Gates Announces New DADT Regulations

Pam, they talked about just not enforcing it but that would be unconstitutional & the services would take Gates to court if he did that. To most of the rest of you, if you had any clue about how the military worked or what's it's like to serve under DADT, you would understand this is a "small yay" as my partner put it until more progress can be made. I appreciate all the non-military people fighting for my rights but unless you've served, you have no way of understanding how the military works.

This is ridiculous. Is this supposed to make everything better? They're just trying to do something that makes us think it's all fixed and now the gov won't be trying quite as hard to throw its soliders out, but just be sure to stay in the closet...

More "change we can believe in." Sh...yeah, right.

So only Congress can change the law -- there are 100 members of Congress and only 4 of them have ever been in the military. What do they know about unit cohesion? Interesting how some of them voted against the repeal of DADT but yet were caught "coming out of the closet" themselves; isn't that the pot calling the kettle black. I am not here to point fingers or pass judgement but lets get with the program here. Stop dancing around and repeal this policy that is discriminating against true AMERICANS who are willing to make that ultimate sacrifice for their country. All this talk of studies needing to be done is just a waste of taxpayers money and time. If Congress or the Defense Secretary want to do a study, how about looking at and studying these other countries that already allow persons to serve openly in their military, they might actually learn something.

Doing some reading on the subject myself i came across this little tidbit of info: Most Western military forces have now removed policies excluding individuals of sexual orientations other than heterosexual (with strict policies on sexual harassment). Of the 26 countries that participate militarily in NATO, more than 22 permit gay people to serve; of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, three (Britain, France, Russia) permit gay people to serve openly, and two (United States, China) do not. Besides Greece, which bans homosexuals from serving, all other members of EU permit gay people to serve openly. The Greek discrimination policy has become the object of criticism by the European Union, as EU law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Canadian Forces lifted the ban on gay members in 1992. In 2009, Argentina, Uruguay and Philippines allowed gay men to serve openly in the military. Perhaps we should look at these countries.

Yeah, yeah, progress my fucking ass. They say the entire reason for not allowing gays in the military is unit cohesion. So let's think this through: They say they are now not going to investigate/discharge someone if they were outed by a third party. So Private Bubba and Sgt. Billy Joe Bob says to each other, "Well, Corporal Smith is gay, but we found out because his ex-boyfriend outed him, so it's OK to take a shower with him and for him to look at our penises - but we'll be GODDAMNED UPSET AS HELL if Private Jones looks at our penis because he was heard saying he's Gay." Do you REALLY think inbred homophobes will make that distinction??? REALLY??? There will still be witch-hunts and this new "policy" is nothing but masturbation. They're just diddling themselves until the real thing can be put in place and the time for that is NOW.

I want to commend the secretary. Only Congress can change the law. Gates does not have the option to disobey the law. I think this is a very positive first step to eliminate situations like the recent one in which a Police Officer notified the military when he saw a lesbian's marriage certificate. It stops the witch hunt to a large degree. I agree that this is far from the ideal but Gates could have done nothing until Congress acted. Give him some crdit for taking a higher ground.

This is BULLSHIT! Make an announcement when there is something to actually talk about Gates.

I think Gates should go back into the closet (Obama Cabinet) and dust the cob webs off the cabinet members. My dear President Obama and Secretary Clinton, I hearby declare that your rights as heterosexual USA citizens will be equal to us gay USA citizens. Sorry to strip away your rights but you leave me no choice as you claim you both want an equal America. So stand up and be equal. Give up your Constitutional rights now!!

If they can change basic rules as to who can initiate a discharge, why can't they change the rules to not enfore DADT at all?