From the category archives:

military

A New Push To Roll Back ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ In U.S. Military

by Jefferson on 11/30/2025

in gays,glbt,legislation,lesbian,military

Marking the 14th anniversary of legislation that allowed gay men and lesbians to serve in the military but only if they kept their orientation secret, 28 retired generals and admirals plan to release a letter on Friday urging Congress to repeal the law.

“We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” the letter says. “Those of us signing this letter have dedicated our lives to defending the rights of our citizens to believe whatever they wish.”

The retired officers offer data showing that 65,000 gay men and lesbians now serve in the American armed forces and that there are more than one million gay veterans.

“They have served our nation honorably,” the letter states.

The letter’s release comes as rallies are scheduled on the Mall by groups calling for a change in the law, which is known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” because it bars the military from investigating soldiers’ sexual orientation if they keep it to themselves.

Although the signers of the letter are high-ranking, none are of the stature of General John Shalikashvili, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the policy was adopted and who now argues for its repeal. Shalikashvili refocused attention on the issue earlier this year when he wrote that conversations with military personnel had prompted him to change his position.

The current generation of Americans entering the armed services have proved to him “that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers,” the general wrote in an Op-Ed article published in The New York Times on Jan. 2.

“I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces,” Shalikashvili wrote. “Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.”

Few issues have split the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates this year as clearly as whether to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

(more . . . )

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Woman charged after saying she was raped (Houston Chronicle)

by Viviane on 08/09/2025

in crime,military,rape

POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. — A court-martial has been scheduled next month for a female airman who says she was charged because she refused to testify against three male airmen she had accused of rape.

The woman is charged with one count of committing indecent acts and one count of consuming alcohol as a minor. The defense says the charges against her involve the same men she accused of raping her.

The military won’t identify the men or confirm whether they were ever charged because the case is pending, base spokesman Ed Drohan said Tuesday.

“The whole thing is a system failure,” said Capt. Christopher A. Eason, one of the woman’s military defense attorneys. “This is unprecedented.”

In letters dated June 7 to the congressional delegations and governors of North Carolina and her native Texas, the woman said she decided not to testify against the three men because she was “under enormous stress.” (more. . .)

[via Feministing]

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Aides: Pace Won’t Apologize for Gay Remark (AP)

by Jefferson on 03/13/2025

in discrimination,gays,Joint Chiefs,military,Peter Pace

(Note this fact: “some 10,000 troops, including more than 50 specialists in Arabic, have been discharged because of the [don't ask, don't tell] policy,” according to a 2005 audit.

These fuckwits are running a fine little war.

Jefferson)

Senior aides to the chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that Marine Gen. Peter Pace won’t apologize for calling homosexuality immoral — an opinion that gay advocacy groups deplored.

In a newspaper interview Monday, Pace had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces.

“General Pace’s comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces,” the advocacy group Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said in a statement on its Web site.

The group has represented some of the thousands dismissed from the military for their sexual orientation.

Pace’s senior staff members said Tuesday that the general was expressing his personal opinion and had no intention of apologizing. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak on the record.

Rep. Martin Meehan, who has introduced legislation to repeal the current policy, criticized Pace’s comments.

“General Pace’s statements aren’t in line with either the majority of the public or the military,” said the Massachusetts Democrat. “He needs to recognize that support for overturning (the policy) is strong and growing” and that the military is “turning away good troops to enforce a costly policy of discrimination.”

(more . . . )

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Task Force Comes Out For Sanchez (Joe.My.God)

by Viviane on 03/08/2025

in ann coulter,gay porn,hypocrisy,Matt Forman,Matt Sanchez,military,NGLTF

Joe writes:

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has issued a statement of support for Matt Sanchez, which reads in part:

Porn, gay or straight, has no ideology. Porn stars and porn consumers are Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, atheists and evangelicals. There’s no inherent contradiction between Matt Sanchez being pro-military and being part of the adult film industry. The real hypocrisy expresses itself in two different and important ways. First, the failed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law requires Matt Sanchez and thousands of other loyal Americans to hide their sexual orientation to serve their country in the military. Second, Ann Coulter and her ilk lift a man to hero and spokesperson status until “gasp!” he is found out to be a “faggot” (Coulter’s word).- Matt Forman, Executive Director.

I agree. Where Sanchez’ hypocrisy lies is in his allegiance to the very people who would like to keep gay Americans second-class citizens, even though his livelihood came at the very hands (ahem) of the gay Americans who gobbled up his cock, on screen and in person. THAT is where the hypocrisy lies, not in his conservatism per se, his porn career, or his military service. I am very pro-porn and pro-sex workers. My issue is when they take gay money with one hand and diddle Ann Coulter with the other.

Read the full NGLTF statement in full at AMERICAblog.

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