When it came time to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, President Obama gave the U.S. military leaders a lesson in who’s commander-in-chief. According to a new report from Buzzfeed, Obama made it clear to the heads of the five military branches that they could either accept his decision or resign.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp revealed that Obama was unwilling to compromise with service leaders over DADT during a meeting in 2010. “We were called into the Oval Office and President Obama looked all five service chiefs in the eye and said, ‘This is what I want to do,’” Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp recalls in a video obtained by Buzzfeed. “I cannot divulge everything he said to us, that’s private communications within the Oval Office, but if we didn’t agree with it — if any of us didn’t agree with it — we all had the opportunity to resign our commissions and go do other things.”
Papp, who is retiring in May, says he agreed with the decision, but he sounds a bit more ambivalent in the Q&A session with Coast Guard cadets that is captured on tape. Asked how officers should respond to regulations with which they “disagree morally,” Papp refers to himself as an example. It was fine to “not be thrilled” with a regulation, but officers had to enforce it if they don’t “see anything terribly wrong with it.”
For the record, none of the branch leaders resigned with the repeal of DADT, but judging by Papp’s remarks, they weren’t exactly turning handsprings down the halls of the Pentagon either.
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.
Ron Jackson
Obama did what 4 presidents before him where to chicken shit to do. Good for him.
redcarpet
Oh poor babies at the pentagon, didn’t make they feel good. Obama must have done something right if these stodgy, stubborn, backwards idiots were grumbling.
mcflyer54
The true irony is that there have always been gays in the military. And, because there is no longer a draft, there are probably fewer now then at any time since conscription began. I served during Viet Nam and, at that time, if you acknowledged you were a homosexual when you were drafted you received a 4F classification that would follow you throughout your life. So hundreds of gay men lied and went into the military in order to protect their future.
And during Viet Nam once you were in the service they were so desperate to keep people that they very often overlooked what was called “environmental behavior” (you wouldn’t have had sex with another male if there had been females available to you) to avoid the hassles of a court marshall. Sure some people were dishonorably discharged even from a war zone but the number of those dismissed was nowhere close to the number of guys caught in compromising situations that could have resulted in a section 8 discharge.
Dakotahgeo
And the GOTP (Grand Old Turd Party) accuses Obama of being a namby-pamby non-decision maker… LOLOL. If these military superheroes (in their minds!) had any ball$ at all, we wouldn’t have had to repeal DADT in the first place because they wouldn’t have needed it!! Maybe the military should decide to win a war or two before saying anything! BOZOS!
Mezaien
Obama, you are my one and only president Yahoo for you; Love you AdamHomo.
manjoguy
@Ron Jackson: In 2010, didn’t both the Senate and the House vote to repeal the DODT policy, and Congress then presented the proposed legislation to the president?
Ron Jackson
@manjoguy: The President is the CIC. (Commander in Chief) of the military. Any one of them could have ordered DADT to not be enforced.
Essentially the CIC could have told Congress to go Fuck itself and stay out of the military’s business.
Soldier_Medic
It’s good to know some guy men still serving don’t have to hide if they don’t want. I’ll post this anonymously, no longer in fear of DADT, but I could lose my job for the next statement as ‘some’ would know how I know.
I think eventually, former soldiers like Alex Minsky can feel comfortable in being gay and not gay friendly. This is not to out him or anyone in that position, but to comment on how it’s been a long time coming for those of us who’ve seen the progression.