The Lieutenant who formed Knights Out, a group of soldiers who came out of the closet to support one another, has been discharged from the army for coming out. Dan Choi and other West Point graduates formed the group knowing that the action could lead to their discharge from the army.
Choi actually came out on our favorite lesbian's news program, The Rachel Maddow Show. Rachel had a nice recap of the events, which you can watch above.
I guess he won't be starting any military orgies anytime soon… but hopefully some action on Don't Ask, Don't Tell will come out of it.
– Andy
this makes me SO mad.
I openly serve my country as a gay man in Canada. Why the hell does the US have to live 50 years behind us? Shame!
Mike B- good question. This is one thing that I blame on then-President Clinton, who was also responsible for allowing the “Defense of Marriage Act” to go into law. (hmmph- defending an institution that has a 50% divorce rate over the first few years of marriage? if gay relationships were counted in there, that rate would be much less). His reasoning on DOMA makes a kind of sense- he feared that by vetoing it, he would generate a push for a constitutional amendment defining marriage, thereby making it even more difficult to get changed. President Obama has vowed to get rid of DADT, somehow- I sure hope that the Chiefs of Staff can be brought around on that, or they may possibly lose a large part of the current military.
Regardless of any political outcome, gays will continue to serve in the military. The gay sub-culture within the military is alive and well, and steep in history and will never threaten any force reduction in today’s armed services. Whether it’s ok or not, DADT is not the end all and be all for everyone….not just gay service members.
Mmm… Obama just supposedly negotiated a new DADT plan with gay leaders, here we go into more chaos again. I do worry that as we gain steam on all our issues at once, when the country has other important things to be dealing with, like war an the economy, that we are risking serious backlash.
Still, I am happy for the individuals with the courage to stand up for what is right in the face of institutionalized wrongs.
And just for the record, I would like to re-iterate my comments on the old post Andy links to in the last paragraph of this one. But I’m too lazy so go read it there.
http://www.manhuntdaily.com/2009/03/an-open-military-means-bareback-orgies-yall.html#comments
He made a gay group, then came out on national television, and we’re surprised the Army followed it’s protocol?
It’s along the same lines as a servicewoman a few years back getting severely demoted for doing a Playboy spread. The service doesn’t like showboaters.