Posted on 09/20/2011 1:41:43 PM PDT by lbryce
President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed the end of the policy banning gays from serving openly in the armed forces, as the Pentagon vowed "zero tolerance" for harassment of homosexuals in the military.
"Today, the discriminatory law known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is finally and formally repealed," Obama said in a statement. "As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love."
The repeal went into effect on Tuesday, ushering in a new era in the armed forces. The law had allowed gay men and women to serve in the military only if they kept their sexual orientation a secret. They faced the threat of being kicked out of the military if they were open about their homosexuality.
Obama last December signed legislation to repeal the policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which had been passed by Congress and signed into law in 1993 under then-President Bill Clinton.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made it clear that the military would not tolerate mistreatment of gays in the ranks.
"This is an historic day for the Pentagon and for the nation," he said. "We have a zero tolerance with regards to harassment," Panetta told a Pentagon briefing.
Under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, more than 14,500 service members were thrown out of the military since it went into effect in 1993, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. (See graphic r.reuters.com/vaj83s)
Gay rights groups for years denounced the law and called its end a important milestone in the fight against anti-homosexual discrimination. Some have compared its demise to the integration of the armed forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
They've been able to legally serve, although not out in the open, for 17 years. Why would open service cause wholesale contamination of the military blood supply when it didn't happen during the 17 years when it wasn't knowable who is and is not gay under DADT? I'm not following the logic.
That'll be an interesting stat.
Well I won't know but if they give them extra benefits for being married their will be a bunch of them straight folks all of the sudden becoming gay and getting married just to get the extra bucks.
My daughter is a former Marine; she told me when she was in the number one crime on her base was homosexual rape. I wonder if the government has a policy for dealing with homosexuals harrassing straights...
Sending your son off to serve in the military is going to be a lot like sending him off to serve a prison sentence, with organized homosexual gangs preying on the weak and, where gays manage to attain rank in numbers in a unit, forcing those soldiers who don't accede to their sexual demands to do all the most dangerous jobs in war zones.
Excellent point. Share a room and the latrine including the shower. What's next? Coed dorms and unisex showers?
Best to put a slug in his back and move on like a man.
Sure, the trash-can, garbage-collector, trailer-park queen, skank-bride is far and away the best, most ingenious mockery of Oprah that I’ve ever seen but the one of Obama, the moronic facial contortions that speaks volumes to the degree in which he is so unqualifiedly inept is a work of art, in a class by itself.
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Exactly what one expects from a homosexual, doper, commie, muzzie loving and America hating imposter.
BUT WHERE ARE THE #%(* REPUBLICANS??
Not one single peep. They're worse than worthless. How can they all abandon our military to perverts??? It makes me so disgusted and angry I don't know what to say.
Shep?
Source?
But But Butt Barry has come clean —how else could you know his name is not Barak Hussein Obama II Marxist Communist Revolutionary Community Organizer and the best bud any Enemy foreign or domestic ever had. but just like the queer nation he has exploited in his drive to fundamentally change America one must always be very careful who they allow call a friend.
BUT WHERE ARE THE #%(* REPUBLICANS??
______________________________________________________________
Well,I’m guessing Scott Brown is celebrating with his new “friend”......
Sen. Scott Brown invites hardcore Mass. homosexual activist to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” repeal signing ceremony in D.C.
http://www.massresistance.com/docs/gen/10d/brown_dadt/lang.html
Yep. That and forcing recognition of this in private companies.
Barf alert!!
Way, way beyond sickeningly evil.
And to think some of us on FR thought he was better than the Dem in that race.
Puke.
But still there are other Rs who are supposedly conservative. Are they all closeted fags or what?
I went zero for the ballot in 2008 AND 2010,and it looks like I ended up losing with him as well!
He may win again next year,but he'll have to do it without my vote this time! I'm leaving that one blank!
what you said. The rules of civilized behavior doesn’t apply to them.
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