Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York gave Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice an earful at Congressional hearing on the 2008 State Department Budget. After Rice repeatedly bemoaned the government’s lack of Arabic translators, Ackerman wondered if it had something to do with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Though Rice said her department doesn’t follow such discriminatory standards, Ackerman quipped:
It seems that the military has gone around and fired a whole bunch of people who speak foreign languages – Farsi and Arabic… For some reason, the military seems more afraid of gay people than they are [of] terrorists, but they’re very brave with the terrorists. If the terrorists ever got hold of this information, they’d get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad.
Oh, Zinger!
In response to the verbal throw down, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network – the organization that sent us press release on the matter – deputy policy director Sharon Alexander retorts:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Secretary Rice would have no trouble finding gay linguists. In fact, our government could go a long way in addressing the shortage of language expertise by doing just as Congressman Ackerman suggests. SLDN would be happy to introduce Secretary Rice to our many clients who speak Arabic but have been dismissed because of the ban.
Now that’d be an awkward first date.
(Full release after the jump.)
ckerman Says ‘The Military Seems More Afraid of
Gay People Than…Terrorists’
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-NY) today urged Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to consider hiring military linguists discharged under the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. During hearings on the 2008 State Department budget, Ackerman pressed Secretary Rice to address the government’s foreign language deficit by employing discharged lesbian and gay linguists with training in Arabic and Farsi. Secretary Rice responded that she “certainly will look at what we are doing right now,” when asked by Ackerman if the proposal was realistic.
“[I]t seems that the military has gone around and fired a whole bunch of people who speak foreign languages — Farsi and Arabic, etc.,” Ackerman said. “For some reason, the military seems more afraid of gay people than they are [of] terrorists, but they’re very brave with the terrorists,” he continued. “If the terrorists ever got hold of this information, they’d get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad,” Ackerman said.
“Considering the critical shortage of linguists in the armed forces, a platoon of Arabic-speaking lesbians may be just what the military needs,” said Sharon Alexander, deputy director of policy for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). “In fact, faced with the shortage of language experts, the military would do well to consider Congressman Ackerman’s point. We cannot afford to lose critical personnel because of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ There are many brave gay men and lesbians who report for duty every day, and their contributions are immeasurably important to our national security.”
According to the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon has dismissed more than 300 language experts under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” including more than 55 who were fluent in Arabic.
“Secretary Rice would have no trouble finding gay linguists,” said Alexander. “In fact, our government could go a long way in addressing the shortage of language expertise by doing just as Congressman Ackerman suggests. SLDN would be happy to introduce Secretary Rice to our many clients who speak Arabic but have been dismissed because of the ban.”
Matthew
Ha! That’s great. Ms. Rice needs to be careful what she complains about in public.
section9
Wait. I don’t get it. Rice was agreeing with Ackerman’s point, and you people are bitching about it?
alan brickman
It’s true gay translaters were fired all over the place in iraq. No wonder we blew it…
John
What makes you think she actually agreed to anything?
She gave the usual “we’ll get back to you” non-answer cabinet ministers always give to Congress.
And what the administration wants from the House of Representatives is more money, not human relations advice. The reason why Condi kept on pointing out that they had a shortage of translators was to highlight the need to appropriate more funds to the State Department’s language programs.
The last thing she wanted to hear was: “Hey, why don’t you just hire these gays the military just fired” (which is essentially an underhanded rejection).