The House was hopping yesterday as five witnesses took the stand to discuss Don't Ask, Don't Tell with the Armed Services Committee.
Among the witnesses one could find Eric Alva, a gay man who was also the first soldier wounded in Iraq, Capt. Joan Darrah and Army Maj. Gen. Vance Coleman, both of whom are retired. They all back a DADT repeal, as do the majority of Americans.
Said Alva,
Those who support "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" claim that they do so in the interest of unit cohesion. Well, as a former Marine, I can tell you what it takes to build unit cohesion: trust. It takes trust in your fellow unit members to have your back and do their job. And I can also tell you that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" does nothing but undercut that trust, and with it our nation's security. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" imposes secrecy and undermines unit cohesion, ousting gays and lesbians at the expense of the military readiness of the United States. Allowing gay, lesbian and bisexual service members to serve openly will only improve unit cohesion and in turn our military.
Right wing wacko Elaine Donnelly, meanwhile, took the stand to support the discriminatory policy, which she thinks helps curtail "disruption." In addition to the standard ideological rubbish, Donnelly also tainted her answer by bringing up HIV, which did not endear her to the Committee:
“The armed forces cannot afford the elevated risk of disruptive homosexual conduct in the ranks,” Donnelly said in her statement. “That risk is even more dangerous when HIV infection enters the picture.”
…
Directly attacking Donnelly’s testimony, Snyder sarcastically said, “We ought to recruit only lesbians in the military,” because they have the lowest incidence of HIV and AIDS.Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) a freshman who served in the Army, was visibly enraged, assailing Donnelly over her statements that allowing openly gay people to serve in the military would hurt unit cohesion. He charged that Donnelly implied that the straight men and women in the military “are not professional enough” to be able to maintain unit cohesion.
“This is an insult to me and many of the soldiers,” said Murphy, who served in the Iraq war.
That's some real shit.
Meanwhile, Steve Ralls of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network blogged all about it.
Here are some videos from the hearings. First up, Alva and then Murphy grilling Donnelly.
Donnelly:
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I also like what Christopher Shays (R-Conn) stated:
"It's an outrage that you even have to be here to account for your service," says Connecticut Congressman Christopher Shays to Capt. Darrah, one of the hearing witnesses. Congressman Shays says that the issue of whether allowing gays and lesbians in the military will present additional disciplinary problems is a "scurrilous" argument and that "the issue is that if someone performs perfectly well, but they have a different orientation, should they be allowed to serve in the military?"
"I think the DADT policy is unpatriotic, it's unproductive, and in fact, it's absolutely cruel," he declares.
Shays shares a personal story of seeing pictures of his friend and former Congressman Jim Kolbe, who is openly gay, from his days in the military. Shays tells the panel, "For nothing else, I'm here for Jim Kolbe." Those types of statements really leave a lasting impression.
I guess not all Republicans are bad afterall?
Elaine Donnelly - that stupid twat - was so offensive that the whole room turned against her. Too bad it wasn't the full House with a vote immediately following.
Republicans are not all bad, I work in an office full of them. But they are dreadful leaders and policymakers and I do not want to see any of the current versions of Republicans in any positions of leadership or power. This November, San Franciscans will vote to change the name of the sewage treatment plant to George Bush Sewage Plant. That is a fitting role for Republican leaders….since most are full of shit anyway.
Shays is but one man, and at the time of the Republican convention he will march in lock-step with the others as they declare their opposition to all things gay.
It is astonishing to me that DADT is still the law of the land. I served honorably in the Marine Corps for 12 years before being informed that I would not be recommended for reenlistment because the command suspected that I was gay. I can also tell you that there are thousands of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and questioning military personnel serving honorably, protecting the right of the homophobes to discriminate against them. I wish someone would have asked Elaine Donnelly if we bleed, or die, differently than our straight counterparts. As far as unit cohesion, it is a matter of trust between members. When I served, virtually every member of my unit knew of my sexual orientation, and it didn't seem to bother them. They knew I had their backs, no matter what happened, and it had nothing to do with what we may or may not do off duty. I suggest that Ms. Donnelly bone up on the Sacred Band of Thebes, an awesome military unit of 150 monogamously paired gay warriors. They were a ruler's best troops or most implacable foes. Their sexual orientation did not get in the way of their duty to their God, country or unit!
As some gay stand-up comic once said…"If they want to keep gays out of the service make the uniforms polyester."
And she has the NERVE to say she "respects all the men and women in the military". What a liar.
Mr. Murphy YOU ROCK!
Forced cohabitation?
Stupid c#nt!
FEAR THE LESBIANS
It isn't really a question of whether or not gays will serve in the military. Young gay men are just as patriotic as young straight men. Some of them will sign up.
The question is, whether or not they can be truthful and honest, or whether they have to hold something back, with the other guys in their units.
What really surprises me is that the service can do a TS background check without finding out who a soldier is sleeping with.
The idiocies of rightwing DADT supporters like Bill Clinton, Elaine Donnelly, Sam Nunn and the majprity of Congressional Democrats is not the central question.
It's the linkage between opposition to DADT and opposition to the Bush/Clinton genocide in Iraq. In the case of DADT they're linled by the policies of Democrats, not the Republicans, who are solely responsible for DADT and for refusing to repeal it during the last two years. Similarly the Democrats promised to end the war but it turns out they were lying. No surprise there - it's what they do for a living. After they got elected they voted FOR war funding and held off impeaching Bush. They also refused to set a date in 2007 or 2008 for total withdrawal.
Now we know why. Obama, who's politics are at least as rightwing as McCain's (union busting with NAFTA, socialized medicine, FISA, bribing 'faith' based cults) now promises to continue the war, with it's awful mauling of GIs and mass murder of Iraqis for at least two more years. He opposes DADT because he'll need cannon fodder.
The antiwar movement has plans to demonstrate against both war parties - we'll be in Denver and Minneapolis. On January 1st we'll immediately take to the streets in national actions to demand the immediate and total withdrawal of US forces from the Middle East and cutting the US purse strings that pay for the apartheid practiced against Palestinians.
When we're picketing the White House we'll also be chanting "Hey, Hey, Obama (or McCain) how many kids did you kill today."
McCain is a rancid right-winger with the Rev. Pat Robertson attached at the hip.
Obama is Bill Clinton (DOMA, DADT, NAFTA) in drag with the Rev. Donnie McClurkin attached at the hip.
I have dated several military guys, including 3 years with a Navy guy who was in the Pentagon when it was attacked and spent most of that day helping to pull people and bodies out of the building. I didn't know if he was alive for nearly an entire day because he was heroiclly going back into a building that was still smoldering….yeah, people like him, people that can be depended on to put their own lives in danger to rescue others would sure are for unit cohesion aren't they?