OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Don’t ask; don’t tell
United States Inches Toward Real Freedom
Well, I’m back from my vacation abroad, so let’s start up again with some short, but welcome news! New York officially started issuing same-sex marriage licenses yesterday, just days after President Barack Obama certified the end of the military’s silly “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned openly gay citizens from serving in the country.
Hundreds of New Yorkers lined up patiently to get their marriage certificates on Sunday, many of whom had waited for decades. The first couple to get their certificate was Phyllis Siegel, 77, and Connie Kopelov, 85, who have spent the last 23 years of their life together. The total number of marriage licenses issued the first day totaled 659, a new record for the state. A great day for the institution of marriage!
The official repeal of the ban on openly gay people in the army will happen on September 20th.
Congratulations to everyone who helped fight for both of these important steps in getting full equality. Keep it up, and soon everyone in the States will get the freedom they were promised!
- Hundreds of New York gay couples exchange vows [CBC News]
- Obama officially ends ban on gays in military [CBC News]
U.S. Military Begins Gay Acceptance Training
The United States Marine Corps has produced some new training material in anticipation of the official revocation of the country’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy later this year.
Parts of the documents are spot on. It’s a good idea, for example, to prepare authority figures within the military on how to put an end to homophobic harassment and remind recruits that it’s not appropriate to discriminate against or berate their colleagues.
Amusingly, though, the training documents also include expected responses to some hypothetical situations. This includes what should be done if you discover two men from your battalion kissing in a shopping mall, or if you see a fellow Marine marching in a Pride parade on TV.
While the document’s suggested responses are exactly right, (i.e. act like it’s none of your business), I find the situations amusingly alarmist—as if all gay Marines will instantly start making out and flying banners on television. Better prepare the troops so they know exactly what to do if—nay, when—it happens!
At least this is all a little less silly than all those surveys asking how military personnel would feel about showering alongside gay colleagues. Not by much, mind you.
United States Ends Gay Military Ban
The United States Senate voted on Saturday to finally end their ban on having gays serve openly in the military. This is an important step toward full equality, so congratulations to all my stateside friends!
Anti-gay politicians and lobbyists are positively terrified, having already begun predicting consequences of an impossibly dire nature. The arguments mostly involve something about straight soldiers being distracted by their (now openly) gay colleagues, becoming overwhelmed with concern about whether or not other soliders are checking them out—and a distracted solider, they say, can cost lives.
Personally, I’d say bad soliders cost lives, and anyone who is more concerned about what their gay colleagues may or may not be thinking—instead of, say, incoming fire—sounds like a pretty bad solider to me.
If anything, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell probably left the military more vulnerable to blackmail, as learning that someone is gay instantly gives anyone with shady motives leverage over a gay service member’s military career. But opponents are entitled to their own narratives, I suppose…
Canada, by the way, ended its ban in 1992.
- U.S. Senate votes to drop military gay ban [CBC News]
Dr. Flamingo Jones And The Sacred Band Of Thebes
I’m very happy to present today’s Guest Slap. The author, Dr. Flamingo Jones, is a world-renowned archaeologist and researcher at the University of Oxbridgeshire. While I know little about his reclusive past and current whereabouts, he has kindly agreed to share with us, occasionally, his knowledge, discoveries, and insights.
Good day to you, ladies, gentlemen, and those who do not wish to confine yourselves to such limiting terminology. I apologize for my long absence in contributing to this esteemed publication, but I do so without regret. In the intervening year since my last article, I have been on sabbatical from my position as head of the Department of Queer Anthropology at the University of Oxbridgeshire to travel around the world in my ongoing quest for both modern and ancient truths.
With all the controversy in the last few years over the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the U.S. military, I thought it would be rather illuminating to share with you an example of one of the greatest military teams from antiquity, one which had rather the opposite belief when it came to the sexual orientation of soldiers: the Sacred Band of Thebes.
2388 years ago, in 378 BC, a Theban military commander by the name of Gorgidas had an interesting idea for forming a novel type of elite military unit that would be more loyal than any other. He decided to put to use the homosexuality that has always been quite commonplace in military units throughout the ages. From the regular Theban army, Gorgidas hand-picked 150 pairs of skilled soldiers who were lovers with other soldiers. The logic behind this was that a soldier would fight with utmost ferocity and loyalty if he were fighting alongside his lover, defending him at all costs. The Theban commander himself would often fight among the Sacred Band with his own special companion.
Different commanders would use the Sacred Band of Thebes as a special forces team in different ways, scattered through the front ranks as a morale booster for the other troops, or solidified in one ferocious fighting unit. During the years of the Sacred Band’s existence Thebes gained greater and greater power in their region, even breaking free from Sparta’s dominance when the Sacred Band helped to defeat an army three times their own size.
Unfortunately, in 338BC the Sacred Band was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander the Great). According to Plutarch, most of the Theban soldiers fled in the face of Philip II’s superior military technology, but not the Sacred Band. They stood, fought, and died as one that day, and are even buried together on that same spot, marked today by a statue known as the Lion of Chaironeia. Plato, in his Symposium, best describes the love and determination found of the Sacred Band of Thebes, in which he wrote:
And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other’s side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this.
Ask, Tell
I’m super happy to introduce today’s special guest author / illustrator! Premee is not only exceptionally talented, but also living proof that not everyone living in Calgary is necessarily a gun-toting, cowboy hat-wearing, cattle-prodding, grit-eating, hay-growing, gay-hoeing, well, you get the idea…
The US military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy has always been a tough one for gay activists. The proposed changes may make it a little easier to be a uniformed gay, inasmuch as an anonymous outing is no longer cause for immediate discharge (there’s an investigation now!), but the fact remains that the military culture is generally homophobic and feels that homophobia is a valid excuse to exclude, ostracize, threaten, and whine about undue exposure to gay folks. “But it’ll ruin unit cohesion!” “I’m scared I’ll be poked awake one morning!” “I can’t focus on my job with all that gay around!” “No man’s foxhole is safe!”
The rational response, of course, would be education and desegregation; unfortunately, it looks like the official response is ghettoization.
Marine Commandant General J. Conway has been interviewed saying “I would not ask our Marines to live with someone that’s homosexual if we can possibly avoid it,” and has gone on to outline his plans to completely segregate gay from straight troops. This uninformed and frankly nasty attitude promotes a culture of otherness and, so far from progressing gay troops from inferiors to equals, will probably make them targets by setting them apart from the rest of their units.
On the other hand, since single housing is now proposed for those gay servicemen, it might actually end up being a little nicer than life in the closet!
US General: Allowing Gay Soldiers Lead to Massacre
John Sheehan, a retired army general from the United States, has blamed the lifting of a ban on gay troops in the Dutch army for the 1995 Bosnian massacre.
Serbian forces overwhelmed Dutch peacekeepers stationed in Bosnia fifteen years ago, leading to one of the largest genocides in Europe since World War II. Approximately 8,000 men and children were killed by Serbian forces.
Sheehan, speaking to a senate committee currently discussing a proposal to end the country’s ridiculous policy banning openly gay men and women from serving in the military, said that the Dutch would have prevented the Bosnian catastrophe if only they hadn’t “made a conscious effort to socialize their military,” adding “that includes open homosexuality.”
Roger Van de Wetering, a spokesperson for the Dutch Defence Ministry, dismissed the comments as “total nonsense:”
The whole operating in Srebrenica and the drama that took place over there was thoroughly investigated by Dutch and international authorities and none of these investigations as ever concluded or suggested a link between homosexual military personnel and the things that happened over there.
Well, duh!
- General blames gay Dutch troops in massacre [CBC News]
Lesbian Refugee Fleeing U.S. Army Gets Second Chance
Bethany Smith, a lesbian seeking refugee status in Canada from the U.S., will get a second chance to have her case heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board after the Federal Court ruled that her previous plea was wrongfully dismissed.
Bethany, a 21 year old U.S. soldier, fled the U.S. in September 2007 over the institutionalized homophobia in the country’s army. Bethany says that other soldiers discovered she was a lesbian after seeing her hold hands with another woman at a shopping mall. Gays and lesbians are forbidden to serve openly in the U.S. army, so this information was used to harass, blackmail, and threaten her with violence—with no available recourse in the army’s administration.
The Immigration and Refugee Board originally rejected Bethany’s case in February, but will now give her a second chance with a different adjudicator. The Federal Court says the IRB should have taken into account “the particular environment” at Bethany’s Kentucky army base, including information that a gay man was murdered there in 1999 by fellow soldiers as he slept.
Considering Canada’s abysmal record on these sorts of cases, I don’t know how much of a chance Bethany has of getting full refugee status. Still, I wish her the best, as well as the speedy turfing of the U.S’s terrible Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and other forms of institutionalized homophobia!
Canada’s Equal Opportunity Military Turns 17, U.S. Lags
Yesterday marked 17-years since the reversal of CFAO 19-20, Canada’s shameful equivalent of the United State’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Before October 27, 1992, members of Canada’s armed forces suspected of being gay were put through internal investigations and fired, even if their service records were exemplary.
The United States has yet to follow suit. Despite a shortage of soldiers and an ongoing war, the U.S. continues to turn away—for no good reason—capable soldiers willing to risk their lives for their country. Canada, which still has combat soldiers on duty in Afghanistan, has 17 years of proof that all those crazy, crazy claims about sex-crazed soldiers and declining troop morale just aren’t a reality.
Here’s to 17 years of military equality, and to the ray of hope that the U.S. military will follow suit!
(Hat tip to James at Gay Persons of Color for alerting me to this important anniversary!)
- Canadian Forces: A lesson in gay inclusion [Chronicle Herald]
U.S. Government Stalls On Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
The United States Department of Defense is asking for more time before an end to the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military is considered. U.S. president Barack Obama had campaigned to repeal the ridiculous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which forbids gays from serving, but has since been silent on the issue.
Over 12,500 gay men and women have been discharged from the United States military under the gay-banning policy, including 219 since President Obama took office. So, while top advisors and the military are all pleading for a delay, my brain is pleading for a sane reason for why this issue could possibly be complicated enough to require all this extensive preparation.
- Military wants more time before gay ban ends [USA Today]
- 12,500 booted in ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ [Dayton Daily News]
- Gay community bitterly disappointed by Obama’s lack of action [Canadian Press]
Blog Dredging: Gays Join Millitary For Sex
Let’s forgo the mainstream news sources for today. It’s time for some blog dredgin’!
Writing for his online column at the North Star Writers Group, Gregory D. Lee, an army recruitment officer, posts an article entitled “Why Do Homosexuals Want to Serve in the Military? For Sex, Of Course.”
This should be a good one!
[...] you need to understand that homosexuals predominantly want to serve in the military in order to have access to people their own age with whom to engage in sex. It’s just that simple. It’s all about sex, and not about serving the nation.
Totally. Why should all those randy, randy gays bother with Internet hookups and the whole bar scene when they can ship off to Iraq and get some hot action in between the unspeakable horrors of war?
It is not unheard of to have a lesbian officer coerce a lower enlisted woman into engaging in lesbian sexual activity. “I’m an officer and you’re a private, who are they going to believe if you tell them I forced you to have sex with me?” Or two male soldiers go out on the town. One has too much to drink, and when they return to the barracks, he passes out in his buddy’s room. When he wakes up, his “buddy” is performing fellatio on him.
Gee, we gays are sex-obsessed. I never realised. Just for fun, though, let’s try an exercise:
It is unheard of to have a straight, male officer coerce a lower enlisted woman in sexual activity. “I’m an officer and you’re a private, who are they going to believe if you tell them I forced you to have sex with me?” Or a male and female soldier goes out on the town. One has too much to drink…
That was fun!
Having openly gay men and women in close living quarters with heterosexuals would make straight soldiers uncomfortable, to say the least. The morale of units would decline almost immediately, and re-enlistments would most certainly suffer.
Look, that’s not fair; we gays have apologised several times for being ceaseless joy vaccuums, sucking the morale from all forms of life. It’s awful, I admit, but we can’t help it. Just the other day, I went to have a lovely brunch and three patrons collapsed of malaise; the rest swore never to visit a cafe again. It’s unfortunate, but let’s move on, OK?
This is another example why liberals should never be in charge of national security.
Let’s not tell Gregory who the new guy in charge is just yet, m’kay?
Have a great monday, soldiers!
Obsessive Small-Town Wedding Soldiers
In my web travels I often collect stories that I intend to share, but then become distracted by newer, shinier stories—or feel too lazy to illustrate them. This is what becomes of those stories: A Pile o’ Sla… Hugs?
The Town of Truro, Nova Scotia—which made national news last year after some bizarre homophobic comments by its mayor—has finally reached an agreement with a local gay rights group, amending its employment equity policy to include sexual orientation. A strange outcome, considering the dispute was over a flag-flying policy.
For the first time ever, Canada’s Armed Forces marched in Toronto’s Gay Pride parade, promoting equal rights and openly recruiting gay servicemen and women. This is in stark contrast to the policies of the United States. I’d ask if you’d like me to describe them, but I’m afraid I can’t tell.
A nation-wide poll shows that support for same-sex marriage in Canada has climbed to 68%. Recent converts cited a lack of family-destroying meteor showers for their change in opinion.
The top leader of Canada’s Anglican Church is standing up for gay-friendly denominations in the country, saying that ultra-conservative factions are obsessing over the wrong issues. Primate Fred Hiltz said it’s unfortunate that some Christians are “preoccupied with sexual acts between homosexuals and falsely equate homosexuality with promiscuity,” adding that they’d gain more credibility on sexual issues if they devoted the same energy to “combating sexual abuse, sexual exploitation by people in positions of power, and global sex slavery.” Hmm… Combating something that everyone agrees needs combating; what a novel concept!
Same-sex marriages skyrocketed last month, as gay couples plan their weddings around Pride celebrations. Because if it weren’t for that, no one would want a June wedding.
Well, have a great weekend kiddos, and Happy Independance Day to all my Stateside visitors. May it be nothing like the movie.
Churches And XBoxes And Tories, Oh My!
In my web travels, I often come across stories that I intend to share, but then become distracted by newer, shinier stories—or feel too lazy to illustrate them in any meaningful or interesting way. Well, no more! Today, I present to you the first-ever Pile o’ Slaps! (i.e., really old stories that I’d otherwise just delete out of my queue.)
Canadian Anglicans have appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury to sternly lecture the runaway parishes that evacuated the country over same-sex blessings. It seems that some of these parishes are continuing to minister in Canada remotely from somewhat more exotic locations without all those pesky equal marriage rights.
Students across the country continue to protest Canadian Blood Services’ ban on gay blood donors. Wait… Haven’t I written something about this before?
U.S. Soldiers, presumably fatigued by the war in Iraq, are asking and telling a lot more these days, as army deserters are at their highest level since 1980. Unlike Canada and—well, pretty much every other well-off nation with a military—gays in the U.S. are forbidden to serve in the army openly. What’s that slogan, again? Repress All That You Can Be?
The federal Tories have refused to investigate homophobic abuse within the RCMP, despite calls from the opposition to do so. That’s pretty much in line with their stance of a tougher police force, mind you.
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has hinted that his next film may be about gay rights in the states. The film will purportedly outline all of the civil rights that gays have won in the U.S. since the Stonewall days, giving it a runtime of about one-and-a-half minutes.
Singapore has banned Mass Effect, an XBox 360 game, over lesbian intimacy between two aliens. Due to the ban, 14-year-old Singaporean boys will now have to use a different Microsoft product to access their intimacy depictions.
OK, enough of that. Until Friday, kiddos!
