2 posts tagged “military”

By Tony Grew • May 1, 2008 - 11:26 from PINKnews

An advocacy group in the United States has launched a Congressional petition against calls for the country's military to allow openly gay people to serve.

The Centre for Military Readiness claims that a "sexual agenda" is being pushed that "advances the goals of gay activist groups."

Under a US federal law passed in 1993, referred to as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," more than 12,000 men and women have been dismissed.

New legislation, The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal the law mandating that the American armed forces fire lesbian and gay employees, currently has 142 co-sponsors in the US House of Representatives.

An estimated 65,000 lesbian and gay service members serve on active duty and in the reserves of the United States military, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defence Network, a non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organisation dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel.

An online advocacy website, www.americansforthemilitary.com, was launched by the conservative Centre for Military Readiness and urges voters to sign a Congressional petition to continue the gay ban.

"It is outrageous that some in our country would answer the service and sacrifice of their fellow citizens by calling for them to be fired simply because of who they are," said Jody M. Huckaby, executive director of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) .

"PFLAG supports all of America's military and their families, including LGBT service members. No amount of shrill fear-mongering will ever change the fact that our country is better because of their service."

Last month US Presidential candidate Barack Obama told leading gay publication The Advocate he supports a repeal of the gay ban and is hopeful it can be achieved.

His rival for the Democratic nomination for President, Senator Hillary Clinton, has discussed options to remove "Don't Ask Don't Tell," which was introduced during her husband Bill Clinton's Presidency.

"I think there's increasing recognition within the Armed Forces that this is a counterproductive strategy," Senator Obama told The Advocate.

"We're spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn't make us more safe."

Polls show that 79% of Americans support allowing gays to serve openly.

Retired high-ranking military leaders, such as former Joint Chiefs Chairman John Shalikashvili and Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, have called for an end to the law, which is estimated to have cost American taxpayers more than $364m (£182m) since its inception.

"Our national priority should be on the qualification of potential service members, not on discriminating against them because of who they are," Colonel Daniel Tepfer, USAF (Retired), a 23-year veteran who serves on PFLAG's national board, said in a recent statement.

"I know many stellar lesbian and gay troops who also served proudly, but who could not serve openly about their lives and their loved ones. Our national priority should be on the qualification of potential service members, not on discriminating against them because of who they are."

Whatever You Moron

Do you know why I love Happy Bunny? He's cute, cuddly, and says everything I can't say in public.

Now why would I want to use Happy Bunny to signify a mascot to our society? Because honestly, there are some pretty fucking stupid, ignorant, and down right pathetic people in the world and the scary part is ... they reproduce!

Some of the most idiotic people in the world:

• Disrespectful Teenage Kids who play the same video games as I do (World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, Everquest, etc) and they say the most rude, ignorant, and stupid things that they have completely no idea what they are talking about and they ACT like they are the shit! IN A VIDEO GAME mind you! I play with my husband and our kids and teach our kids that its rude to do certain things or say certain things, even if it is a game, you treat people the same behind the computer as you would in real life, but you still get those extremely asinine kids who have absolutely no respect for humanity. Not all kids are this way, but the ones who are, need some serious family vacation time. Where do they come from?

• Homophobia! Oh please ... get a life people! As if someone who is gay is going to touch you and turn you gay or give you some sort of disease.  They must be the people raising the asinine teenagers who play the above video games. Gay marriage isn't going to hurt you or anyone else in this society so why the fuck do you even care? And don't give me that shit about Gay people raising children will create more Gay children because heterosexual parents have gay children.  African Americans didn't give you cooties when they started going to the same school as Caucasians, and gays won't give you cooties either. Being Gay isn't a disease for crying out loud, its a lifestyle and it's not going to go away, so get over yourself.

• Child molesters and abusers! Please someone explain to me this fucked up category of people. I'm moving on as I could make a shitload of things I hate about this group, especially being a mother of 3.
  

• Politicians! I don't know how to classify these people. They are so two-faced its seriously an insult to humanity. Honestly, who fucking cares if you don't have a perfect life and you've made mistakes before, stop trying to be perfect and win people over with your fake selves. Our generation just wants someone honest, friendly, understanding, and who can do their job. What the fuck is up with this Liberal, Conservative, Democratic, Republican split in society? People get so mean with each other over politics that they forget they are in the SAME FUCKING COUNTRY and it could be worse! Politicians bash each other and that's not what the USA was founded on, that kind of attitude sets a bad example for our country allowing everyone to bash others just because of politics.