By I am willing to bet that the militant gay rights lobby will not like this latest news from the Pentagon on the plan to remove Don’t Ask Don’t Tell?:
Department of Defense actuaries can tell you that half of all service members are married. They know that 14 percent of enlisted are women and 11.6 percent are Hispanic. They even know that 20.2 percent of members are Roman Catholic and less than one percent are Jewish. But, they will caution, 19.5 percent claim no religious preference or decline to identify one.
What DoD actuaries won’t be able to tell you — because they won’t know — is how many homosexuals serve in the military. Sexual orientation is to be “a personal and private matter” under new DoD policy guidelines set to prepare for repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
Even attempting to collect such data will be banned. [Stars & Stripes]
I think the Pentagon is making the right move here because there is no reason for new enlistees to check a block on whether they are gay or not. Here is something else the militant gay rights lobby won’t like either:
The policy memo Stanley signed Jan. 28 notes that sexual orientation “will not be considered along with race, color, religion, sex and national origin as a class under the Military Equal Opportunity (MEO) program and therefore will not be dealt with through the MEO complaint process.”
These announcements from the Pentagon is going to make it harder for the militant gay rights activists to clamor for special treatment for gays in the military. It sounds like the Pentagon review team is thinking exactly the way I have been thinking here on the ROK Drop:
This, like so many policy decisions on DADT repeal, adheres to recommendations from the comprehensive review conducted last year by DoD General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army General Carter F. Ham.
Johnson and Ham felt that gays would be accepted more readily in the military community if there were no sense they had been “elevated to a special status as a ‘protected class’ and will receive special treatment.”
As I have been stating repeatedly throughout the DADT debate, I believe that as long as gays are not perceived as receiving special treatment than there will be no problems with the repeal. However, special treatment demands from the militant gay rights lobby is already beginning with Dan Choi demanding his West Point fees be recouped and gays that were discharged prior to the repeal have their discharges changed. These servicemembers knew what the regulations were and willfully decided to break them. In the case of Dan Choi he went on national television to break the DADT regulations. So if the US military changes weight regulations should all the people discharged for being overweight recoup their college money and discharges as well? If in the future the military changes adultery regulations should everyone tried and discharged prior to the change receive compensation from the military?
Anyway it is good to see that the senior leadership at the Pentagon is thinking along the same lines as I am, but I wonder how long it will be before the Dan Choi’s of the world will start calling the Pentagon a bunch of bigots because they want to treat gays equally?
9:36 pm on February 6th, 2011 1
Damn that Rosa Parks for expecting special treatment and sitting in the front of the bus. How dare she ask for special treatment!
The right to marry, for example, is not a special privilege. If gays expect the US military to recognize their marriages, they are not asking for special privileges, there are asking for the same privileges. Sure, they might abuse those privileges, but I think commenters here have said straight people abuse the privilege already.
11:44 pm on February 6th, 2011 2
#1
Since the DoD is part of the Federal Government that have to abide the rules of law. See DOMA 1996.
"Section 3. Definition of 'marriage' and 'spouse':
In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife"
So what equal treatment? The DoD is following the laws as they are so written.
So until their is a revision DOMA 1996 or it is dropped from the Federal book, it is asking to be treated "SPECIAL".
Maui
2:22 am on February 7th, 2011 3
"I think the Pentagon is making the right move here because there is no reason for new enlistees to check a block on whether they are gay or not."
Yes, because it's none of their business. They don't ask anyone if they are heterosexual, do they?
But, here's where you lost me"
"Here is something else the militant gay rights lobby won’t like either…"
I mean, come on. No, they don't want preferential treatment. Get that out of your heard. You're starting to sound like a broken record about the "gay rights lobby".
2:23 am on February 7th, 2011 4
PS. Yes, I'm all for DA (on the government's part), it's the DT part that sucks.
2:51 am on February 7th, 2011 5
"Pentagon Not Planning to Track Gay Servicemembers"
Never trust the Pentagon.
They have already formed a group to track gay sericemembers.
http://nicedeb.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/rednec…
5:16 am on February 7th, 2011 6
There will be a DACOHITS (Defense Advisory Committee on Homo's in the Service) formed within a year-mark my words.
8:16 am on February 7th, 2011 7
GTNCOIC and GTOIC
or just Fag Trackers.
10:41 am on February 7th, 2011 8
#5,
12:26 pm on February 7th, 2011 9
Its a good reasonable idea. Don't give the pro-gay agenda groups any numbers to work with, nothing that they can possibly use to create any sort of political platform. By prohibiting the tracking they prevent the "only 5% of senior enlisted are homosexual, there must be some sort of discrimination involved so homosexuals need to be represented more" claims from being made. I like how they prohibited any form of special treatment or quartering but allowed local commands the freedom to "maintain good order and discipline". Prevents special treatment demands from being made (or being used as anti-military political ammunition) and allows the local command to sort out "situations" as they come up on a case by case basis.
1:41 pm on February 7th, 2011 10
Anybody who knows ANYTHING about how the US Military works & the political pressures that come down from the top know that after some period of time that there will be either written or unwritten queer quotas for promotion, military schools, & assignments. That will happen. At first homosexuality will be ignored except for propaganda training which is already in the works. At some point in the future there will be calls for the first 'gay' chief of each of the service branches, the first 'gay' senior enlisted adviser of each of the service branches, the first 'gay' chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the first 'gay' secretary of each of the service branches, & of course the first 'gay' secretary of defense. GI Korea, as to your comments about changing the discharges of troops forced out by DADT, that has already been decided that those troops who knowingly violated federal law & military regulations will be allowed to re-join the military. Dan Choi will probably be the future chairman of the joints chiefs of staff. I must close, suddenly I feel the need to puke.
2:09 pm on February 7th, 2011 11
"Prevents special treatment demands from being made (or being used as anti-military political ammunition) and allows the local command to sort out “situations” as they come up on a case by case basis."
Like Christians and other religious groups aren't asking for and getting special treatment?
2:13 pm on February 7th, 2011 12
Sounds to me like a lot of you guys are paranoid. Mark my words, you'll feel like morons in about 5 years when all is said and done.
4:27 pm on February 7th, 2011 13
i am waiting for the Gay Awareness month selection so they can start having gay pride activities here on yongsan
maybe a parade down the road that runs from collier to the commissary!
4:35 pm on February 7th, 2011 14
Can we pleassse jussst get on with our livesss and just wait for the universssal "pink leotard" uniformsss to be isssued???
5:04 pm on February 7th, 2011 15
"Like Christians and other religious groups aren’t asking for and getting special treatment?
"
Now go back and read the article and read my comment, then use your reading comprehension. Or did that not teach that in school where your from? The entire article is how their *not* going to be recording sexuality statistics. They went as far as to specifically prohibit it in the regulation. Currently they track religious stats and give them special status in their treatment and worship. People (including yourself) can point to these stats and recorded preferences and say all sorts of stuff. Completely remove the preference itself and it becomes impossible to point to it.
The first "gay" anything wouldn't matter, the data isn't tracked and DoD would have zero idea who's gay / bi / straight. They don't care and neither should anyone else, its a private matter. Not like that would stop forum trolls.
6:23 pm on February 7th, 2011 16
I knew it was a bar said the Lt. the entrance was at the rear.
12:42 am on February 8th, 2011 17
#15,
Ironically, you can't read between the lines.