Discharged from the Air Force, Mike Almy will join 2002’s fellow dischargee Jenny Kopfstein, a decorated Navy officer, at today’s Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America trial in California. Please let them take the stand in full dress!
(pictured: Almy and Kopfstein pictured in March testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee)
hyhybt
Please only “let them take the stand in full dress” if it is legal for them to do so.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
Per my understanding of the law, it’s not legal for them to wear their uniform any more than it is for anyone else, gay or nongay, who did not officially “retire” from the military.
The more important point is the misinformation about DADT that is coming out of this.
We very much appreciate how much Mike Almy is trying to contribute to helping end the ban. Unfortunately, and with respect, inexplicably, he is also contributing to misunderstanding of the draconian reality of DADT, a misunderstanding amplified to millions when he appeared on the Rachel Maddow show, and, now, being amplified to millions more in coverage of his apparent testimony in this trial. He’s welcome to still “believe” he “never violated DADT” because he never told anyone IN the military that he’s gay, but while that’s the way DADT was “sold” in 1993, in practice it has NEVER been true. Thus, Almy DID violate DADT by telling at least one other person, the male correspondent in the e-mails the Air Force legally discovered. Per DADT experts SLDN:
“If a military commander finds out that a service member under his/her command has confided his/her sexual orientation to anyone …the service member will likely face discharge. Being out to anyone, anywhere and at anytime can result in discharge.”
Failing to make that unequivocally clear both weakens our arguments for ending the ban and endangers current service members led to wrongly believe that his discharge was a fluke. BOTTOMLINE: Almy was kicked out and so will anyone else who’s caught telling ANYONE he or she is gay.