gnome said:
How is this different from "don't ask, don't tell"? What choice was taken away? That's not a rhetorical question, the opinion of someone who's actually served carries a lot of weight with me on this sort of thing.
Under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', the 'Don't Ask' part was all too often a ruse...and the 3rd part, 'Don't pursue' was no longer an option due to the new law.
MPs went downtown looking for base stickers on cars not only at gay bars, but at adult book stores...
Female troops who did too good a job were profiled as lesbians, and so on...it was no longer enough to keep your personal life off base, you had to keep it completely hidden 24/7.
I'm not saying that such profiling *never* happened before, but I do believe that DADT, instead of serving to reduce needless persecution, increased it...
From Margerethe Cammermeyer's site:
"...In 1993 the Congressional passage of Don't Ask Don't Tell led to further witch hunts, murder and abuse of perceived and self-identified gays and lesbians...
...Gay and lesbian service members must decide for themselves if they can live and serve in silence. There is no protection for anyone who comes out in the military. They may escape because of their SEAL status or some extraordinary circumstance but the law, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, is grounds for your separation and loss of career benefits if prosecuted. Don't believe you can change the system because you are a good soldier, sailor or service member. You can't, others have tried, it is the law. If you are contemplating joining the military, think very carefully before you do. You will be living a lie, forced to lie, forced to lead a sham life, forced to give up who you are. If despite all that you have to join, contact the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network at
www.sldn.org. This is the only civilian organization with knowledge about your legal rights as a service member and how to protect yourself from the military witch-hunt."
http://www.cammermeyer.com/issues.htm?cat=1
"We review how the initial promise of a more benign policy toward gays actually created mass confusion about the policy and backlash against lesbian, gay and bisexual service members.
We review how, over time, the new law showed its true colors as a gay ban, just like its predecessors, not a step forward for our nation, our military or our military personnel.
We review the epidemic of anti-gay harassment in the ranks and the inadequate response of our military leaders. In particular, we review the brutal murder of Private First Class Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, exposing six years of harassment and violence against gay service members left unchecked by military leaders."
http://www.sldn.org/templates/dont/record.html?section=42&record=1453
"Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday she does not support her husband’s policy of "don’t ask, don’t tell" and that it has failed to make it easier for gays and lesbians to serve in the military....
..."I think it is an accurate reflection of the bad state of this policy," said Dixon Osburne, a co-executive director with the Service Members Legal Defense Network, said of Clinton’s comments. "This is a bad policy. It is a double standard. It treats gay people and straight people differently for doing and saying the same thing. And it is hurting the military."
Osburne said the organization, which helps represent gay service members who are facing investigations or discharge, believes that the policy has actually led to greater harassment and persecution of gays in the military. The group estimates that the Pentagon fires on average three to four people a day for being lesbian, gay or bisexual, amounting to a total of 1,149 discharges in 1998."
http://www.govnotgod.org/hillary/differprez.htm
"The Servicemember Legal Defense Network (SLDN) found in this year’s annual report that 24 percent of persons expelled from the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue†were women, a disproportionately high number, since women make up only 14 percent of active forces. SLDN explains: “Women continue to be accused of being lesbian for retaliatory reasons, regardless of their sexual orientation. Women have historically been discharged at twice the rate of their numbers in the military.â€
One possible explanation for this lies in the language of the law itself. In 1993, President Clinton declared “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue†a turning point for the military, inasmuch as it would distinguish between one’s “status†and one’s “conduct.†This distinction is a fallacy. Part of the order states that persons “with a propensity to engage in homosexual conduct†ought to be discharged."
http://www.hpronline.org/news/2001/06/01/bcoverb/Lift-The.Ban-83359.shtml
