Gays and The Military: A Bad Fit

[Backstop]

Guess horses will be glad they're not in the Infantry anymore.

[American Patriot]

lol

I have a feeling that a lot of the "furries" will "come out" now.

LMAO

[Phil Fiord]

Real furries are disturbing.

[vector7]

Companion Thread:

• The Plot to Destroy the US Military

Gay pride groups appear at U.S. military academies

By Chris Boyette, CNN
March 31, 2012 -- Updated 2209 GMT (0609 HKT)


Active-duty troops and veterans march in the San Diego gay pride parade last July.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• After repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" policy, cadets are reaching out, forming alliances
• Norwich University has Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies Club
• In December, U.S. Coast Guard cadets formed a gay-straight alliance group at the academy
• At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, cadets are forming a Spectrum student group

(CNN) -- In the six months since the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, many of the most prestigious military institutions in the country are adding a student group to their club rosters that they had never seen before: gay pride groups.

For nearly 17 years, gay and lesbian soldiers were expected to deny their sexuality under threat of dismissal as part of "don't ask, don't tell." With the repeal of the rule on September 20, 2011, a new era began for homosexual members of the armed forces.

But what about the young cadets preparing to enter their ranks, studying in the nation's top military academies?

In December, a group of students at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, formed a group called the Spectrum Diversity Council, to serve as a gay-straight alliance on campus.

The night before "don't ask, don't tell" ended, cadets at Norwich University, the nation's oldest private military academy, held the first meeting of the school's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies Club.

These clubs are school-sanctioned, and their numbers are growing, according to cadets and school officials.

Even at the United States Military Academy at West Point, cadets are forming their own Spectrum student group.

As one of the nation's five federal service academies, The U.S. Coast Guard Academy follows the same rules as the U.S. military, and up until recently this meant "don't ask, don't tell" was a rule. Even before the repeal, First Class Cadets Kelli Normoyle and Chip Hall were among students at the academy who met with school officials to discuss what might happen if "don't ask, don't tell" were repealed.

"No one was allowed to 'come out' in the DADT Working Group," Normoyle said, but it was an unspoken secret that many of the members of the group were gay.

Today, Normoyle and Hall are co-leaders of the Spectrum Diversity Council that boasts 60 to 65 members. They say the experience of going to the academy is one they would never trade, but they acknowledge that life is different since the repeal.

"It's hard to separate the personal changes from 18 to 21 (years old), but the repeal of DADT was less like flipping a switch. It wasn't like one day I'm hiding my sexuality and denying who I am and the next I'm out and proud. It was more like a continuum; I progressed through my own comfort with being gay," Hall said.

"I had come out to friends my senior year in high school and wasn't sure if I was ready to live under DADT," Normoyle said. After a year at another school, she decided to go to the Coast Guard Academy after all.

"I knew the Coast Guard was what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to go to the service academy. I wanted to show people that it didn't matter if I was gay; I could just do my job and make friends. I thought I would put my personal life in the back seat."

She found this easier said than done.

"I felt separated from my friends having to hide something that big, a part of my life," she said. "We have an honor code at the school, and you practically had to lie to people when they asked if you're dating anybody, if you had a boyfriend."

Normoyle and Hall say the Coast Guard Academy administration has been very encouraging of their club, with Rear Adm. Sandra L. Stosz, the first female superintendent of the academy, a major supporter from the beginning, according to Hall.

Other cadets have been welcoming, too, Normoyle said.

"We've had nothing but positive experiences with our classmates. We had some people coming up and telling us they grew up having negative stereotypes of gay people, but said, 'I know you two, I respect both of you, I'm trying to break those stereotypes.' "

From March 30 to April 4, the Coast Guard Academy will host Eclipse week, a tradition dating back 37 years to one of the first African-American cadet groups on campus. The week has turned into a diversity week of sorts, according to Hall. He said Spectrum plans to host a roundtable discussion with active-duty members of the Coast Guard on homosexuality in the service.

Hall and Normoyle received their orders last week and will graduate as full members of the Coast Guard at the end of the school year.

Norwich University, established in 1819, is a small but well-known private military college in Northfield, Vermont. As a private school, Norwich never had an official policy discriminating against gay cadets, but since the majority of students accept commissions in the military, "don't ask, don't tell" was always a presence.

"Prior to repeal, the facts of DADT served to keep any LGBTQA student quiet," said Daphne Larkin, a spokeswoman for the university.

Dr. M.E. Kabay, a professor at Norwich University, is the faculty adviser to the Norwich Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies Club. He described how on the last night of "don't ask, don't tell," cadets met in the school library for the first meeting of the club. Cadet organizer Josh Fontanez raised all the blinds of the club to symbolize openness to the community.

"Right from the beginning, the intention was to be open, and that's what has happened," Kabay said. The LGBTQA group at Norwich has even collaborated with a group called Christian Fellowship to foster discussions and understanding, he said.
Fontanez knew he wanted to be in the military for most of his life, even if it meant hiding his sexuality.

"The military has always been a passion of mine. I knew I wanted to be in the military before I knew what sexual orientation was," he said. "It was a sacrifice I, like so many men and women for generations before me, was willing to make. We love our country enough to put our personal lives on hold."

He believes that understanding and leadership are part of life at Norwich, and one reason he helped form the LGBTQA club.

"I know I'm going to be a leader in the armed forces when I leave here," he said.

"Norwich teaches us when you see something not right, fix it. That's what we did."

From March 26 through March 31, the Norwich LGBTQA group hosted what is thought to be the first "Spirit Week" on a U.S. military academy campus. The week was full of activities, workshops and discussions focused on anti-bullying, harassment and collaboration. There were HIV screenings, films on acceptance and stereotypes, and even an event called "the condom olympics," which highlighted the importance of safe sex and distributed prophylactics.

"No matter how you identify yourself -- straight, gay, lesbian, transgender, man, woman or whatever -- you could learn something that can help you whether here at Norwich or out in the world," Fontanez said. "Over the next week or next month, we will reflect on the activities, and I have no doubt we will see Norwich as a better place than it was a week ago."

Fontanez said turnout for pride week has been good, with up to 150 people at some events.

The week culminates in a "Queer Prom" on Saturday night, consisting of a social that the head of the university and the governor of Vermont will attend, followed by a dance where same-sex couples will obviously be accepted.

"All these events have an ulterior motive: to show that gay people are people," Kabay said. "For some students, this is going to be an eye-opener. Maybe what they've been told doesn't fit."

At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the cadets are still getting their group officially approved.

"The primary purpose of clubs is beneficial to the cadet experience and beneficial to the West Point goal of graduating cadets," said Col. Charles A. Stafford, West Point chief of staff. "We want to graduate leaders who can go into any culture in any part of the world," he said, "having the ability to speak with a diverse group of people and work effectively with different cultures."

The West Point club is also called Spectrum and is based on the Coast Guard Academy club. With its approval still pending with the commandant, Stafford says cadets would welcome it.

"As we prepared for the repeal of DADT, we underestimated the level of respect and acceptance of the younger generation, and we see that in our cadets today. It is not an issue for the vast majority," he said.

On Saturday, a West Point alumni group called Knights Out will host a dinner at The West Point Officers Club.

"While policies have changed so events like this are possible, I think attitudes have been changing for a long time," said Knights Out founder Sue Fulton, who was among the first women to graduate from the academy in 1980.

"I do think it is always tough for young gay and lesbian people to be up front about their lives, but as long as gays and lesbians are invisible, some people will harbor prejudice," she said.

The dinner will celebrate the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" and the formation of Spectrum at West Point, and it will include cadets, alumni and others, according to Fulton.

Representatives from The Citadel, the U.S. Naval Academy and The Virginia Military institute told CNN they have not been approached with formal requests to start LGBT clubs at their school, but if the momentum started by cadets at other institutions is any indication, it is only a matter of time before they do.

As Stuart Mackenis, a spokesman for Virginia Military Institute, said, "We have the diversity the whole world has. We don't have a club now, be we could soon."

[American Patriot]

meh... who cares?

[Ryan Ruck]

[urlhttp://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/SF-Asks-Navy-To-Name-Ship-After-Harvey-Milk-152813635.html]SF Supes Urge Navy To Name Ship After Harvey Milk[/url]

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution today urging the U.S. Navy to name a ship after slain Supervisor Harvey Milk.

May 22, 2012

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution today urging the U.S. Navy to name a ship after slain Supervisor Harvey Milk.

The board voted 9-2 in favor of the proposal, which came from U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, who made the request to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.

Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the state, was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by former Supervisor Dan White in City Hall in 1978.

Along with his legislative achievements, Milk also served as a naval officer in the Korean War, according to Supervisor Scott Wiener, who sponsored the board's resolution in favor of Filner's proposal.

Milk was "proud of his military service," which was "an important aspect of his life" although he later spoke out against the war in Vietnam, Wiener said at today's meeting.

He said the christening of a ship in Milk's honor would be particularly fitting in the wake of the military's overturning of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding openly gay or lesbian people to serve.

"LGBT people have always served in the armed forces," Wiener said. "Now our community can serve openly and proudly."

Wiener is one of three current LGBT supervisors in San Francisco and another member of that group, Christina Olague, was one of the two dissenting votes on the resolution.

Olague said the decision to vote no "was challenging for me because so many people I respect in the community are in favor" of the proposal.

However, she said she believed "there are more appropriate ways to honor someone who in the last days of their life opposed war."

David Campos, the third LGBT member of the current board, said he was conflicted about the legislation for similar reasons but ultimately voted for it.

"Having the symbolism of the ship being named after him would mean a lot" to LGBT military members currently serving, Campos said, adding that the Navy could possibly associate Milk's name with a supply ship or another kind of vessel not involved in violent activities.

The board ultimately approved the resolution with Supervisor Jane Kim providing the other dissenting vote.

Wiener noted that the board's approval of the resolution comes on his 82nd birthday and that the state Legislature has designated every May 22 as "Harvey Milk Day."

[American Patriot]

But it's NOT ok to wear a uniform in a "political" rally....

Troops can wear uniforms at San Diego gay pride parade

By Jeremy Herb - 07/20/12 10:46 AM ET
Tweet
The Pentagon has given service members the green light to wear their military uniforms at a gay-pride parade in San Diego, the first time that uniformed soldiers will be allowed to march in such a parade.
The military bars active-duty members from marching in uniform in most parades, but the Defense Department made an exception for this year’s San Diego event.
“Based on our knowledge of the event and existing policies, we hereby are granting approval for service members in uniform to participate in this year’s parade,” Rene Bardorf, deputy assistant secretary for community and public outreach, wrote in a memorandum.
Bardorf wrote that the exception was applicable only to the 2012 San Diego gay-pride event.






The move is the latest by the Pentagon that celebrates its gay service members since the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed last year. The Defense Department held its first gay-pride event at the Pentagon last month, which included a speech from Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson. Last year, military members participated in the parade by wearing T-shirts from their branches, but this year several members had requested to participate in uniform, according to local reports.

[Ryan Ruck]

Yep, saw this yesterday. Like you said it's okay to wear a uniform at this event but not if military members want to attend a Tea Party or candidate's rally. I'd like to see someone explain how this is not a political event.

[American Patriot]

They can't.


And Ryan, they won't explain it.

This country has been turned upside down and the Left knows it and they LOVE it.

There will be a call for guns to be banned again because of Aurora Colorado now. That's the next thing to be brought up again.

[vector7]

Obama Orders Military 'Gay Pride' Celebrations

CinC Using Armed Forces for Political Fodder

By Mark Alexander · June 21, 2012

805 Comments

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indespensible supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. ... [L]et us with caution indulge the opposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." --George Washington (1796)

Just when you thought the Left's campaign of cultural degradation couldn't become any worse, Barack Hussein Obama, ostensibly the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces, sent down a decree that the Service Branches must celebrate "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month." The purpose of this mandate is to affirm the minuscule number of homosexuals (2-3 percent) serving in the military ranks -- mostly in rear echelon positions.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta dutifully carried out the order, saying, "During Pride Month, and every month, let us celebrate our rich diversity and renew our enduring commitment to equality for all."

Obama's declaration came during the same week the DoD announced it would comply with atheist group demands that all military editions of the Bible be removed from Base Exchange centers. The complainant had prepped a lawsuit based on the errant notion that "separation of church and state" is enshrined in our Constitution. Naturally, the Obama administration accepted their objection without a fight, based upon the Left's adherence to a so-called "living constitution."

Apparently, Panetta's "enduring commitment to equality for all" applies to sexual preference but not faith. Oh, wait ... maybe it doesn't even apply to sexual preference. After all, when was the last time any Leftist celebrated "Heterosexual Pride Month"?

Make no mistake, Obama's Gay Political Play is a keystone in the Left's macro agenda to undermine the most critical pillar of Liberty, the family. However, there's nothing "gay" about Gender-Disorientation Pathology, and "affirming homosexuals" in any context not only poses a threat to natural families and good military order, but disregards the welfare of millions who manifest this destructive pathology -- merely using them as political pawns.

Rather than provide one lone opinion about Obama's military "Gay Pride Month" mandate, I asked 20 career military officers, five from each of the service branches, to give me their opinions about this mandate. While I value the opinions of many young friends who are among the enlisted ranks, I chose to ask officers, in order to provide a more strategic perspective on this issue.

The responses I received came from those who ranked from O-2 to O-9. Each reported that their sentiments were echoed by virtually all of their colleagues. Each agreed to provide their "personal perspective" without attribution, because the military PC police (Lefty lawyers in the JAG and IG offices) are very persistent at prosecuting Obama dissenters, and these respondents expressed an interest in completing their military careers, abiding by their oaths as military officers, and endeavoring to maintain history's best fighting force in defense of Liberty -- despite assaults from the CinC to the contrary.

What follows are representative amalgamations of comments from members in each service branch, all of whom are combat veterans.

USA:
Clinton accelerated the practice of using the military as a political test platform for social policy, pandering to its electoral constituencies. The Obama regime put it in warp speed. ... I will retire soon, and it pains me to see this political crap manifest itself in the ranks of fine young men and women. ... Military service requires a solid foundation in moral virtue because war destroys the societal safeguards that aid civilized society and civilized people in staying grounded. When we remove morality from military service, such as the moral imperatives behind the UCMJ regulations against homosexual behavior and adultery, we risk dislodging the moral compass from its true north bearing. ... This has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with political expedience. ... The requirement for even more "sensitivity training," which we already endure for Equal Opportunity (EO) and Sexual Harassment, Assault, and Rape Prevention (SHARP), and resulting UCMJ changes, all detract from the real aim and purpose of training our soldiers to fight and win, wasting his most precious resource, time. ... This mandate is irresponsible and rains down from politicos who are not even remotely acquainted with the reality of ground combat.

USN:
I have had to do few things more distasteful in my 36 years than train (read "indoctrinate") my unit members on the new post-Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell (DADT) rules. ... Those of us who have been brought up with legitimate, closely held religious convictions have to bite our tongues and accept the unacceptable. ... We all know it's a load of horse dung, and are just holding our breath for a real CinC to replace the phony one now at the head of the table. ... If being a Christian makes me a bigot, as our Commander-in-Chief indicated (in his reference to people "clinging to their guns and Bibles",) then I willingly wear that title. ... Next up will no doubt be affirmative action for homosexuals to increase their numbers in our ranks. ... When one group, for whatever reason, is given preferential treatment over another, it is ultimately destructive to the command, or the service, or the military writ large. ... Yet to meet one in the fighter community! ... When you consider that the average junior sailor (E6 and below) lives separated from family and friends for months at a time and in worse conditions than the majority of our federal prisoners in order to serve and protect our nation, you'd think that they would be the last people who would have these political mandates imposed upon them by our civilian "leaders." ... Typical of an administration that can't differentiate between equality and Liberty!

USAF:
There is no evidence that decisively links genetics to homosexuality -- and this lack of a genetic link totally separates this issue from race and gender ... except for political expedience. ... When will the pandering politicians please get their social agenda out of my way so we can do the job we came here to do? ... Everyone who has candidly spoken to me about the issue thinks the DoD's policy towards homosexual conduct is wrong, period, and contributes to a degradation of unit cohesion and effectiveness. The fact that the DoD would then not only allow the conduct, but now endorse it is absolute anathema to anyone with a moral compass. ... Now that we've opened Pandora's box by legalizing homosexual behavior, we are now challenged to figure out exactly what kind of status and rights we are going to bestow on it. As a commander, I would be content if we could simply acknowledge it as a permissible lifestyle and not celebrate it as some kind of panacea that will give our military a tipping-point advantage that will allow us to defeat our enemies. ... Despite the "re-education classes," I will likely continue to hear humorous comments loaded with gay innuendo, all followed by the standard disclaimer, "not that there's anything wrong with that!"

USMC:
I read Panetta's order ... and it sickened me. Panetta is not part of the "military ranks." Unfortunately his "leadership" of the DoD defines, in part, where the military ranks are, and where we will go. ... I'm not a fan of Hispanic Heritage Month, African-American Whatever, Women's History Month, etc. The posters produced, ceremonies, seminars and luncheons held, and messages that are promulgated are presented under the guise of bringing us all together when, in fact, they mostly define and divide by differences. ... Celebrating one's heritage or behavior is fine as long as it's your celebration, not the DoD's, or the Nation's. ... Lord, please send us a real CinC! ... In my opinion DADT was a very workable solution. If folks did their job and kept their homosexual behavior a private matter, I was OK with that. ... I knew fellow Marines who cheated on their wives, who lied and who stole, but I was never required to celebrate those sins. I could still voice my rejection of those behaviors, and get my fellow Marines to straighten up and fly right. But now I would be dishonorably discharged for such action. ... Numerous studies/surveys of our Marines conclude that the youngsters, who almost exclusively make up front-line combat troops, don't fight for God or country or freedom. They fight for the guys on their left and right. By dividing along the lines of our differences, we erode the foundation of military success. ... Contrary to Panetta's statement, the military doesn't exist to provide opportunities or make people feel good.


Unit Cohesion?

Two comments really sum up the thousands of words I received in response to the Obama "GLBT" mandate.

The first is from Col. Ron Crews, USA retired (emphasis added), who is now director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty: "By openly affirming bisexual and homosexual behavior, military leadership is coming into direct conflict with the morals and standards held almost universally by chaplains and service members of virtually every major faith group in the military. This blatant attempt to 'celebrate' a minority view of political correctness will not endear military families to the military. I want the American public to see just where the current administration is leading our military. They have turned our Armed Forces into a social experiment at the cost of military readiness."

The second is from a Marine: "When I volunteered for the Marine Corps, the military expelled homosexuals. A decade later, Bill Clinton ordered that we ignore homosexuals as long as they kept their sexual preferences a private matter (Don't Ask, Don't Tell). That was OK because few if any of them were in combat units. Last year, Obama and his Leftist congressional cadres obliged the military to endorse open homosexuality (Do Ask, Do Tell). This decision had nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with political pandering to a loud special interest group. This week, Barack Obama decreed that my Marine Corps would officially 'celebrate Gay Pride Month.' The next step will be to set quotas for homosexuals in the ranks, and to offer marriages and same-sex benefits. I'm preparing for retirement after more than 30 years of service to my country, and more than a few scars to prove it. It grieves me to leave my beloved Corps in such a state, being used as a political crap pot for Obama and his socialist administrators. I have honored my oath.

They have deserted theirs. Do citizens give a s--t anymore? Time to wake up. God Bless America! S/F."

When Obama repealed DADT in December 2010, he said, "We are not a nation that says, 'don't ask, don't tell.' We are a nation that says, 'Out of many, we are one.'" But Obama's invocation of "E Pluribus Unum," the national motto proposed by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1776, as the basis for his social agenda to normalize homosexual deviance, is anathema to its definition. That is because Obama's objective is not to unite, but to divide (and conquer) under the pretense of uniting.

George Washington once called on the nation to determine whether we would be united or divided: "We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it."

Indeed, Obama in his capacity as President and CinC, is a monumental farce.

(For more on this issue, read Gender Identity, The Homosexual Agenda and The Christian Response and 10 Reasons Homosexual Behavior Is Unfit for the American Armed Forces.)

[American Patriot]

Wow.....

Ordered?

I have come to believe that nothing will surprise me any more. I was wrong.

[Malsua]

Order's a gay pride parade? He definitely needs to go.

[American Patriot]

To the parade? With that Tie? You BET.

LOL

[vector7]

CREWS: Homosexuals in the military demand special privileges

Toleration doesn’t cut both ways

By Col. Ron Crews

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

• 
  Illustration by Donna Grethen

The American armed forces exist to defend our nation, not to conduct social science lab experiments in which our troops serve as human subjects. Try telling that to this administration.

The first anniversary of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Sept. 20, has come and gone. Now, there is mounting evidence that proves our warnings were not idle chatter. The threat to freedom posed by this radical sexual experiment on our military is real: It is grave and it is growing.

Activists inside and outside our government who pushed the repeal have deployed a smoke screen around the fact that once the military was forced to exalt homosexuality in the ranks, the all-too-foreseen consequence reared its ugly head.

Senior military officials have allowed personnel in favor of repeal to speak to media while those who have concerns have been ordered to be silent. Two airmen were publicly harassed in a Post Exchange food court as they were privately discussing their concerns about the impact of repeal. A chaplain was encouraged by military officials to resign his commission unless he could “get in line with the new policy,” demonstrating no tolerance for that chaplain’s religious viewpoint. Another chaplain was threatened with early retirement, and then reassigned to be more “closely supervised” because he had expressed concerns with the policy change, again demonstrating no tolerance for that chaplain’s religious viewpoint.

At an officer training service school, a male serviceman sexually harassed another male serviceman through text messages, emails, phone calls and in-person confrontations. The harassing male insisted the two would “make a great couple.” The harassed serviceman reported the harassment, but the command failed to take disciplinary action.

Service members engaged in homosexual behavior protested a service school’s open-door policy for all students that prohibited the closing of room doors for the purpose of hiding sexual behavior. The protesters claimed that they had a right to participate in sexual behavior with their same-sex roommates.

A senior chaplain was stripped of his authority over the chapel under his charge because, in accordance with federal law, he proclaimed the chapel to be a “sacred space” where marriage ceremonies would only be between one man and one woman.

The Navy has allowed sailors openly engaged in homosexual behavior to choose their bunkmates. Imagine in this new age of “tolerance” if a sailor asked to be moved from a close-quarters berthing area because of his concern about another sailor’s sexual appetites. We already know what would happen, because tolerance has never been a two-way street.

Obviously, the recent “study” (aka propaganda) claiming that the repeal went off without a hitch should be shredded post-haste. It has no connection to reality.

This is just the first wave in the first year of the assault on the constitutionally protected freedom of our service members. Remember, the groups that forced their sexual experiment on the armed forces represent the lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and transgender community. It’s only a matter of time before a man who claims to be transgender demands to be placed with women during training, in the showers and in the barracks. The women in the units will have no recourse, especially if their objection to living, changing, bathing and bunking with a man is based on sincerely held religious beliefs. They would have two choices: Either accept this outrageous imposition silently or be charged with bigotry, hatred, intolerance and every other name the advocates of this agenda can throw at them. Neither choice is acceptable. When “sensitivity training” is in full force, these women just might face discipline and punitive separation merely for speaking up and requesting a reasonable measure of privacy and protection of their religious freedom.

This outrageous social science lab experiment could have been easily prevented. The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty has worked closely with members of Congress to enact legislation, which has already passed the House, to protect freedom of conscience for chaplains and those they serve.

Even more outrageous is that we have to ask Congress to protect freedom of conscience for chaplains and those who serve in the military. The fact that Congress excluded a religious freedom protection amendment (authored in partnership with Alliance Defending Freedom), to the repeal sends a clear message that our current leadership does not consider, much less respect, the constitutional implications of their actions while they bow in allegiance to the powerful and aggressive lobby of those who supported the repeal.

[Ryan Ruck]

Deployed Soldier Begins Sex Change

October 15, 2012

She’s a lesbian, and almost everyone in her unit knows it.

She wears her hair cropped short and has a distinctly boyish appearance.

And she’s becoming manlier by the day, now that she’s started taking male hormones.

Call her Keith. That’s the name this 26-year-old specialist, now deployed to Afghanistan, plans to take when she completes a transition begun several months ago when she started giving herself testosterone injections every other week, under the direction of a civilian doctor who specializes in gender changes.

“It’s going well. My voice is deeper, I’m getting more muscle. I feel more energy. I feel more like myself,” she told Military Times in a recent interview via Skype from her containerized housing unit in Afghanistan.

Keith declined to be identified by her real name because under military policy, troops diagnosed with “gender identity disorder” are deemed medically unfit for service and face administrative separation.

The repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in September 2011 cleared the way for gay troops to serve openly but did not address transgender individuals, defined as people who don’t identify with their birth gender.

Gender identity disorder is defined as a medical condition by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standard reference work. Those diagnosed with the condition may undertake hormone therapy and/or sex change operations, but not always.

No one knows precisely how many transgender troops there may be in the force. Based on broad studies that are themselves imprecise, advocates estimate there may be as many as 5,000 people in the active and reserve components who will face some form of gender identity problem during their lifetimes, said Sue Fulton, a spokeswoman for OutServe, an organization of gay, bisexual and transgender service members.

However, it’s likely that very few of those are taking any medical steps toward sex change, Fulton said.

Leaving for Afghanistan, Keith packed a five-month supply of hormones. The medicine cost about $600.

“It’s pretty straightforward. When I get home, the doc will be more involved, making sure my [hormone] levels stay where they need to be,” Keith said, adding that deployment is a good time to start taking hormones because she is able to spend a lot of off-duty time at the gym.

“I work out about every day, so the body definition is looking good,” the soldier said. “While deployed, I’m able to work out a lot more than I probably would at home.”

Legally married to a woman for the past two years, Keith says her wife shared in her decision to start taking male hormones.

“It’s something I had always thought about,” Keith said. “My wife and I talked about it … and I knew I had her support, so I said, ‘I’m going to do this.’”

In A Masculine Environment

Brynn Tannehill, a 1997 Naval Academy graduate and transgender woman formerly known as Bryan, said military life may be a little easier for someone like Keith, a woman who wants to become a man, than the other way around.

“I think the military is far more accepting of a woman who chooses to appear masculine,” Tannehill said in an interview. “Saying the military prefers masculine qualities to feminine ones is like saying the sky’s blue.”

A former helicopter pilot, Tannehill spent 10 years on active duty and recalls feeling ill at ease in some military settings.

“It was always … in the back of my mind: ‘How am I walking? How am I talking? How am I holding my hands? How am I gesturing?’ I was always very self-conscious. … Generally, if anyone ever suggested I was not masculine enough — and it was usually just guy locker-room kind of stuff — I got defensive very, very quickly,” she said.

After Tannehill left the Navy, she went through the two-year procedures to change her gender. Her wife, who had already borne their three children, was supportive of the change. The couple is still married and lives with their children in Ohio, where Tannehill works as a contractor at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Service members are required to notify their commands about any significant change in their medical conditions.

Pentagon officials declined to respond to a request for comment by press time. But Defense Department regulations list gender identity disorder as one of a number of medical conditions that, while not considered disabilities, may “interfere with assignment to or performance of duty” and are grounds for administrative discharge.

The list also includes such conditions as seasickness, sleepwalking, bedwetting, dyslexia and other learning disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obesity and severe allergies.

David McKean, a lawyer with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which provides free legal advice to gay, bisexual and transgender troops, said SLDN gets calls from several hundred troops each year, about 10 percent of whom identify as transgender.

McKean said he has personally handled calls from “dozens” of transgender troops.

He and others say the military’s policy on transgender troops is unfair, equivalent to the defunct “don’t ask, don’t tell” rules that were abolished last year.

Fitness to serve “shouldn’t be based on gender identification,” he said. The only criteria should be “whether or not someone can do the job.”

Identity Vs. Military Career

For now, Keith’s personal and professional lives are not fully compatible. She’s considering whether to re-enlist and hopes to put in a promotion packet for sergeant, but she also wants to become a man.

“Right now, I’m trying to figure out how fast I want to transition and where I see myself in the next six years. I do plan on having the surgeries. Just a matter of when. It’s hard to do while in [the Army].”

The sex change process varies for each individual and can involve several separate surgeries for the breast/chest area, the genitals and cosmetic surgery on other body parts such as the face or legs, according to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Keith says she will probably re-enlist at least once.

“I love my job, and I have a wife and family who supports me, so why not?” she said. “I love knowing that because of what I am doing, my family is at home sleeping well and safe.”

And like most other deployed troops, she’s looking forward to reuniting with her loved ones.

“I cannot wait to get home,” she said. “My wife is going to love the results … from all the working out that I’m doing. We’re both excited.”

[American Patriot]

/rolls eyes

[Ryan Ruck]

First Same-Sex Marriage Being Celebrated Saturday At West Point’s Cadet Chapel

December 1, 2012

The first same-sex marriage at West Point’s Cadet Chapel will be celebrated Saturday – when a military veteran and her partner exchange vows roughly one year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving in the military.

The ceremony will take place in the Military Academy's Cadet Chapel between Brenda Sue Fulton and Penelope Dara Gnesin.

Fulton is a military veteran and spokeswoman for Outserve – an advocacy group for actively serving gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel, reported first by USA Today.

West Point hosted its first same-sex marriage last weekend, but it was a private ceremony at a smaller campus venue.

Obama in September 2011 ended the U.S. military's so-called “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned gays from serving openly. And the Pentagon issued a statement at about the same time allowing same-sex marriages at U.S. military facilities.

However, the Defense Department has made clear the policy change does not constitute its endorsement of gay marriage.

The 20-year-old Defense of Marriage Act still prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. New York approved gay marriage in June 2011.

The 53-year-old Fulton graduated from West Point in 1980, as part of the first class of cadets that included women, according to USA Today.

Fulton has said she wanted to get married now and at West Point because the academy has been “an important part of my life” and because such marriages are banned in her home state of New Jersey and Gnesin, 52, is a cancer survivor and has multiple sclerosis.

[vector7]

Marines order clubs on base to allow same-sex spouses

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By David Zucchino

January 10, 2013, 2:20 p.m.

The Marine Corps legal office has instructed military spouses clubs to admit same-sex spouses if they want to continue operating on Marine bases.

The order comes as the military grapples with how to accommodate the rights of same-sex couples after the repeal of the "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy that prohibited gay and lesbians from serving openly. The Marine Corps is the first military branch to explicitly order military spouses groups to admit same-sex spouses.

In a memo emailed to Marine Corps legal offices around the country, the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant said spouses clubs on Marine installations must adhere to a nondiscrimination policy regarding sexual orientation.

"While the Marine Corps cannot directly control the actions of independent organizations such as spouses clubs, we expect that all who are interested in supporting Marine Corps Family Readiness would be welcome to participate and will be treated with dignity and respect," said Capt. Eric Flanagan, a Marine Corps spokesman.

Flanagan said the legal memo, citing a Marine Corps order, emphasized that any group operating on a base must explicitly state that "no person shall be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or otherwise subjected to unlawful discrimination.’’

The memo added: "We would interpret a spouses club’s decision to exclude a same-sex spouse as sexual discrimination because the exclusion was based upon the spouse’s sex.’’

Stephen L. Peters II, president of the American Military Partner Assn., which advocates for same-sex spouses in the military, said he was pleased with the Marine Corps decision.

"Now that the Marine Corps has set the right standard, we need the secretary of Defense to ensure there is consistency across all branches of service in regards to private organizations that operate on military bases," Peters said.

An officers wives club at Ft. Bragg, N.C., has refused to admit Ashley Broadway, the wife of Lt. Col. Heather Mack. Broadway said in an interview Wednesday that she was first told that she was turned down for membership because she does not have a military ID. The Army does not issue military IDs to same-sex spouses.

Broadway said she believes she was rejected because of her sexual orientation. "They don’t recognize me as a military spouse," she said.

The Fort Bragg Area Officers’ Spouses’ Club has said it will review its policies at its next meeting.


Shock report: 10,700 men raped in the US military



5,200 used child porn in Pentagon

May 15, 2013
by Dr. Judith Reisman

By Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D., and Thomas R. Hampson

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Lewis and several military female victims testified to harrowing sexual abuse at a U.S. Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, March 13, 2013. Lewis stated he “was raped by a senior petty officer … told by a commander not to report it, and later was diagnosed with a personality disorder and discharged.”

Lewis says, “As I demonstrated, men are a majority of the victims in the military. DoD’s infamous ‘Ask her when she’s sober’ marginalizes male survivors and sends a message that men cannot be raped and therefore are not real survivors.”

Why is the best-kept military secret that most soldierly sexual assaults are now definitively homo, not heterosexual, male-on-male sexual exploitation?
The corporate dictionary definition of “sexual assault” is “to knowingly cause another person to engage in an unwanted sexual act by force or threat; ‘most states have replaced the common law definition of rape with statutes defining sexual assault.’” [Dictionary.com, WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University]

While men are statistically more loathe to report their sexual victimization than are women, 10,700 male soldiers, sailors and airmen in 2010 actually reported their sexual assaults. What this means is not totally clear, since men are cannot technically be raped, despite the term being regularly used in the recent hearings on the matter.

The Washington Times reported “The Defense Department estimates 19,000 sexual assaults occur each year, but only 17 percent are ever reported. In 2010 … 8,600 victims [who reported were female, an incredible 4 percent of the women in the military that year], and 10,700 victims were male, reported the Service Woman’s Action Network.”

The rape rate of our dedicated servicewomen is documented as unparalleled in our nation’s history and demands candid politically incorrect discussion. This column, however, focuses on the male-on-male sexual assault Mr. Lewis called rape; more accurately defined as forcible sodomy, that is “oral or anal copulation.”

Most likely, the definition of rape was expanded in the hearings to include the use of objects and unwanted masturbation, or other sexual invasion. Whatever definition of homosexual sexual assault is used, the numbers are shocking.

With 1,219,510 men serving in 2010, if only 17 percent of all male “rape” victims reported, does this mean, based on the aforementioned figure of 10,700 victims, that 62,941 military men were sexually assaulted by other men that year?

Does this mean “only” 5.16 percent of our bravest and best male servicemen were sexually violated by other lust-dominance-driven servicemen in 2010? Did some kind of sick form of hazing play a role?

Were these damning data widely known and debated in the public forum, the legislatures and the courts before the ban on homosexuality was lifted in 2011?

If not, why not? Precisely when did this traumatic rate of military sodomite abuse begin? Did it begin increasing when the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was implemented?

Does it coincide with the appearance of hazing by sodomy in high schools across the country in the last 10 years or so? Is the Boy Scouts board aware of the military homosexual abuser data as they debate their gay Scout ban?

Indeed, whether or not such outrageous male sexual assault estimates are 10,700 or 62,941, these crimes would be traumatizing to their victims and their colleagues, and could be a significant cause for the massive increase in military suicides – and revengeful violence.

A Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) report notes that, “Historically the suicide rates have been lower in the military than those rates found in the general population.”

In an attempt to understand why recent “military suicide rates have been increasing and surpassing the rates for society at large,” the CDP authors wonder if the “continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan” may account for the increase.

However, the hard data confirm “rape victims are prone to suicide,” although continued deployment would logically exacerbate such depression and despair.

Forcible sodomy of men and rape of women is certainly causally connected to completed and attempted suicides.

Yet, despite the high rates of male and female rape and forcible sodomy, the CDP report dodges the prominent role of both sexual abuse and pornography – that is, how-to sex abuse manuals and videos – in fueling the lust and contempt that spawns both offender sexual abuse and victim suicidal ideation.

Alcohol/drugs, fed and encouraged by pornography, often direct users to penetrate any available proximate object, indifferent to age, gender or political persuasion.

True, “The military is 85 percent men and 15 percent women.” Still, according to the Naval Personnel Command (2012 Sexual Assault Awareness Month Training Guide), “about 56 percent of estimated sexual assaults in our military are men, and 44 percent are women.”

The politically correct Naval report ignores the Big Porn Elephant in the room as normalizing the rapes of women and the homosexist assaults on fellow servicemen.

While “heterosexual” pornography has commonly been used to arouse and then seduce “straights” into homosexual sex, “gay” pornography is widely available in mainstream homosexist publications like The Advocate Classified.

And, buff, “straight” military men are regularly depicted there as preferred, sexual targets.

Begun in 1976, The Advocate, our oldest and largest homosexist publication, always carried pornographic ads and films, but in 1992 shifted these to a separate Advocate Classifieds and later to the Internet.

Now (May 7) comes the Military Times reporting that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered inspection of all military offices and workplaces worldwide to root out any “materials that create a degrading or offensive work environment.”

Last year Air Force officers searched “troops’ desks and cubicles in search of photos, calendars, magazines, screen-savers, computer files and other items that might be considered degrading toward women.”

There was no mention of confiscating pornographic items degrading toward men.

The cleanup is a long time a comin’. In 1998 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld The Military Honor & Decency Act partly due to “the special circumstances of the military environment, in which the appearance of professionalism and proper conduct is critical.”

On July 1, Frank Rush, acting assistant secretary of defense for force management, signed DoD Instruction 4105.70, banning “Sale or Rental of Sexually Explicit Material on DoD Property.”

“We need a cultural change where every service member is treated with dignity and respect,” said Secretary Hagel, announcing new initiatives to prevent sexual assault.

“Hagel also unveiled the Defense Department’s annual report on sexual assault, which estimates that about 26,000 troops experienced some form of “unwanted sexual contact” during the past year. That’s roughly one in every 50 troops in the active-duty force.

But, if 10,700 men and 8,600 women reported the euphemized “unwanted sexual contact” – and if only 17 percent of victims report, how does this reduce to 26,000 military victims?

The official reports seem contradictory.

Secretary Hagel wants to eliminate pornography to “really drive the cultural change.” Of course, we can have no honorable or trustworthy military until all vestiges of pornography – from cartoons to Internet adverts, videos, films, calendars and phones, and the rapists and sodomites it trains and justifies – are excised from military service, from the Pentagon elites to the privates under them.

Now, does this mean the elite 5,200 child pornography users at the Pentagon will finally be arrested and tried? For, indeed there are “charms By which the property of youth and maidhood May be abused.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Gee, this isn't politically motivated...

Same-Sex Wife Is Fort Bragg Spouse Of Year

A woman who is married to a female Army officer has been named Fort Bragg, N.C., spouse of the year even though an officers' spouse club refused her membership.

Ashley Broadway, who is married to Lt. Col. Heather Mack of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, was chosen to represent Fort Bragg in a competition next month to determine the Army spouse of the year -- with the winner representing the branch in the 2013 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year competition, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer reported Friday.

The award is presented annually by Military Spouse magazine.

Broadway said the Fort Bragg club rejected her membership application, telling her in December she was ineligible because she lacked a military ID -- a credential the military does not issue to same-sex spouses.

The club has since said Broadway's application "would need to be studied" but the club does not "explicitly" require military ID for membership, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Military service is no longer prohibited for openly gay men and women, but the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act -- whose constitutionality will be considered this term by the U.S. Supreme Court -- forbids federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

The Fort Bragg club has offered Broadway a "special guest membership" while the organization reviews its bylaws, but Broadway said the offer was "not only offensive, but ridiculous."

"My wife wears the same uniform as the spouses of (the club) and she's just as prepared to give her life for our country," she said.

Broadway is a member of the American Military Partner Association -- a support network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military families.

AMPA President Stephen Peters praised her for "the amount of hard work, volunteer time and invaluable assistance that she has dedicated to helping all military families over the years, in addition to the unwavering support she has provided to her wife on active duty and their children."

What physical fitness standards?

[American Patriot]

She must be Navy. They just have to float.