Comments on: Joint Chiefs Chair: Repealing DADT Would Impact “Our People And Their Families”

By: Glenn I

Glenn I — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:58:45 +0000

One of the things DADT prohibits is the formation of families by gay servicemembers. Should DADT end gay servicemembers would no longer be required to sacrifice their personal lives to be military. Imagine that.

If the bitterly censorious DOMA remained the military would continue to resist any acknowledgment of these newly “out” families. Despite the additional burdens placed on them families would form, and kids would grow up in households headed by same sex couples. And Mommy would be a soldier. Or Daddy.

DADT is the government’s stoutest chain around the closet. And losing it terrifies them.

Why? Those of us who’ve long since left our closets to our clothes don’t know.

By: Burr

Burr — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:51:47 +0000

It would affect families whose father gets arrested/discharged for being a murderous bigot.

Oh how I feel for them.

By: GreenEyedLilo

GreenEyedLilo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:48:32 +0000

So *that* is why one of the women I swim with is getting a divorce–she has to shower off the chlorine alongside the likes of me in the locker room! I had no idea I had such power, either.

So now I have to apologize to her and her family, as well as the whole country for the crappy economy because I got married (per Sally Kern).

By: TomChicago

TomChicago — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:33:29 +0000

We have to wonder why he has NOT given the matter any “extensive review”. Everyone else seems to have had plenty of time. Mullen and Powell both are exhibiting the same kind of bureaucratic cold feet, it seems to me, and nothing more.

By: David C.

David C. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:44:11 +0000

Here are some things to keep in mind:

If gay service personnel are placed on the same legal (in the sense of UCMJ) footing as heterosexual personnel, then the “mates” of gay service personnel would be competing for benefits from the same (presumably limited) pool.

As the murder of Seaman August Provost shows, when DADT is repealed, new procedures and regulations must fill the gap to protect what would then be a far more visible gay service member population. Perhaps all the machinery used to enforce DADT could be retooled to improve the behavior of all military personnel.

I still think DADT should be repealed, and I think the President needs to show some leadership by establishing a timeline along which that will happen.