The military's anti-gay Don't Ask, Don't Tell remains a blight on our nation's armed services. Especially for the women:

The Army and Air Force discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military, according to Pentagon statistics gathered by an advocacy group.

While women make up 14 percent of Army personnel, 46 percent of those discharged under the policy last year were women. And while 20 percent of Air Force personnel are women, 49 percent of its discharges under the policy last year were women.
…
Over all, the number of gay men and lesbians discharged from the military in 2007 rose to 627 from 612 a year before, according to Pentagon statistics. Those figures represent a drop of about 50 percent from a peak in 2001, before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon released the numbers after Servicemember's Legal Defense Network invoked the dreaded Freedom Of Information Act, which forced the government to confess their disgraceful sins.

Radio host Michael Savage tainted the air waves with his repulsively closed mind Monday. A caller phoned in to ask why Savage refused to attend last week's Republican debates. Savage first explains the bad blood between him and the news channel - something about Whoopi Goldberg, Al Sharpton and Joy Behar plotting a character attack on Larry King Live - and how Ted Turner set up a "bear trap" for conservatives.

From there, Savage launches a verbal assault on "Anderson Blooper" and Keith Kerr, the retired brigadier who asked the presidential candidates about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. And, from what we gather, Savage isn't so keen on Kerr:

I don't care about this old queen, frankly. He disgusts me to make — my flesh crawls from the old queen. That was a general? Now you wonder why we're still in Iraq five years later. General — with General Keith Kerr, you know why we're still in Iraq five years later. That's all. He wasn't just racking up cue balls at the pool table. I'm sick of it! I'm sick of the whole country, it's like Rome! It's melting down like Rome!

Christ, won't someone feed Savage to the lions, already?

The 65-year old commentator also commented on Cooper's sexuality: "Why don't you enlist, Anderson? I'm not saying you're gay. But you certainly could enlist if you're so interested in "do ask do tell.""

A British army commander allegedly attempted to convert his lesbian colleague. The unidentified female soldier claims her commander sent her vile text messages in the hopes that she'd give up women and join his sexual team.

One naughty message reportedly read, Look I might be able to convert you. You don't know what you are missing." The lesbian repeatedly rebuffed his advances, but she says she feared retribution, "I was panic stricken and embarrassed. He was my boss. I thought this was completely out of my control." When his textual woos didn't work, the male commander allegedly asked the lesbian to have a threesome with him and another female. He must have thought she'd be enticed by another vagina.

Frustrated by the harassment, the lesbian soldier filed a formal complaint. She soon began receiving tormenting phone calls at home and her beloved horse came down with a nasty rash. Coincidence? She thinks not and has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the man and his superiors.

Bad news for Johnny Lamar Dalton, the HIV-positive soldier who stood trial for having unprotected sex with a teenager:

[Dalton] has been sentenced to 40 months in military prison for having unprotected sex with an 18 year-old male he met online. Dalton had tested positive last year and was ordered by his superiors not to have unprotected sex. After the teenager tested positive, his mother notified the military. Dalton was convicted of violating a direct order, committing an "indecent act", and possessing marijuana. After his sentence is completed, Dalton will be dishonorably discharged.

While we're totally against the way our military treats gay people, we're glad to hear this man's being punished. Except for the marijuana infraction. That's bogus.

General Peter Pace may be gone, but his distasteful gay opinions stand strong in the army:

The Army, Navy and Air Force unwittingly advertised for recruits on a website for gays, who are barred from military service if they are open about their sexual orientation.

When informed Tuesday by USA Today that they were advertising on GLEE.com, a networking website for gay professionals, recruiters expressed surprise and said they would remove the job listings.

"This is the first I've heard about it," said Maj. Michael Baptista, advertising branch chief for the Army National Guard, which will spend $6.5 million on Internet recruiting this year. "We didn't knowingly advertise on that particular website," which he said does not "meet the moral standards" of the military.

Oh, please! GLEE's so tame. We'd love to hear what Baptista has to say about us.

The United States Army's got a gay mystery on its hand. Why did three Army members kill themselves over the course of three months last year? And, even more mysterious, was one of them being blackmailed for her lesbian ways?

CONTINUED »

American soldier Christopher Mastromarino may find his army career coming to an end. As we reported earlier this month, a court martial found Mastromarino guilty of assault. Those charges, Mastromarino claims, were fabricated because his army colleagues concluded he's a queer.

In an effort to curb the conviction, which would effectively destroy Mastromarino's plans of serving his country indefinitely, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network sent a plea to Mastromarino's superiors. And, as can be expected, those honchos weren't having it.

CONTINUED »

• Army Staff Sgt. Edmundo F. Estrada from Virginia's Fort Eustis has been charged with rape, indecent assault, having an inappropriate relationship with a trainee, and cruelty and maltreatment of subordinates, after another solider alleged Estrada forced him to dress up like Superman and then, well, raped him. He told his victim that he'd previously "help soldiers with their self-confidence and alleviate depression". Um right… Could it be Devery L. Taylor's going to get a cell mate? [Pilot Online]

• The media's been so focussed on Ann Coulter's faggot flinging that no one's acknowledging her suggestion that gays should be Republicans: "Gays make a lot of money and are victims of crime… [And] Republicans are anti-tax and anti-crime." Lane Hudson says she's sort of, not really saying gays should be protected by hate crime laws. Do you agree or do you think Hudson's had a few too many poppers? [News From The Left]

• Long Hill, New Jersey mayor and practicing lesbian Gina Genovese will be running for Senator. That's really all you need to know. [The Star Ledger]

• Soulforce rides again! And they're coming to a town near you! [Soulforce]

• So, too, are Scissor Sisters! [Scissor Sisters]

• We knew it all along: Britney Spears is the anti-Christ! [Mollygood]

• Rich old tax evader and gay marriage activist Charles Merill wants to be the next non-gay gay artistic messiah. To this end, he's entered a painting into Charles Saatchi's art competition, Smackdown. And, not surprisingly, he wants you vote. How do we know? He sent out his own press release. [Earth Times]

• DNC Chairman Howard Dean on the late AIDS activist, Bob Hattoy: "This weekend, America lost a true champion for justice. Aside from being a fierce advocate on causes ranging from LGBT rights and HIV issues, to civil liberties and the environment, Bob Hattoy was a wonderfully charming man with a tremendous sense of humor… Through Bob's life and service to our country, we are all reminded of the need to do more to encourage greater participation of all Americans, including gays and lesbians, in our political process." [365 Gay]

You may have heard that Reichen - the former Amazing Racer turned "activist" turned Lance Bass' butt-buddy - has just released a book, Here's What We'll Say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the US Air Force.

As is requisite for any celebrity (however pseudo) memoir, there's a painful tale that Reichen's never before disclosed.

Reichen's comes in the form of a hazing-related sexual assault while at the Air Force academy. It seems that poor Reichen was snatched from his bed, blind folded and taken to a room where he was forced to do naked push-ups…into another cadets mouth! Speaking with ABC News, Reichen says, "I think it's the first time that I've said that that happened… I've been ashamed of it."

In preparation for our Totally Frightful Interview with Reichen (which will be posted later this week), we sat down to read said book and, yes, we read the scene in which he gets his wee-wee sucked. Reichen writes:

I was so sexually aroused, yet feeling so violated, that I didn't know what to do. I struggled to move away from them but they held me tighter. The motjon of getting away felt so good between my lefs that I kept moving up and down. It only took me about two minutes to come, and when I did, the guy in front of me had turned his body somewhat so that my face was on his chest. I must have given him a hickey on his chest as I sucked on his skin while I came.

Not to discredit Reichen's psychic trauma, it reads more like erotic fiction than emotional confession.

Despite the sensual undertones in the book, we're sure the entire experience sucked…

In case you didn't hear, there's a war going on. And, naturally, wars need troops. Unfortunately for us, our already taut military continues to feel the strain of not one, but two protracted engagements. Thus, they're reaching out to the National Guard for reinforcements.

The New York Times reports:

“The continuing frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the U.S. Army so thin that there are few brigades ready to respond to crises elsewhere,” said Lynn Davis, a senior analyst in the Arroyo Center, a division of the RAND Corporation that does research for the Army.

Ms. Davis said that there was no quick fix for the limited number of troops. The longer-term solution, she said, was to rely more on the National Guard or to increase the number of Army brigades, a move that would cost billions of dollars.

We can think of a more practical quick fix: stop kicking people out because they're gay. Just a suggestion.

The military has never held any allure for us, especially since they don't exactly welcome our kind, and we have trouble understanding why any gay man and woman would want to be a soldier aside from all the hot sex and potential amateur porn opportunities. However, is has been estimated that more than 1 million gays have served in the armed forces over the years, and this past weekend in Palm Springs hundreds gathered to recognize their contributions and sacrifice.

Honoring Gay Veterans [BGay]

According to a report from the US Army, US Secretary Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized Al Gharib-style abuse at Guantanamo Bay, including various "torture" tactics of a gay nature.

When questioning Mohammed al-Kahtani about Sept. 11, apparently Rummie told interrogators to force Kahtani to wear women's underwear, call him a homosexual, and perform dog tricks on a leash.

At this juncture we should say while we are interested in this story, it's not exactly a big surprise that the Army partakes in some twisted business. The main reason we're mentioning this on Queerty, honestly, is because we've always wanted to link to a story on Al Jazeera, so they can track back and see us. And here it is. So click away, please. Hi, Al Jazeera. Thanks for all the pro-gay love.

Shoutout to the A to the L to Jazizzle [Al Jazeera]