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 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Missing after Attack Department of Defense Suspending Gays/Lesbians Discharges All Citizens are Needed to Help Defend Against Terrorist Plots |
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Compiled By GayToday
"In addition to working on the services' most comprehensive 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' training programs, Maude has been an effective leader in working to protect our men and women in uniform from anti-gay harassment." Reports indicate that Maude is one of a number of Army officials still missing. The group noted that Lt. Gen. Maude has met with SLDN representatives on several occasions, and was one of the Army leaders who met with Patricia Kutteles after the murder of her son, Private First Class Barry Winchell. Winchell was murdered by fellow soldiers who thought he was gay. "We join the nation in praying for the safe return of Lt. Gen. Maude and all those still missing as a result of this heinous attack," Osburn said. The Pentagon Suspends all Gay and Lesbian Discharges Caused by its 'Don't Tell!' Policy The Pentagon, says John Arovosis in THE LIST: "has put the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy on hold. According to the SF Chronicle, the Department of Defense (DOD) has directed that all discharges be suspended, including those for servicemembers who disclose their sexual orientation, until further notice." Aravosis writes that old Pentagon justifications for 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' have long lacked credibility. He says: "I would call this move by the Pentagon pretty historic (it was done once before, during the Persian Gulf War in 1991). The U.S. military is tacitly recognizing that all the canards we've heard over the years about open gays and lesbians being a threat to unit morale and cohesion, are just that - canards. "After all, if open gays were truly a threat to morale and cohesion, then I can think of no time when such morale and cohesion is more important than a time of war. If gays really threaten military morale, then the policy should be MORE strictly enforced at a time of war, rather than relaxed. By relaxing the policy, the US DOD admits that Don't Ask Don't Tell is nothing more than a smoke-screen for Bigotry. And now, finally, the smoke has lifted. "More importantly, the Pentagon decision recognizes that all of us are Americans - there are no more hyphens - and that anyone who is fit to serve and willing to lay their life down for our nation should be welcomed into our armed forces. "As gays and lesbians, we share the nation's horror at what took place in NY and DC, and we share the nation's pain, as many of our own were killed during the attacks. I think of David Charlebois, the gay co-pilot on American Airlines flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon.
" I can think of no better way to honor them than for the Pentagon to make clear now that it will not follow through on a threat also mentioned in the article below - namely, that once the military is finished using gay and lesbian soldiers for the war effort, they reserve the right to throw them all out afterwards. "The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was an attack on all humanity. It is only fitting that the Pentagon permit all Americans, and all countries, to participate in the battle to rid the world of this common enemy. "This attack has truly united America and the world. Let's pray that once the hostilites are over, we don't fall back into the comfortable routine of old prejudices and hatreds." |
