Comments on: Richard Socarides: Obama and DADT

By: wister

wister — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:58:18 +0000

Thanks, Jim B. Even so, I’d have thought he might be more careful about taking the high road. Aravosis is too hysterical for me. Can’t go to that site.

By: Mark F.

Mark F. — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:54:21 +0000

“How about serving in the military means that the people you care about (i.e., civilians) are less likely to die?”

Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed by the U.S. military in Iraq, Viet Nam, Pakistan, Iraq, etc., etc.

By: John

John — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:53:51 +0000

I find it odd that Quo, who has in the past argued that parents should have the right to subject their children to sexual abuse and has proudly ranted that he is not an American or living in America, would pronounce himself an expert on American constitutional values.

It is also ironic that the constitution of the country that he lives in (South Africa) explicitly affirms equality for gays and lesbians. So, I would guess that this particular law would be completely unconstitutional in his country.

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:36:29 +0000

It was a despicable brief, but as Timothy pointed reminds us in the examination of that brief I wrote last June, the brief did not say what John Avarisis famously said it did. I also expored that claim in more detail here. I have no qualms about criticizing the Obama administration, and have done so many, many times. But I think all criticisms must be grounded in facts rather than hystrionics. That's Fox News' stock and trade, not ours.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:35:39 +0000

“Not serving in the military means that one is less likely to die.”

That’s a rather ignorant and egocentric way of looking at it, Quo. How about serving in the military means that the people you care about (i.e., civilians) are less likely to die?

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:31:07 +0000

It was Aravosis’ histrionic interpretation of a DOJ brief. We did not take the same interpretation.

By: Rossi

Rossi — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:59:29 +0000

Jim, I think he’s referring to Justice Department’s despicable amicus last summer. I think it was in favor of Prop 8? I can’t remember now. All I recall is that the White House had to scramble to re-orient itself after that, and apparently it was a GWB appointee who wrote the brief.

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:57:53 +0000

wister,

Socarides became an advisor to Clinton following the furor over DADT and DOMA.

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:55:45 +0000

JTLeverich,

Please provide evidence that Obama said that all gay people were pedophiles.

By: Quo

Quo — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:43:25 +0000

Richard Socarides’s op-ed looks like a predictable exercise in deceitful gay rhetoric.

There is no constitutional right to serve in the military, and it’s a good thing there isn’t. Comparing a law that forbids homosexuals from serving openly in the military to laws that threaten them with imprisonment or death is fooolish; not serving in the military means that one is less likely to die.

In any case, I rather suspect that the Ugandan government isn’t influenced one way or the other by the American military’s exclusion of homosexuals.