Will Obama end Don't Ask Don't Tell?

[martha]

Because homophobes are idiots.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by martha

Because homophobes are idiots.

or at least "ignorant." there's no other explanation, is there?

and look at these poll numbers:

75% back letting gays serve openly
By Ed O'Keefe and Jennifer Agiesta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 12, 2010; A25

Three-quarters of Americans say that they support openly gay people serving in the U.S. military, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a finding that could lend momentum to the Obama administration's effort to dismantle the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell."

The level of public support for allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly far outpaces that in the spring of 1993, when Congress and the Clinton administration established the policy.

Civilian and military officials held their first meetings this week to begin a year-long review of "don't ask, don't tell," which forbids commanders to ask about service members' sexuality and requires the discharge of openly gay men and women. President Obama called for the policy's repeal last month in his State of the Union address, and the military's top civilian and military leadership has also expressed personal support for a repeal.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates last week appointed Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe, and Jeh C. Johnson, Defense Department general counsel, lead a team to study a possible repeal.

Ham flew from Germany to Washington this week to meet with Johnson, according to senior defense officials, but most meetings were postponed because of the snowstorm that paralyzed the capital. They and their team hope to deliver recommendations to Gates by mid-March on how to revise the current policy to de-emphasize "third-party outings" -- when another person reveals a service member's homosexuality -- according to several military officials. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

Once the study is complete, the Pentagon team will determine how best to survey active-duty service members and their families on any change in the policy. Some officials favor asking the Rand Corp. to provide an updated version of the 1993 study it conducted.

The percentage of Americans who say they support gays openly serving is the same as a Post-ABC News poll found in July 2008; both are far above the 44 percent who said so in May 1993. In the new poll, majorities across party lines favor such a policy, with support among Democrats (82 percent) and independents (77 percent) higher than among Republicans (64 percent).

The poll also reveals several sharp demographic divides. Men (65 percent) and seniors (69 percent) are far less likely than are women (84 percent) and young adults (81 percent under age 30) to say that gays should be allowed to serve if they have disclosed their sexual orientation. Knowing a gay person makes a big difference: Among those who say they have a gay friend or family member, 81 percent support allowing gay people to serve openly, compared with 66 percent who say they do not know someone who is gay.

The poll was conducted by telephone Feb. 4-8 among a random national sample of 1,004 adults, including users of both conventional and cellular phones. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

[MadelynIris]

Saw Petraus on a Sunday morning news show. I think it's a done deal, they just trying to figure out how to implement it in the least disruptive manner as possible.

[Irvine511]

^ saw the same, and agreed.

[MrsSpringsteen]

Good to know there were such men "protecting" our country.


Huffington Post

Tennessee Republican congressional candidate Ron Kirkland recently said that when he served in the military during the Vietnam War, gay service members "were taken care of" in ways that he could not begin to describe.

Kirkland's candid remarks came at a Tea Party forum last week when the GOP hopeful criticized the Obama administration's support for overturning the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Conservative House candidate Randy Smith offered a similar reaction to the measure at the event when he declared he "wouldn't want to share a shower with a homosexual."

The Associated Press reports:

Kirkland, a Vietnam veteran, said of his time in the military: "I can tell you if there were any homosexuals in that group, they were taken care of in ways I can't describe to you."

[Randy] Smith, who served in the first Iraqi war, added: "I definitely wouldn't want to share a shower with a homosexual. We took care of that kind of stuff, just like (Kirkland) said."

The candidates justified their opposition to repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" by arguing that ending the policy is simply a matter of "political correctness" that would place unneeded stress on military service members.

The Jackson Sun reports that both Kirkland and Smith faced a backlash after suggesting that gays were "taken care of" during their independent service experiences:

Comments Republican congressional candidates Dr. Ron Kirkland and Randy Smith made about gays being "taken care of" in the military at a forum Thursday night in Paris prompted a backlash against the two on Friday, with an official from a state gay rights group saying the candidates should apologize.

The Tennessee Republican Party reportedly had no comment on the candidates' comments related to repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" when asked about the matter by the AP.

[BVS]

Tea baggers keeping it classy

Yeah, it's not about hate

[martha]

Originally Posted by BVS

Yeah, it's not about hate

Or fear.

[KhanadaRhodes]

glad to see they've always had such an inflated view of themselves. honey, just because someone's gay does not mean they will find you attractive. i'll never understand that part about homophobia. a straight female does not think every man she sees is hot, why would a gay male?

[deep]

Originally Posted by KhanadaRhodes

glad to see they've always had such an inflated view of themselves. honey, just because someone's gay does not mean they will find you attractive. i'll never understand that part about homophobia. a straight female does not think every man she sees is hot, why would a gay male?

they are worried other men will have an inflated view for them


because they have inflated views for most anything female, being the dogs they are


(hubba, hubba your panda avater is hot!
it is female, right?)

[KhanadaRhodes]

Originally Posted by deep

they are worried other men will have an inflated view for them


because they have inflated views for most anything female, being the dogs they are


(hubba, hubba your panda avater is hot!
it is female, right?)

[MrsSpringsteen]

Maybe some men who think all women are attracted to them think that all gay men are too. They're just too irresistible. And of course all gay men just think about sex and want to have sex with any and every guy 24/7, so there you go.

[MrsSpringsteen]

Gay people, that third group (WTF?), just wouldn't be worth fighting and dying for.


Think Progress � Inhofe Says U.S. Soldiers Will Be Unwilling To Fight And Die For Their Gay Comrades

INHOFE: For those of us — and I’m one of them — who have gone through the military, gone through basic training, and you stop and think — it just doesn’t make any sense. Second of all, it’s just not working. You have women, men, then you have a third group to deal with, and they’re not equipped to do that.

And you know — you hear the stories all the time. A military guy — I happen to be Army, and Army and Marines always feel that when we’re out there, we’re not doing it for the flag or the country; we’re doing it for the guy in the next foxhole. And that would dramatically change that.

Inhofe shouldn’t assume that all members of the military are as homophobic as he is. A December 2006 survey of servicemembers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan found that 73 percent of those polled were “comfortable with lesbians and gays.” The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has reported that more than 500 U.S. soldiers are “out” to their colleagues and continue to serve. When Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen announced his personal belief that now is the time to repeal DADT, he cited the fact that he has served with gay comrades since 1968.

“I also believe that the great young men and women of our military can and would accommodate such a change,” he added, giving members of the military more credit than Inhofe did. “I never underestimate their ability to adapt.”

YouTube - Sen. Inhofe: Soldiers Will Be Unwilling To Fight For Gay Comrades

[BVS]

Why is it that those with the most closed minds always have their damn mouths open?

[corianderstem]

Originally Posted by MrsSpringsteen

Think Progress � Inhofe Says U.S. Soldiers Will Be Unwilling To Fight And Die For Their Gay Comrades

[Vincent Vega]

Not surprising, though, coming from a person who actively supported a law initiative in Uganda to introduce the death sentence for openly gay people.

[deep]

Think Progress � Inhofe Says U.S. Soldiers Will Be Unwilling To Fight And Die For Their Gay Comrades and Some Unattractive Obese People.
(basically anyone normal people would find sexually undesirable)

.

[martha]

How do these people sleep at night?

[anitram]

Originally Posted by martha

How do these people sleep at night?

Probably very well.

They wear their bigotry as a badge of honour.

In other news:

Gay Marriage Opponents Inch Closer to Death - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

[KhanadaRhodes]

if someone doesn't want to join the armed forces for fear of having to fight alongside one of "them thar homos", then fine. don't enlist. there's no active draft, no one's forcing anyone to do anything.

[deep]

Effort To Repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Picks Up Steam : NPR

here we go?