groups hailed the Senate vote as historic. "The importance of this vote cannot be overstated. This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops that has weakened our national security," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. >>> Paul Harris in New York | Friday, May 28, 2010
Obama Backs 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Compromise That Could Pave Way For Repeal
THE WASHINGTON POST: President Obama has endorsed a "don't ask, don't tell" compromise between lawmakers and the Defense Department, the White House announced Monday, an agreement that may sidestep a key obstacle to repealing the military's policy banning gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces.
The compromise was finalized in meetings Monday at the White House and on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers will now, within days, vote on amendments that would repeal the Clinton-era policy, with a provision ensuring that any change would not take effect until after the Pentagon completes a study about its impact on troops. That study is due to Congress by Dec. 1.
In a letter to lawmakers pushing for a legislative repeal, White House budget director Peter Orszag wrote Monday that the administration "supports the proposed amendment."
"Such an approach recognizes the critical need to allow our military and their families the full opportunity to inform and shape the implementation process through a thorough understanding of their concerns, insights and suggestions," he wrote.
While gay rights advocates hailed the move as a "dramatic breakthrough," it remained uncertain whether the deal would secure enough votes to pass both houses of Congress. Republicans have vowed to maintain "don't ask, don't tell," while conservative Democrats have said they would oppose a repeal unless military leaders made it clear that they approved of such a change.
Even if the compromise language passes, a legislative repeal would take effect only after Obama certified that the change would not harm the nation's military readiness. >>> Michael D. Shear and Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post Staff Writer | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
ADVOCATE.COM: As Lt. Dan Choi and about 100 LGBT activists staged a “don’t ask, don’t tell” protest Sunday afternoon across the street from the White House, six plain-clothed civilians chained themselves to the White House gates.
Choi, who has twice been arrested after handcuffing himself to the White House gates and has now been court ordered not to enter a certain perimeter around the White House, was joined by a handful of other speakers, including former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, Servicemembers United executive director Alex Nicholson, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis.
The protest came on the heels of a letter leaked late Friday afternoon in which Department of Defense secretary Robert Gates urged House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton “in the strongest possible terms” to delay legislative action on repeal until the Pentagon completes its assessment of how to implement repeal.
“Most journalists had turned off their computers and were safely into happy hour when the White House issued a statement,” Sarvis told the protesters Sunday.
Though the White House statement said President Barack Obama’s commitment to repeal was “unequivocal,” Sarvis called the statement “nothing if not equivocal.”
“There is a stark and not very flattering contrast here between President Obama, who follows his military, and President Truman, whose military followed him,” said Sarvis. >>> Kerry Eleveld | Sunday, May 02, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: An American general has apologised for his claim that the presence of homosexual troops was responsible for the Dutch army's failure to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
John Sheehan, a former US General and Nato commander, caused outrage two weeks ago when he alleged that open homosexuality in the Dutch ranks had so damaged military morale that the country's army was powerless to prevent genocide in Bosnia.
He claimed, before a US Senate hearing, that Henk van den Breemen, the Dutch chief of the defence staff in 1995, had told him of problems related to gay troops.
"I am sorry that my public recollection of those discussions of 15 years ago inaccurately reflected your thinking on some specific social issues on the military," he wrote in a letter to the Dutch general.
Without explicitly referring to gay Dutch military, General Sheehan acknowledged that a weak United Nations mandate for troops was the problem facing peacekeepers.
"To be clear, the failure on the ground in Srebrenica was no way the fault of individual soldiers," he wrote.
A spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Defence said General Van den Breemen was satisfied with the apology. >>> Bruno Waterfield, in Brussels | Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Editorial (June 2009): The Ban on Gays in the Military
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court’s refusal this week to hear a challenge to the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military is not much of a legal setback. The court did not address the merits of the case, and another lawsuit still moving through the courts may be a better vehicle for challenging the benighted policy.
Even so, relying on a conservative court to make things right would be a gamble. Unfortunately, neither President Obama nor Congress shows much appetite for moving to end a ban that is not only unfair to gay men and lesbians but damaging to the military as well.
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was hatched in 1993 as a compromise after President Bill Clinton failed in an attempt to overturn an existing ban on gay service members. The awkward compromise limited the military’s ability to ask service members about their sexual orientation (don’t ask) and allowed homosexuals to serve provided they kept quiet about their sexual orientation (don’t tell) and refrained from homosexual acts.
The ostensible rationale was that the known presence of gay men and lesbians would undermine morale and unit cohesion, but as it turned out, the policy caused its own kind of damage to military readiness. Thousands of service members have been discharged from duty at a time when the military is stretched by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The loss of highly skilled interpreters and intelligence analysts has been especially damaging. >>> | Tuesday, June 09, 2009
In the Barracks, Out of the Closet
Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Obama has said he will abolish the 16-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allows gays and lesbians to serve in the military only if they do not disclose their sexual orientation. Nationwide, polls show that a majority of Americans support lifting the ban on openly gay members of the military. But support in the military’s ranks and among retired officers is mixed. While several prominent retired generals and admirals have urged a repeal, others have said that allowing openly gay people to join the service would hurt recruiting and retention.
How would lifting the ban affect the military ranks? And, as the first step, if the president acts to change the policy, should it be by executive order or should it be by act of Congress? >>> The Editors | Sunday, May 03, 2010
General John Sheehan Isn't the First Bigot to Blame 'The Gays'
THE TELEGRAPH: The week’s most ludicrous comment comes from US Army General John Sheehan, who has blamed the Srebrenica massacre on – wait for it – the gays. Specifically, “openly homosexual” Dutch soldiers, who presumably were too busy swapping grooming tips to notice 8,000 people being slaughtered. Amazingly, while a classic of its genre, it is far from the most preposterous thing homosexuals have been blamed for. The following have all – honestly and seriously – been blamed on gay people. Read on and comment >>> Tom Chivers | Friday, March 19, 2010
Dutch PM Appalled at Gay-Genocide Link
ADVOCATE.COM: The Dutch prime minister is lashing out at retired American general John Sheehan for blaming the Netherlands' inclusion of gays in the military for massive deaths during the war in Bosnia.
"The remarks were outrageous, wrong, and beneath contempt," Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters at a press conference, according to Reuters.
Other Dutch leaders decried Sheehan's assertions as well. The Dutch Defense Ministry said Sheehan's claims were "absolute nonsense" and that gay Dutch soldiers often work alongside the U.S. military in its NATO mission in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said Sheehan's statement was "the bizarre private opinion of someone without an official function." Renee Jones-Bos, the Dutch ambassador to the United States, said there was no evidence that his claims were correct. >>> Michelle Garcia | Friday, March 19, 2010
American Bigotry at Its Worst and Most Shameful! And from a Fossil, to Boot: Gay Dutch Soldiers Responsible for Srebrenica Massacre Says US General*
THE TELEGRAPH: A former American general blamed "open homosexuality" in the Dutch army for the failure to prevent the Srebrenica massacre in 1995.
The Dutch government condemned the comments by Gen John Sheehan, a former Nato commander and senior marine officer, as outrageous.
Gen Sheehan made the remarks at a Senate hearing where he argued against plans by President Barack Obama to end a ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the US military.
Gen Sheehan said that after the end of the Cold War, European militaries changed and concluded "there was no longer a need for an active combat capability."
He said this process included "open homosexuality" which resulted in "a focus on peacekeeping operations because they did not believe the Germans were going to attack again or the Soviets were coming back."
"The case in point that I'm referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs," he said, referring to the UN peacekeeping force deployed to protect Bosnian Muslim civilians.
"The battalion was understrength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone polls, marched the Muslims off and executed them."
Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pressed him to clarify his comments.
"Did the Dutch leaders tell you it (the fall of Srebrenica) was because there were gay soldiers there?" asked an incredulous Levin.
"Yes," Sheehan said and added: "They included that as part of the problem." >>> The Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Friday, March 19, 2010
Dutch Outrage as US General Blames Gay Soldiers for Srebrenica
TIMES ONLINE: A retired American general has blamed the UN's historic failure to protect the Bosnian "safe haven" of Srebrenica on the fact that there were openly gay soldiers in the Dutch peacekeeping battalion assigned to it.
The comments from former Marine Corps general John Sheehan prompted outrage in the Netherlands, where the humiliation in July 1995 of 400 armed Dutch peacekeepers and the subsequent massacre by Serb forces of 8,000 Muslim men and boys remains a subject of acute national sensitivity.
General Sheehan, one of two Nato "supreme commanders" at the time of the massacre, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee against a proposal to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the US military.
He told the senators how the Armed Forces of various European countries had lost their combat focus after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and turned to peacekeeping because “they did not believe the Germans were going to attack again or the Soviets were coming back”.
The general said that Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and other nations all took the decision that there was no longer a need for an active combat capability in the military.
"They declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialize their military - that includes the unionisation of their militaries, it includes open homosexuality. That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war," he said.
"The case in point that I’m referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs: the battalion was under-strength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off, and executed them.
“That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II." >>> Philippe Naughton | Friday, March 19, 2010
Gay Army Is a Non-issue in Holland
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: Retired US Marine General John Sheehan got one thing right in his testimony to the US Congress: gays serve in the Dutch military. But it takes a foreigner to point that out. Here in The Netherlands, gays have served in the military for decades.
General Sheehan blamed the fall of the UN enclave in Srebrenica in 1995, which led to the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims, partly on the fact that homosexuals served in the Dutch military.
"That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War Two. The Dutch army allowed homosexuals and you know what happened there." The retired general made these comments during a hearing considering whether to lift the US 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that allows homosexuals to serve in the military only if they keep quiet about it.
What?
The reaction here in The Netherlands has been a universal, 'huh?' From the current Foreign Minister to the Defence Minister at the time of the Srebrenica massacre; from leaders of unions representing soldiers to the former army commander; all have said that General Sheehan's remarks do not have the slightest basis in reality.
The Dutch caretaker Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said via Twitter that he was amazed at the ex general's comments - saying they reflected more about the discussion around homosexuals in the US army than anything else.
Minister of Defense Eimert van Middelkoop twittered: "scandalous and unbefitting a soldier". And the Dutch ambassador to the US, Renee Jones-Bos, added in a statement on the embassy's website that she "couldn't disagree more'' with Sheehan's claims.
"I take pride in the fact that lesbians and gays have served openly and with distinction in the Dutch military forces for decades, such as in Afghanistan at the moment',' she said. >>> John Tyler | Friday, March 19, 2010
Former US General: ‘Gays Make Dutch Military Weak’
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: A former American general has blamed homosexuals serving in the Dutch military for the fall of Srebrenica.
Fifteen years after the safe area of Srebrenica fell to Serb militias, an American general has found the cause: homosexuals had weakened the Dutch UN battalion charged with protecting the enclave. John Sheehan, a former high-ranking Nato official, said this on Thursday when he publicly addressed the American president Barack Obama’s plans to allow gays to serve in the military.
According to the charges brought against the Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic at the special tribunal in The Hague, 9,210 Muslim men were killed in Srebrenica and its surrounding area in 1995. A Dutch UN battalion had been charged with the task of protecting the valley against the Serbs. A study by the Dutch research institute NIOD has found that the soldiers did not have an adequate mandate to act and the battalion was insufficiently prepared.
Speaking in the American Senate, Sheehan said European countries tried to “socialise” their armed forces by letting people serve in the army too easily, which left them weakened. >>> NRC Handelsblad News Staff | Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
Colin Powell Joins the Obama Movement Backing Gays in Military
TIMES ONLINE: “You don’t have to be straight in the military,” Barry Goldwater said in 1994. “You just have to be able to shoot straight.”
Sixteen years on, the conservative icon and former presidential candidate can look down from the hereafter on an American cultural scene where the President and his top commanders at last agree that gays should be able to serve openly in the armed forces.
They have been joined this week by General Colin Powell, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who once called homosexuality “a behavioural characteristic” unlike such “benign characteristics” as skin colour.
General Powell’s opposition to repealing the longstanding ban on gays in the military helped to produce the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, the death knell of which President Obama announced in his State of the Union address. With General Powell’s change of heart — which aides said came two years ago, even though he waited until Wednesday to announce it — the US Congress is the only remaining obstacle to ending the ban.
For decades, the status of gays and lesbians in uniform has created an apparently unbridgeable gulf between liberals who note that gays are allowed to die for their country but not to be open about their sexuality, and social conservatives who insist that lifting the ban would lead to sexual harassment cases and undermine the effectiveness of fighting units.
It is a potentially explosive political issue that President Clinton tried and failed to resolve in 1994, and that Mr Obama must still sell to Republicans and some Democrats in the centre. >>> Giles Whittell, Washington | Friday, February 05, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Gays in military? Not for McCain
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: WASHINGTON: Three years ago, the Republican senator John McCain was pretty clear about his stand on the military's ''Don't ask, don't tell'' policy on gay service personnel.
The war hero said he would support ending the ban once the top brass told him they were OK with it.
''The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to,'' he told an audience of college students.
That day arrived on Tuesday, with the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, testifying to senators following President Barack Obama's announcement that he would seek a congressional repeal of the 15-year-old policy.
Admiral Mullen called repealing the policy, which bans openly gay men and lesbians from serving, ''the right thing to do'' and said he was troubled by in effect forcing service members to ''lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens''.
Mr Gates told the armed services committee: ''I fully support the President's decision.'' >>> The Washington Post, Agence France-Presse | Thursday, February 04, 2010
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
America Moves to End Homosexual Law in US Military
THE TELEGRAPH: America has moved towards ending the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which prohibits openly homosexual men and women from serving in the US military.
Admiral Michael Mullen, the most senior officer in the United States military, said that ending the law was now "the right thing to do".
He added: “For me, personally, it comes down to integrity - theirs as individuals, and ours as institutions.”
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the US Senate that he could no longer back a policy that "forces young men and women to lie about what they are in order to defend their fellow citizens".
He added: “For me, personally, it comes down to integrity – theirs as individuals, and ours as institutions.”
He was speaking just after Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, said that he "fully" supported President Barack Obama's decision to end the policy, which was implemented in 1993 as a compromise after bitter resistance to then President Bill Clinton's pledge to allow open homosexuals to serve.
"We received our orders from the commander-in-chief and we are moving out accordingly." He said that he had ordered a high-level committee, chaired by Jeh (CORR) Johnson, the Pentagon's chief counsel, and Gen Carter Ham, commander of US forces in Europe, to draw up an implementation plan.
Mr Obama directed in last week's State of the Union address that the 1993 law be repealed. This would fulfil a campaign pledge and was also seen as a move to placate the Left, which has long campaigned against the policy. >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Neue Debatte über Schwule im US-Militär: Ein Anstoss Präsident Obamas in seiner Rede zur Lage der Nation
NZZ ONLINE: Der amerikanische Verteidigungsminister Gates hat eine hochrangige Kommission eingesetzt, die bis Ende Jahr einen Plan entwerfen soll, wie die Diskriminierung von Schwulen im Militär beendet werden kann.
Präsident Obama will die Diskriminierung von Homosexuellen in den amerikanischen Streitkräften beenden. Er hatte dies im Wahlkampf versprochen, in seinem ersten Amtsjahr aber nichts unternommen. In seiner Rede zur Lage der Nation am vergangenen Mittwoch kam er auf das Thema zurück und sagte, er wolle das bestehende Gesetz noch in diesem Jahr beseitigt sehen. Zwar könnte Obama auf administrativem Weg Erleichterungen verfügen, doch ist er für die Abschaffung des Gesetzes auf einen Beschluss des Kongresses angewiesen.
Gegenseitiges Stillschweigen
Präsident Clinton hatte seinerzeit versucht, das Militär für Homosexuelle zu öffnen. Die Dienstordnungen definierten Homosexualität damals als Grund für einen Ausschluss aus den Streitkräften. Clinton drang mit seinem Anliegen nicht durch. Er erreichte aber insofern einen Kompromiss, als das Militär nicht länger von sich aus nachfragen durfte, ob jemand homosexuell sei. So entstand 1994 das gegenwärtige, als «Don't ask, don't tell» bekannte Gesetz. Demnach darf das Militär nicht nach der sexuellen Orientierung fragen, und Schwule dürfen sich nicht outen.
Laut Senator McCain, dem einstigen Präsidentschaftskandidaten, funktioniert «Don't ask, don't tell» gut. Als Kriegsheld hat seine Stimme in Militärfragen grosses Gewicht. Jene gut 13 000 Schwule und Lesben, die seit 1994 wegen Homosexualität aus dem Militär ausgeschlossen wurden, teilen McCains Einschätzung der Qualitäten des Gesetzes wohl kaum. Sie vermochten zwar anzuheuern – Amerika hat eine reine Freiwilligenarmee –, doch wurden sie entlassen, nachdem ihre sexuelle Orientierung offenkundig geworden war. Viele outen sich irgendwann doch, andere fallen gegen ihren Willen auf. >>> Beat Ammann, Washington | Dienstag, 02. Februar 2010
USA: Homosexuelle sollen zum Militär dürfen
DIE PRESSE: Bekennenden Homosexuellen ist es derzeit offiziell verboten Soldatin oder Soldat zu werden. US-Verteidigungsminister Robert Gates will das nun ändern und hat eine Studie zur Abschaffung beauftragt.
Die US-Regierung will den Ausschluss praktizierender Homosexueller aus den Streitkräften beenden. Verteidigungsminister Robert Gates wolle eine Studie zur Abschaffung des Verbots in Auftrag geben, verlautete am Dienstag aus Regierungskreisen in Washington. Dabei gehe es nicht mehr um die Frage, ob, sondern wie schnell und in welcher Form die bisherige Politik geändert werden könne. Gates wollte seine Pläne am Abend vor dem zuständigen Ausschuss des Senats bekanntgeben. Obama will Verbot abschaffen >>> APA | Dienstag, 02. Februar 2010
USA: le chef de l'armée pour la levée du tabou homosexuel
LE POINT: Le plus haut gradé américain, l'amiral Michael Mullen, a estimé mardi devant des parlementaires que lever l'interdiction faite aux militaires homosexuels d'évoquer leur orientation sexuelle serait "la bonne chose à faire".
C'est la première fois qu'un haut gradé américain apporte son soutien clair à la levée de l'interdiction.
"Mon opinion est qu'autoriser les gays et lesbiennes à servir ouvertement (dans l'armée) serait la bonne chose à faire", a déclaré devant la commission de Défense du Sénat l'amiral Mullen, chef d'état-major interarmées, précisant qu'il exprimait un "avis personnel".
"Je ne peux m'empêcher d'être troublé du fait que nous avons actuellement une loi qui force les jeunes hommes et les jeunes femmes à mentir (...) pour pouvoir défendre leurs compatriotes", a-t-il ajouté.
L'amiral Mullen a déclaré qu'il pensait que les soldats américains "étaient capables de s'accomoder d'un tel changement", soulignant qu'il avait appris à ne jamais "sous-estimer leur capacité à s'adapter". >>> AFP | Mardi 02 Février 2010
High Time for the US, the 'Land of Opportunity', to Give Equality to All Its Citizens!
It is a disgrace that we have in the US today a country which has given equality to blacks, and even to Muslims, many of whom are out to destroy Western civilization, yet gays, most of whom are benign, simply because they are born with a certain preference which they can do nothing about, are discriminated against. And the state sanctions this discrimination! How disgusting! How utterly disgusting! How awful! How totally unacceptable!
PINK NEWS: US president Barack Obama will treat repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell as a priority this year, it has been reported.
According to the New York Times, the White House has been holding meetings on the issue for the past year with defence secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Obama mentioned the law in his State of the Union address last week, having promised in his 2008 election campaign he would repeal it.
He reportedly knew his administration could be forced to defend the 1993 law if court cases challenging it reached the Supreme Court.
Barack Obama Is Out of Step on Gays in the Military
TIMES ONLINE: It takes two kinds of bravery to come out in the Armed Forces. Those who show courage deserve more than political cowardice
Among all the promises of change that swept Barack Obama to power, none seemed more simple, symbolic or easier to implement than his pledge to permit openly gay men and women to serve in America’s Armed Forces.
That promise has been repeated often over the nine months since his election — “don’t doubt the direction we are heading, or the destination we will reach”, he declared last weekend — yet America’s homosexual and lesbian soldiers remain firmly barricaded inside the closet.
The present policy, requiring gays to conceal their sexual orientation or face being discharged, could be overturned by executive order or legislation, yet Mr Obama apparently has little appetite for doing so. No timetable for a change in the 16-year-old policy has been set, and the White House is said to want to delay action into the distant future. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has become, under the Obama presidency, Don’t Rock the Boat, Don’t Act.
The law as it stands is a monument to hypocrisy, requiring homosexual soldiers to live a lie and allowing the military brass to ignore reality. With America fighting two wars and recruitment dwindling, it is also astonishingly short-sighted. More than 12,000 members of the US Armed Forces have been discharged since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell came into force.
The law passed by Congress in 1993 states: “The presence in the Armed Forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”
As Britain’s experience shows, this is demonstrably untrue. A decade ago, when Britain was forced to accept gay troops by the European Court of Human Rights, some predicted heterosexual mutiny. “If the doors were opened to homosexuals, there would be a polarisation, people would be ostracised,” Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage (retired), the former head of military intelligence, insisted. “Men don’t like taking showers with men who like taking showers with men.”
As it turned out, the vast majority of serving soldiers accepted openly gay comrades without protest or, even more healthily, with benign lack of concern. At least two dozen armies across the world have admitted homosexuals and lesbians without any impact on operational effectiveness or recruitment levels. >>> Ben Macintyre | Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
États-Unis : Obama face à la colère des homosexuels
LE TEMPS: La nébuleuse qui milite en faveur des droits des gays est aujourd’hui déçue par le président démocrate. Une manifestation a réuni dimanche des milliers de personnes à Washington
Ambiance festive, musique et drapeaux multicolores. A première vue, la manifestation qui réunissait dimanche à Washington des dizaines de milliers de défenseurs des droits des homosexuels avait la partie facile. La veille, invité par le plus grand lobby homosexuel du pays, Human Rights Campaign, Barack Obama avait répété qu’il entendait mettre fin à la discrimination dont sont victimes les gays et les lesbiennes enrôlés dans l’armée américaine. Pourtant, la colère gronde. Plus que nulle autre, la nébuleuse qui milite en faveur des droits des homosexuels est aujourd’hui déçue par le président. De mauvais augure, alors que ses membres, par leur profil politique, leur âge et leurs méthodes d’action, ont été à la pointe de la «révolution» qui a amené Obama au pouvoir.
Don’t ask, don’t tell: c’est la politique grâce à laquelle les homosexuels sont en droit de combattre sous le drapeau américain depuis 1993. Personne, à l’armée, ne leur demandera leur orientation sexuelle. Mais ils n’ont pas le droit de l’afficher publiquement ou de la revendiquer. Une présence en catimini jugée humiliante et injuste par les militants. Lors de la campagne présidentielle, Barack Obama avait déjà promis qu’il combattrait cette politique. Un sondage vient de montrer que la longue campagne entreprise notamment par Human Rights Campaign a porté ses fruits. …>>> Luis Lema | Mardi 13 Octobre 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
18 Year Multi-decorated War Hero Ousted Cause He's Gay
A former U.S. military chief of staff cited Israel’s experience in recommending allowing gays to openly join the military.
Gen. John Shalikashvili, who was chief of staff under President Clinton when the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was introduced, said it was time to move on to the next phase: open acceptance of gays in the military.
“I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces,” Shalikashvili wrote on Tuesday’s New York Times’ opinion page.
“Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.
What makes the US so special that it will not allow gays to serve openly in its military? The argument that allowing homosexuals to serve will have a deleterious effect on order, discipline, and morale is hooey! And military officers and the powers-that-be know it.
Gays are allowed to serve openly in many countries. To quote a few examples, they are allowed to serve openly in Australia, Canada, Israel, France, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, to name but a few countries. These countries certainly do not seem to have any problems or issues with allowing gays to serve openly. So what makes the US military so damn special and precious?
Would it be acceptable for the US military to stop blacks serving? No, I thought not. So what makes it acceptable to ban openly gay soldiers? And what makes it acceptable for such military personnel to be discharged for “homosexual conduct”?
This is all Dark Age stuff. The American military is showing itself to be little better than the Saudi military. Bigotry rules supreme there, too!
Bartleby asks the following question: Given that practically all of our major European allies - the EU countries with whom we normally align ourselves - openly allow gays in the military, why are we so reluctant to take that same step forward?
Please allow me to answer it.
The answer is simple: The powers-that-be in the American military are reactionary, ill-informed, backward-looking, bigotted, and just plain unfair. Many are religious conservatives; others are just plain self-righteous. It has little or nothing to do with either order, discipline, morale, or cohesion. Experience in the military in countries which allow gays to serve openly will attest to this.
THE GUARDIAN: Twenty-eight former military chiefs have collectively called for a repeal of the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy whereby gay and lesbian Americans are allowed to serve in the armed forces but only if they keep their sexuality secret.
A letter from the retired generals and admirals, timed for the 14th anniversary of the legislation, calls on Congress to throw out the restriction.
"Those of us signing this letter have dedicated our lives to defending the rights of our citizens to believe whatever they wish," the letter says.
The provision was introduced by the Clinton administration as a compromise. Bill Clinton came to office in 1992 promising to open up fully the military to gay and lesbian personnel but backtracked in the face of vociferous opposition.
Since 1993 about 10,000 men and women have been sacked from the military under the policy. In recent years the numbers have declined, to 612 in 2006. >>> By Ed Pilkington in New York
