Posted on 04/07/2005 2:31:08 PM PDT by Crackingham
An Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq wants a chance to remain in the military as an openly gay soldier, a desire that's bringing him into conflict with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Sgt. Robert Stout, 23, says he has not encountered trouble from fellow soldiers and would like to stay if not for the policy that permits gay men and women to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret.
"I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if they could just be open," Stout said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But if we have to stay here and hide our lives all the time, it's just not worth it."
Stout, of Utica, Ohio, was awarded the Purple Heart after a grenade sent pieces of shrapnel into his arm, face and legs while he was operating a machine gun on an armored Humvee last May.
He is believed to be the first gay soldier wounded in Iraq to publicly discuss his sexuality, said Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California-Santa Barbara.
"We can't keep hiding the fact that there's gay people in the military and they aren't causing any harm," said Stout, who says he is openly gay among most of his 26-member platoon, which is part of the 9th Engineer Battalion based in Schweinfurt, Germany. Stout, who served in Iraq for more than a year as a combat engineer, said by acknowledging he is gay, he could be jailed and probably will be discharged before his scheduled release date of May 31.
"The old armchair thought that gay people destroy unit camaraderie and cohesion is just wrong," Stout said. "They said the same things when they tried to integrate African-Americans and women into the military."
Before the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, enacted in 1993 under the Clinton administration, the Pentagon had explicitly barred gays from military service. At least 24 countries, including Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Canada and Israel, allow gays to serve openly.
In an e-mail following the AP interview, Stout said he had been ordered not to speak to the media. "I guess they found out somehow that I was talking to the press and now they are having a fit. I will try to get everything straightened out," Stout wrote.
Martha Rudd, a spokeswoman for the Army at the Pentagon, said soldiers who are discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" typically receive honorable discharges, although the timing would be up to the individual's commanding officer. She declined to comment about Stout, saying the Army doesn't comment on specific cases.
The issue of whether gays should be allowed to openly serve in the military has received increased attention in recent months as the Army has struggled to meet its recruiting goals. Twelve gays expelled from the military sued the government in December, citing a Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional state laws against homosexual sex. The Bush administration has asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey has said he opposes changing the policy, although Pentagon figures show a sharp decline in the number of U.S. military members discharged for making it known they are homosexual, falling from 1,227 in 2001 to 653 last year.
huh?
Are we talking about flashing here?
It's a widely known fact that George Washington was the first homosexual to serve in an army on North American soil. How do you think he survived all those years when he was telling Martha he would be home by Christmas?
You can't make this s--- up.
Hes gone! Thanks for serving, freakin liar!
Succinct ... to the point ... and my sentiments exactly
Why are homosexuals obsessed with making their sexual activity public knowledge in whatever it is they are doing. This guy can't just be a solder, he has to be a gay soldier.
The idea that the identity of homosexuals is inherent in their homosexuality is ridiculous. How many heterosexuals here define themselves by who they have sex with? Does your having sex with someone of the opposite sex define who you are as a person?
I've read how homosexuals say their whole view on life is changed by their homosexuality. They say they see the world differently. Huh?
Any group that defines itself by its sex partners is disturbed.
Yes. . .but in pink.
This guy is not fit to serve, he is in fact unworthy and untrustworthy.
Why? It is simple. He could have served if it were important to him under the don't ask, don't tell policy.
But his sexuality was more important to him than his military service...thus...
Buh-Bye, no big loss, not really even much of a story.
I served with a young man who was gay. In fact he was in my squad. He was not openly gay even in his private life, but he confided his orientation to me. I was his sergeant and he trusted and respected my opinion, I guess.
I have no qualms about gays serving. I know this one pulled his own weight, would crawl through a fire over broken glass to get to a wounded brother Ranger. He braved fire more than once to drag someone to safety. A damned good troop.
He kept his orientation to himself and did his job. Had he wanted to serve openly, I would have wanted out of my squad, I am sure my platoon sergeant would not have wanted him either. Unit cohesion would have suffered, that is more important in a line unit than being "yourself."
I am sure that there ARE tons of gays in the military. My ex-wife was an Army MP and she knew of lots of lesbians. Somehow the Army can suffer these better than gay men.
The detriment to unit cohesion and esprit de corps would be much greater than any benefits gained by a soldier being "himself."
Dude!
"Serve openly"
"discharge"
The jokes just write themselves.
haha yeah, read my post #3
Why would anyone else need to know? Is he looking to pick up other soldiers or be picked up by them? I'd think they'd be able to figure it out well enough to do that now.
Keep it in the closet in a war zone.
Gay is an inadequate description of homosexuals in the military, they are getting to be down right hilarious. If this guy is telling the truth about knowing tons of homosexual GIs ,don't ask-don't tell, is probably the only thing that makes, military showers different from those at a certain ranch that has been in the news lately.
And these guys are only 1 percent of the population????
So if homosexuals are allowed to serve openly as homosexuals- which mentally ill group will next demand to serve openly as whatever perversion they practice-necrophiles ?
If you avoid getting it in the shower, but then get it on the battle field, the necrophiles will see that you get it again.
The term "War is hell!", will become relatively relative, depending upon just what your so called sexual orientation happens to be.
So we can kick a few gays out of the military or gain some gays and lose 100 times that number of straights. Hmmm.....
Homosexual behavior is NOT consistent with military service.
It's the LAW.Barry Winchel (or whatever its name was) would
be alive today if he had not believed the LIE Tole when he/she/it enlisted. My first article 15 came after some
faggot couldn't understand english and kept grabibng at my
crotch. He thought his Soldier of the Month award and his
superior rank gave him priveledge Nobody has.First shirt brought me before the Captain And Captain said I had done
no different than anbody .I got fifteenhours of Extra duty
he got a transfer to Germany.and I hear accidently got run over by a tank.Don't ask-don't tell.I heard it through the
supply line.
Why is it necessary to always push everything to the edge?
I can't for the life of me understand why they want to brag about being sexual deviants(IMHO). The closet is where they've been and that's where they should stay! I'm sure there are many tolerant people out there, but I am not one of them.
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