Don't ask, don't tell expired today(?)

[Aabidano]

The stampede seems to be on among gays to make sure everyone's aware of their orientation. That's the impression our local news was giving at any rate, I've no idea what the reality might be.

In reality if they're on active duty everyone already knew or suspected and likely didn't care all that much. It's like sharing an apartment with someone and expecting them not to catch on that you're gay after a year or two.

Of course now that they feel compelled to make it everyone elses' business it will become an issue, among the junior folks particularly.

[kyoukan]

The issue is more contentious than most people realize. Young, white, conservative christian males is one of the smallest minorities in the USA, it is the largest majority of volunteer recruits in the military - especially the army. The military wouldn't survive without a consistent flow of young, white conservative christian males, who by and large are a bunch of stupid homophobe rednecks that I don't particularly miss when a muslim blows them up.

Don't Ask Don't Tell, or a similar policy (say "Fags Get Out Of My Army") is a popular policy with them. They don't think gay people can serve honorably in the military because obviously they are too busy trying to have sex with every other man in their platoon. It is a difficult policy to get rid of for that reason.

[Canelek]

Everyone I know that is active or former active military is very conservative. God and country, etc. Losing the fear and intolerance will take a top-down restructuring of ideology that quite frankly our military is not prepared to do. Gotta start somewhere though.

[Xatrei]

I'm an Army vet, and I'm about as conservative as Karl Marx, but yeah, most of the guys I served with fit Cane & Kyo's description pretty well. It's about time that this stupid regulation goes away. I was reading an article that mentioned the start date for DADT, and I realized that by coincidence, I was out-processing at Fort Jackson in South Carolina the week that DADT went into effect.

I thought this was a pretty cool video:
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/da ... _20110920/

[Spang]

<-- Non-conservative, atheist Army vet.

[kyoukan]

That video re-affirms my faith in humans.

[Aabidano]

I'm a Navy vet. I'm all for it in theory, it's the right thing to do. The devil is in the details though.

[masteen]

I'm a Navy vet. I'm all for it in theory, it's the right thing to do. The devil is in the details though.

No, the devil lives in every faggot's pants! GAWD TELLED ME SO!

[Aabidano]

I'm a Navy vet. I'm all for it in theory, it's the right thing to do. The devil is in the details though.

No, the devil lives in every faggot's pants! GAWD TELLED ME SO!

Perry's been on the news on the topic?

When I first joined, the Navy's race problems (to put it mildly) from the 70s were still fresh in peoples' mind, it was very ugly. The black folks who stuck it out were some brave people. Besides plain old racism they'd been restricted to certain jobs, cooks, barber, laundry and the like. As were Filipinos until 1975.

Women had just been allowed on ships which was another set of problems. Was a huge mess,

Social change is a rough path, this one is rougher in some ways as the people involved aren't so clearly defined as a legal class everywhere (afik).

[Siji]

Don't forget to find the video of the gay military guy being boo'd at the GOP debate. Go go humans!

[Aslanna]

When did Republicans become human?

[kyoukan]

The more republicans continue to embarrass themselves at public debates and get on the news, the further and further they push moderates away from their destructive, fringe, anti-freedom agendas. Boo gay people. Hell, drag them on stage and berate them on TV. Anything to disgust normal people away is fucking great for America and normal Americans.