Don't Ask Don't Tell repealed
supporter
Posted by Wendy Wilson (+6173) 12 years ago
The repeal of the prohibition against gays serving openly in the military has passed the house and senate and is on its way to the President for signing. I think it's a good thing and hope that for all the hoopla surrounding the issue, its implementation will have little effect on actual operations.
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Posted by Amorette Allison (+12830) 12 years ago
YAY!!!!
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Posted by Kelly (+2873) 12 years ago
KEWL!
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Posted by Denise Selk (+1671) 12 years ago
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Posted by Steve Craddock (+2732) 12 years ago
Ooh-Rah!
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Posted by howdy (+4944) 12 years ago
About time!! Yea our team!!
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Posted by polar bear (+509) 12 years ago
Yes!!
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Posted by Steve Craddock (+2732) 12 years ago
The bells of freedom are ringing a little louder today!
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Posted by B. Hunter (+104) 12 years ago
Definately a step towards equality!
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Posted by howdy (+4944) 12 years ago
If they are standing and fighting for our freedoms, we should always stand and fight for theirs IMO...
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Posted by Bob L. (+5095) 12 years ago
SUCK IT, HOMOPHOBES!!!!!

And you know who you are.
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Posted by Richard Bonine, Jr (+15599) 12 years ago
Hopefully, this doesn't result in rogue commanders implementing a "Uriah" strategy.
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Posted by Bruce Helland (+586) 12 years ago
'Apocalypse Now', Richard?
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supporter
Posted by Bill Freese (+480) 12 years ago
Letting gays into the military is like letting women smoke. Overall, it is a bad idea, but looking at it from a purely civil rights point of view, it is good news.
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Posted by Wendy Wilson (+6173) 12 years ago
Huh?
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Posted by sugarcookie (+216) 12 years ago
Woo-hoo! Now if we could just get the "don't ask don't tell" mentality out of most of our community members.
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supporter
Posted by Bill Freese (+480) 12 years ago
http://editorialcartoonis....cfm/94049

Equality in a bad thing is good because it is equality and bad because it is a bad thing.
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supporter
Posted by Steve Z (+1009) 12 years ago
I'm going out on a limb here because I don't really remember exactly what all was in the don't ask don't tell law, but it seems to me it was landmark legislation at the time. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but as I recall gays were strictly forbidden from joining the military. During the interview process, new recruits were asked if they were gay and if so were not allowed to join. The "don't ask don't tell" law, introduced under the Clinton administration, made it possible for gays to join as long as they kept it in the closet, so to speak. Now do you suppose President Clinton had the foresight to see the repeal and thus created the ground work for gays to openly serve in the armed forces? That would make the law that gay rights activists have so bitterly hated a stepping stone for what they wanted in the first place. Some times it takes baby steps to get what you want. But then maybe I got it all wrong.
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supporter
Posted by Steve Craddock (+2732) 12 years ago
Hey Steve Z - I think you got it right. But that doesn't make it right. Does that make sense?

Clinton settled for the progress he could make at the time. He got ambushed on gay rights coming out of the gate in his first 100 days in office. By creating the "gay issue", conservatives placed Clinton in a very precarious political position for someone whose political capital rested on being seen as a moderate from a poor southern state. It probably isn't too far off the mark to say that his ability to accomplish anything in his Presidency was riding on how he resolved the gays-in-the-military issue. So he compromised - or, as we Liberals prefer to say, he made a deal with the devil.

At any rate, your description of a "stepping stone" is pretty darn accurate in my view.

The BIG problem is one that would come to haunt Clinton in his later years - and that is that the solution Clinton came up with and endorsed was ethically and morally bankrupt. As Stephen Colbert recently observed, Don't Ask Don't Tell was the only law ever adopted in this country that required honest people to LIE to keep their jobs.

It's a retty sad state of affairs when we have to use something like that as a stepping stone. Then again, 'separate but equal' was a pretty bankrupt policy, too - but that also was probably a necessary baby step at the time for people who refused to run, let alone fly.

This country could sure use a few more wings!

[This message has been edited by Steve Craddock (12/21/2010)]
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