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A panel of legal scholars has suggested that Congress remove sodomy as a crime punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a recommendation that could boost efforts to end a ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military. The Commission on Military Justice recommended that Article 125, which deals with sodomy, be repealed, arguing that “most acts of consensual sodomy committed by consenting military personnel are not prosecuted, creating a perception that prosecution of this sexual behavior is arbitrary.” In its report — dated October 2009 — the commission suggested several changes be made to the UCMJ, including...

AUSTRALIAN female soldiers are already serving on the front line and here is the photograph to prove it. As the debate rages about lifting the ban on women serving in combat roles, small numbers of female soldiers, such as army medic Jacqui de Gelder from Canberra, are already doing the business. She was on her first combat foot patrol in the village of Chora in Afghanistan just two weeks ago. The younger sister of navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder, who lost his foot to a shark attack in Sydney Harbour, spent the previous day treating victims of a suicide...

WOMEN should be able to serve in all frontline combat units of the Australian Defence Force, including the SAS and commando units, under a controversial plan that could avert a looming recruitment crisis. The push by Defence Personnel and Science Minister Greg Combet would remove gender as a criterion for selection for specialised categories of military service. The Rudd government wants to lift the proportion of women serving in the defence force from the current level of 13 per cent, as demographic pressures bear down on defence force recruitment over the next decade. Removing any gender discrimination for serving in...

Imagine if you will, a battle scene where you are a Soldier or Marine and you are engaged in a fire fight outside of some remote village in Iraq or Afghanistan -- A fight for your lives. The loud noises, explosions, falling debris, flying shrapnel, shouting, the military radio crackling with current situation reporting and all of sudden the Soldier or Marine next to you takes a round to the shoulder and his blood is splattered on to you -- You have sustained several non life threatening cuts and scrapes that you are unaware of due to the adrenaline coursing...

NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to dealing with gay personnel in the ranks, the contrasts are stark among some of the world’s proudest, toughest militaries — and these differing approaches are invoked by both sides as Americans renew debate over the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In the United States, more than 12,000 service members have been dismissed since 1994 because it became known they were gay. Current targets for discharge include a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, Army National Guard Lt. Dan Choi. In Britain, on the other hand, uniformed gay and lesbian service...

"Naval Academy Professor Challenges Rising Diversity," ran the headline in The Washington Post. The impression left was that some sorehead was griping because black and Hispanic kids were finally being admitted. The Post's opening paragraphs reinforced the impression. "Of the 1,230 plebes who took the oath of office at the Naval Academy in Annapolis this week, 435 were members of minority groups. It's the most racially diverse class in the nation's 164-year history. Academy leaders say it's a top priority to build a student body that reflects the racial makeup of the Navy and the nation." Who can be against...

(AP) — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's national security adviser says allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military is in the early discussions. But retired Marine Gen. James Jones says it's very preliminary in a very busy administration. Jones said Sunday he's not sure if the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy would be overturned, although Obama has said he wants it eliminated. Jones said the decision to go forward lies with the president.

Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness, predicted today that efforts by liberals in Congress to repeal the 1993 law regarding homosexuals in the military would not succeed. “Members of Congress are starting to take this issue seriously,” she said. “Indications are that repeal of the 1993 law would hurt the ‘Three R’s,’ recruiting, retention, and overall readiness in the volunteer force.” On Monday Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) announced that she will soon re-introduce legislation to repeal the 1993 law, Section 654, Title 10 click here , which is commonly mislabeled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In response, Donnelly...

On Monday, buoyed by a stronger Democratic majority in Congress, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) will introduce legislation to overturn the ban against homosexuals serving openly in the military, a Tauscher aide said. Clinton’s handling of the issue was widely condemned, and the entire fiasco became a textbook example of the sort of avoid-at-all-cost political controversy that can seriously undermine a new president. For Clinton, it knocked him off message, sapped him of auathority, damaged his popularity ratings and left him with a reputation for being wishy-washy that stuck. And it left the military with a policy that no one...

The Obama administration is telling the Pentagon and gay-rights advocates that it will have to study the implications for national security and enlist more support in Congress before trying to overturn the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" law and allow gays to serve openly in the military, according to people involved in the discussions. They said Obama, who pledged during the campaign to overturn the law, does not want to ask lawmakers to do so until the military has completed a comprehensive assessment of the impact that such a move would have on military discipline. Then, the president hopes to...

(CNSNews.com) - Although President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to open the U.S. armed forces to homosexuals, he cannot fulfill this promise unless Congress passes new legislation repealing the existing statute that expressly prohibits homosexuals from serving in the military.   Legislation to do this will be proposed in the current Congress by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.).   On Jan. 9, the Obama transition office posted a video on its website, Change.gov, showing Robert Gibbs, the incoming White House press secretary, answering a series of questions that had been submitted by the public.    One was about the so-called “don’t...

As Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in as commander in chief on Jan. 20, homosexual-rights activists are gleeful about changes he will bring to the armed services. Based on his campaign promises, Obama is expected to overturn the military's policy regarding sexual conduct. Commonly referred to as "don't ask, don't tell," the military prohibits the service of openly practicing homosexuals. This policy was created early in the Clinton administration after a long and divisive fight, and the hard-fought compromise has drawn the ire of liberals such as Obama ever since. If Barack Obama stays true to his campaign promises,...

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, according to incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The startling pronouncement, which could re-open a dormant battle in the culture wars and distract from other elements of Obama's agenda, came during a Gibbs exchange with members of the public who sent in questions that were answered on YouTube.

President Obama will end the 15-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that has prevented homosexual and bisexual men and women from serving openly within the U.S. military, a spokesman for the president-elect said. Obama said during the campaign that he opposed the policy, but since his election in November has made statements that have been interpreted as backpedaling. On Friday, however, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, responding on the transition team's Web site to a Michigan resident who asked if the new administration planned to get rid of the policy, said: "You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But...

A conservative military watchdog is very concerned about a recent survey of military personnel that indicates a significant number of service members might leave the all-volunteer force if the ban on open homosexuals in the military is lifted. The annual survey was conducted by the Military Times, which once again asked active duty personnel if they oppose the effort led by Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-California) to repeal the 1993 law -- Section 654, Title 10 -- which clearly states that open homosexuals are not allowed in the military. Approximately 58 percent of the respondents indicated that they were in favor...

A conservative pro-family leader believes the Obama administration will move sooner rather than later to attempt to repeal the law that forbids homosexuals from serving in the military. In recent weeks there have been conflicting reports about a timetable for the new, more heavily Democratic-controlled Congress to try to repeal the 1993 law that bans homosexuals from the military. The Washington Times reported that president-elect Barack Obama will not move for months, perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to repeal the ban. The paper quoted two sources who advised the Obama transition team about the potentially explosive issue. But...

President-elect Barack Obama will not move for months, and perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to end the military's decades-old ban on open homosexuals in the ranks, two people who have advised the Obama transition team on this issue say. Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise. However, Mr. Obama first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus and then present legislation to Congress, the advisers said. "I think 2009 is about foundation building and reaching consensus," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the...

With the DNC platform supporting gays serving openly in the military, the question arises, can we afford it? Logically, the number of gays would increase in the military if they could serve openly. With that comes the greater opportunity for AIDS/HIV. Are we prepared to classify AIDS/HIV as a service-related disability and provide a lifetime of treatment for practicing unsafe sex? No doubt, the homosexual lobby will reiterate the lie that AIDS?HIV is not just a gay disease, but anyone with an ounce of sense knows how it is primarily spread. What abour housing for gay couples, the officers and...

Today Congress is holding its first hearing in 15 years on the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy barring bisexuals, gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The hearings, called by a House Armed Services subcommittee, are likely to be more notable for the fact that they are being held at all rather than anything of substance they may produce. The simple fact that the hearings are taking place offers the most significant indication yet that the U.S. is finally reconsidering its strange policy of enforced hypocrisy that came to be called "Don't ask, don't tell." The hearings should...

Democrats are preparing next year to lift the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on gays in the military, an uneasy culture-war compromise instituted under the last Democratic administration, should Sen. Barack Obama win the presidency. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the Walnut Creek Democrat, said a hearing Wednesday by a House Armed Services subcommittee is aimed at educating Congress and the public in preparation for a full-scale push to end the policy, first imposed in 1993 under President Bill Clinton, in the next Congress. By then, Democrats expect to have won the White House and to have expanded their House and Senate...

"Don't ask, don't tell" was a compromise that has been vilified since its inception in 1993. Former President Bill Clinton had campaigned that he would lift the ban barring LGBT people from serving in the military and allow them to serve openly. Once in office, he ran into opposition, and "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was born. A compromise that makes neither side happy, the policy prohibits the military from asking service members about their orientation and requires the military to discharge members who acknowledge openly that they are LGBT. Fast forward 15 years and now, even politicians who supported...

WASHINGTON — The Army and Air Force discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military, according to Pentagon statistics gathered by an advocacy group. While women make up 14 percent of Army personnel, 46 percent of those discharged under the policy last year were women. And while 20 percent of Air Force personnel are women, 49 percent of its discharges under the policy last year were women.

Associated Press WASHINGTON — Democrats say the nation should be ashamed of its ban on gays serving openly in the military. It discourages qualified people from joining the ranks at a time when the armed forces are stretched by two wars, they say, and is degrading to those willing to serve their country. So what have the Democrats done about it? Nothing, really. Since taking control of Congress in January 2007, Democrats have not convened hearings on the matter or taken up legislation that would let gays serve openly, although most party members favor repealing the prohibition. Instead, Democrats have...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., June 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr has published an op-ed in todays Wall Street Journal calling for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," the policy which prohibits gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Barr, who was a member of Congress from 1995 to 2003, opposes same-sex marriage as well as efforts to classify gays and lesbians as members of a constitutionally protected minority class. On the gays-in-the-military issue, however, Barr feels differently. In the Wall Street Journal op-ed, he argued that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in...

First off, this is a column about national security — period. It is not about homosexuality per se. I don't want to know about whatever lawful activity two civilians — in a civilian setting — conduct behind closed doors. It's none of my business. At the same time, the lives of millions of Americans depend on a strong dedicated cohesive well-disciplined military, and that is everyone's business. That is what this column is about — enabling those brave Americans sent into harm's way to do their job — protecting your security and mine. Our lives could very well depend on...

By Associated Press WASHINGTON - Barack Obama said if he is elected president, he will repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military. The Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate said he would not require his Joint Chiefs of Staff to be opposed to the policy, which was introduced during the Clinton administration. He said his priority for the Joint Chiefs would be that they make decisions to strengthen the military and keep the country safe, not their position on the policy. “We’re spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified...

YouTube has an undated 52-second clip of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barrack Obama outlining his plans for America’s national defense. Obama’s presentation demonstrates either total naivete about important national security programs or he is just pandering for votes among the extreme left. Watch Obama’s message and consider some inconvenient facts about his national security promises. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs “I’m the only major candidate to oppose this war from the beginning and as president I will end it.” No one likes war: especially those who have to do the fighting and dying. Yet, our military leaders make clear that the consequences of a...

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton appeared on Ellen Degeneres' television talk show on April 7 to pledge support for the homosexual community if she is elected.Degeneres, who is openly homosexual, made Clinton's support of homosexuality a prominent feature of the show. Clinton, who spoke about homosexual friends and neighbors she has had in the past, vowed to procure legal recognition for same-sex couples like Degeneres and her partner, Portia de Rossi."I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that people like you and Portia and others have a chance to have,...

US military forces, and ground forces in particular, have operated at a high pace since the attacks of September 11, 2001, including the support of ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Between 2001 and July 2007, approximately 931,000 US Army and Marine Corps service members deployed for overseas military operations, including about 312,000 National Guard or Reserve members, according to the Department of Defense. To support ongoing military operations and related activities, the US Congress has appropriated billions of dollars since 2001, and through September 2007, the Department of Defense has reported obligating about $492.2 billion to cover these...

Analyst: Lifting homosexual ban could drive up HIV rates in the military, hurt readiness Chad Groening OneNewsNow.com October 22, 2007 A conservative military watchdog says there would be serious readiness problems in the military if the next president repealed the law that prohibits homosexuals from serving in the military. Hear this Report advertisement Elaine Donnelly is president of the Center for Military Readiness, based in Michigan. Earlier this month she sponsored a panel discussion on the likely social and disciplinary impact of repealing the 1993 law that bans homosexual conduct in the military. She says since that law was passed,...

BEIJING, Aug 30 (AP) -- Gay sex was punishable by death under Genghis Khan's rule. That was among the findings of Chinese researchers who spent more than a year compiling the legendary Mongolian conqueror's code of laws, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday. His early 13th century empire stretched across Asia all the way to central Europe. Article 48 of the code said men who "committed sodomy shall be put to death," according to experts at a research institute in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia. The experts at the Research Institute of Ancient Mongolian Laws and Sociology said...

WASHINGTON - Democrats on Saturday touted legislation to guarantee troops time at home between deployments to Iraq. In the party's weekly radio address, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., criticized President Bush for threatening to veto the bill, contending his administration's policies on troop deployments have weakened the military. "The president's surge has sent many of our Army units to Iraq for the second and third time. We are asking our troops to make heroic sacrifices — yet as soon as they return we rush them back into battle," said Tauscher, author of the bill that passed the House Aug. 2 on...

During a recent Democratic debate, both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama indicated that all female U.S. citizens should register for the Selective Service. Neither candidate was as ridiculous as former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who said, when it comes to men and women being drafted, "What's the difference?" But the radical and dangerous implications of the front-runners' policies are not that far from Gravel's query. The attitude the Democrats have on this issue has already caused harm to the military. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, has been watching the feminization of military-personnel policy for decades....

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I might consume. Mr. Speaker, this is a well-motivated bill. I want to commend my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee for all the great work that they do, Democrat and Republican. Most of the time we're on common ground. In this case, I think that this bill does not accrue to the benefit of the troops. I think it hurts the troops. I think that is a question every Member of the House has to ask themselves: Is this going to be good for the troops, or is...

Nineteen Cuban migrants came ashore in the backyard of the home of Naval Air Station Key West's commander, officials said. The group of 12 men, five women and two children was discovered Wednesday morning by an off-duty Defense Department officer who was jogging on U.S. military property at Truman Annex, Key West police said. The officer knocked on Capt. J.R. Brown's front door, alerting him to the situation and asking to use his phone to call authorities. The group arrived in what appeared to be a homemade boat, police said. Brown asked a Spanish-speaking neighbor to meet with the Cubans,...

WASHINGTON - More than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat ready, mostly because of equipment shortages that will cost up to $21 billion to correct, the top National Guard general said Tuesday. Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum spoke to a group defense reporters after Army officials, analysts and members of Congress disclosed that two-thirds of the active Army's brigades are not ready for war.

 The Army’s Chief of Staff, General Peter Schoomaker, has recently done something extraordinary within the realm of Beltway politics – he told the truth about our Army’s readiness. His message before the House Committee on the Armed Services was simple and disturbing: Five years after 9-11 and the US Army, the service that bears the largest burden in this conflict, is still struggling to build a force capable of conducting a long -term global war within established budget constraints.  This grim assessment may be hard for some to accept, but we need to know the unvarnished truth if we are to be...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-homosexual group known as Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara, claims to have unearthed a current Pentagon document that lists homosexuality as a psychological disorder.According to the CSSMM the Department of Defense Instruction that so categorizes homosexuality was signed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in 1996 and re-certified as "current" in 2003.Although homosexuality has traditionally been considered a psychological disorder the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from its list of...

WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position. The document outlines retirement or other discharge policies for service members with physical disabilities, and in a section on defects lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders. Critics said the reference underscores the Pentagon's failing policies on gays, and adds to a culture that has created uncertainty and insecurity around the treatment of homosexual service members, leading to anti-gay harassment. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin said the policy document is under review. The Pentagon has a "don't ask,...

Mentally Ill Troops Sent to Combat Newspaper Report Says Military Ignoring GuidelinesHARTFORD, Conn. (May 14) - U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions. A U.S. soldier pauses after searching a home for insurgents and weapons during a raid last month in Kalsu, Iraq. The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed...

HARTFORD, Conn. - U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions. The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq. In 1997, Congress ordered the military to assess the mental health of all deploying troops. The newspaper, citing...

Since Front Line Views....No. 1 was posted at FR on 3/12/06, my son in Afghanistan who also served 8 months in Gulf War I in Saudi Arabia and Iraq has emailed additional observations. Subjects include: real casualty rates (KIA) vs. press reports, "appearance" of soldiers vs. actual military skills/performance, soldiers as civil servants vs. being warriors, and official prohibition against unapproved body armor. Remember, he is in Afgh. so some observations may not fit Iraq, but others do. Some of what he says is harsh, he never was one for pussyfooting. Paragraphs in quotes are HIS words. The rest is...

WASHINGTON Feb 13, 2006 (AP)— Discharging troops under the Pentagon's policy on gays cost $363.8 million over 10 years, almost double what the government concluded a year ago, a private report says. The report, to be released Tuesday by a University of California Blue Ribbon Commission, questioned the methodology the Government Accountability Office used when it estimated that the financial impact of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was at least $190.5 million. "It builds on the previous findings and paints a more complete picture of the costs," said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who has proposed legislation that would repeal...

(2006-02-14) — The sponsor of a House bill to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military said today that he would add a provision removing the bans on overweight and pregnant troops as well. Rep. Martin Meehan, D-MA, released a report today showing that the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy has resulted in 9,501 people leaving the service during a 10-year period due to their alleged homosexuality, wasting roughly $364 million in training investments and other costs. During that same time, 36,513 people separated from the service for failing to meet weight standards, and 26,446 left during pregnancy....

Recently, a research center at the University of California Santa Barbara made the claim that the U.S. military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was hurting military readiness. The ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in place with the U.S. Military has caused an inordinate number of medical personnel to be discharged from the military according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (tax dollars actually go towards supporting such an obviously narrow, special interest, pork barrel scam?). Let me get this straight. Due to a policy of barring openly homosexual people from serving in the military,...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday disputed reports suggesting the American military is stretched thin and close to a snapping point from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, asserting "the force is not broken.'' "This armed force is enormously capable," Rumsfeld told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. "In addition, it's battle hardened. It's not a peacetime force that has been in barracks or garrisons.'' Rumsfeld spoke a day after The Associated Press reported an unreleased study — conducted for the Pentagon — said the army is being overextended, thanks to the two wars, and may not be able to retain and...

WASHINGTON – When two major studies released this week questioned whether the US Army is being stretched too thin, they raised a much- repeated concern: that America does not have enough troops to win the war in Iraq. At a deeper level, though, they raise the question of whether today's military is prepared for the threats that could lie ahead in the war on terror. The Pentagon's answer is a categorical "yes," insisting that the military is well suited for whatever the future holds. But with the department's four-year plan for spending and strategy to be presented to Congress next...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2006 – Through challenging the status quo and questioning old assumptions, the Defense Department is becoming a more capable force ready to face changing conflicts, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here yesterday. All the military services have made changes in equipment, practice, attitude and culture to make them more relevant to today's battlefield culture, Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news briefing. "There's a clear awareness that our military must be ready for unforeseen eventualities while incorporating lessons learned from previous and current conflicts," he said. The Navy is a prime example of the benefits of these...

CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ, District Of Columbia, Nov. 27, 2005 – The Army is instituting significant changes in how it trains and recruits soldiers, aiming to make U.S. troops more battle ready for the challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, two of the Army's top noncommissioned officers said during recent visits to Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. The two command sergeants major, John Sparks of the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command, and Lonny Wright with Infantry Branch Command, spoke during separate mid-November meetings with solders from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. "We are enhancing the individual soldiers'...

The Army is abandoning mixed-sex training units because too many female recruits are getting injured trying to keep up with their male counterparts. From next April, women will be placed in their own platoons and although the training regime will remain the same, it will be conducted at a pace 'sustainable and commensurate with their physical profile'. Army chiefs hope the changes will greatly reduce drop-out rates among women after research showed female recruits are up to nine times more likely than men to be discharged through a training-related injury. Dr James Bilzon, the Army Training and Recruitment Agency's senior...