This must be stopped, post haste.
Over 85 percent of our servicemen have made it clear that they do not
wish to serve with openly gay individuals.
We have a far left extremist judge, who on her own volition, has
decided to "modify/halt/make" military policy?
What is wrong with this picture? What in the Hell is wrong with our
Nation!
Wake Up America!!
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 7:56 PM, Tommy News <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Military Recruiters Told to Accept Gays
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 19, 2010
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Filed at 7:44 p.m. ET
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The military is accepting openly gay recruits for the
first time in the nation's history, even as it tries in the courts to
slow the movement to abolish its "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
At least two service members discharged for being gay began the
process to re-enlist after the Pentagon's Tuesday announcement.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in California who overturned the 17-year
policy last week was likely to reject the government's latest effort
to halt her order telling the military to stop enforcing the law.
The Justice Department will likely appeal if she does not suspend
her order.
The Defense Department has said it would comply with U.S. District
Judge Virginia Phillips' order and had frozen any discharge cases.
Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said recruiters had been given
top-level guidance to accept applicants who say they are gay.
Recruiters also have been told to inform potential recruits that the
moratorium on enforcement of the policy could be reversed at any time,
if the ruling is appealed or the court grants a stay, she said.
Gay rights groups were continuing to tell service members to avoid
revealing that they are gay, fearing they could find themselves in
trouble should the law be reinstated.
"What people aren't really getting is that the discretion and caution
that gay troops are showing now is exactly the same standard of
conduct that they will adhere to when the ban is lifted permanently,"
said Aaron Belkin, executive director of the Palm Center, a think tank
on gays and the military at the University of California Santa
Barbara. "Yes, a few will try to become celebrities."
An Air Force officer and co-founder of a gay service member support
group called OutServe said financial considerations are playing a big
role in gay service members staying quiet.
"The military has financially trapped us," he said, noting that he
could owe the military about $200,000 if he were to be dismissed.
The officer, who asked not to be identified for fear of being
discharged, said he's hearing increasingly about heterosexual service
members approaching gay colleagues and telling them they can come out
now.
He also said more gay service members are coming out to their peers
who are friends, while keeping their orientation secret from
leadership. He said he has come out to two peers in the last few days.
"People are coming out informally in their units," the officer said.
"Discussions are happening right now."
An opponent of the judge's ruling said confusion that has come up is
exactly what Pentagon officials feared and shows the need for her to
immediately freeze her order while the government appeals.
"It's only logical that a stay should be granted to avoid the
confusion that is already occurring with reports that the Pentagon is
telling recruiters to begin accepting homosexual applicants," said
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, a
conservative advocacy group based in Washington that supports the
policy.
The uncertain status of the law has caused much confusion within an
institution that has historically discriminated against gays.
Before the 1993 law, the military banned gays entirely and declared
them incompatible with military service. There have been instances in
which gays have served, with the knowledge of their colleagues.
Twenty-nine nations, including Israel, Canada, Germany and Sweden,
allow openly gay troops, according to the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay
rights group and plaintiff in the lawsuit before Phillips.
The Pentagon guidance to recruiters comes after Dan Woods, the group's
attorney, sent a letter last week warning the Justice Department that
Army recruiters who turned away Omar Lopez in Austin, Texas may have
caused the government to violate Phillips' injunction. Woods wrote
that the government could be subject to a citation for contempt.
The White House has insisted their actions in court do not diminish
President Barack Obama's efforts to repeal the ban.
In their stay request, government lawyers argue Phillips' order would
be disruptive to troops serving at a time of war. They say the
military needs time to prepare new regulations and train and educate
service members about the change.
Phillips has said her order does not prohibit the Pentagon from
implementing those measures.
Douglas Smith, spokesman for U.S. Army Recruiting Command based at
Fort Knox, Ky., said even before the ruling recruiters did not ask
applicants about their sexual orientation. The difference now is that
recruiters will process those who say they are gay.
"If they were to self-admit that they are gay and want to enlist, we
will process them for enlistment, but will tell them that the legal
situation could change," Smith said.
He said the enlistment process takes time and recruiters have been
told to inform those who are openly gay that they could be declared
ineligible if the law is upheld on appeal.
"U.S. Army Recruiting Command is going to follow the law, whatever the
law is," he said.
The message, however, had not reached some recruiting stations.
In Pensacola, Marine Sgt. Timothy Chandler said he had been given no
direction. "As far as we are concerned everything is the same. The
policy hasn't changed," he said, as others in the office nodded.
Chandler said no one had come to the small office questioning the
policy or asking about being openly gay and serving.
Recruiters at the Navy office next door referred all media questions
to the Pentagon. Air Force recruiters said they were not authorized to
talk to the media. Army recruiters referred questions to another
office in Mobile, Ala.
In New York's Times Square, Dan Choi, a 29-year-old Iraq War veteran
who was discharged for being gay, began the process to enlist in the
Army. In San Diego, recruiters took an application from Will
Rodriguez, a former Marine who was discharged under the policy in
2008.
Phillips said at a hearing Monday that she was learning toward denying
the Obama administration's request to delay her order. That would send
the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
After Phillips' ruling last week, Lopez — discharged from the Navy in
2006 after admitting his gay status to his military doctor — walked
into an Army recruiting office in Austin and asked if he could
re-enlist.
He said he was up front, even showing the recruiters his Navy
discharge papers. But they told him he couldn't re-enlist because they
had not gotten word from the Pentagon to allow openly gay recruits.
Smith was unable to confirm the account. She said guidance on gay
applicants had been issued to recruiting commands on Oct. 15.
On Tuesday, upon hearing of the changes to recruiting, Lopez said,
"Oh, my God! I've been waiting for this for four years."
Lopez said he'll try again Friday and will go to a Navy recruiting
office in Austin to see if he can enroll in ROTC as an officer. He is
currently studying hospitality services at Austin Community College.
"I'm hoping they'll let me in because I was able to switch over from
an enlistment to an officer. I'm really hoping they can accept me," he
said.
___
Flaherty reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Kristin M.
Hall in Nashville, Tenn., Lisa Leff in San Francisco, Melissa R.
Nelson in Pensacola, Fla., and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Md.,
contributed to this report.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/19/us/AP-US-Gays-in-Military.html?hp
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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
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