Free Republic

One week after warning the distraction of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” could risk Marines’ lives, Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, pledged to lead the effort to integrate openly gay Marines. “I, and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps [Carlton Kent], will personally lead this effort, thus ensuring the respect and dignity due all Marines,” Amos said. “On this matter, we look forward to further demonstrating to the American people the discipline and loyalty that have been the hallmark of the United States Marine Corps for over 235 years." Amos’ statement sent to reporters came Sunday...

In what’s already been dubbed as “War Room For Gay Equality” by the New York Times, Media Matters for America has a new project, Equality Matters, to cash in on the recent repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The site, which is essentially a greatest hits of gay news and “bias” most of which is posted on the main site by the crack team at MMFA, doesn’t really do anything as far as I can tell. But don’t take my word for it; here is the description from the site: EqualityMatters.org is a new media and communications initiative in support...

By Greg Sargent A month ago, with no members of the press present, Harry Reid gave a speech at the private wedding of his openly gay communications director, Jon Summers. According to a source who was present, Reid spoke powerfully in favor of equality for gay and lesbian Americans.I'm reporting this previously undisclosed episode because I'm not sure folks fully grasp how instrumental Reid was in getting don't ask don't tell repealed. Specifically, I don't think it's clearly understood what was so effective about his strategy, and why it was central to getting this done against all odds.-SNIP-Reid's efforts...

The military's policy toward gay and lesbian soldiers is not going to change right away -- not until the White House receives certification from top military commanders that states they are ready for open service. Politico reports there will still be a waiting period of 60 days before the ban is actually overturned. The Senate voted Saturday to end Don't Ask Don't Tell, the military's ban on gays in the military. The vote was 65 to 31. Eight Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the 17-year-old policy. Now there are questions about what new training the Department of Defense will...

Joy Tiz ©2010 It was to be expected that the worst congress in the history of the republic would give us the worst lame duck session, an event which has devolved into a lengthy infomercial in support of repealing the 20th Amendment. Mercifully, the Ominous spending bill died quickly as did the nightmarish Dream Act which survived long enough for the nation to get a glimpse into the mind of a liberal. In the dangerous and delusional world of modern liberalism, spending two years partying at San Diego State is the moral and functional equivalent of fighting for your country...

Do not move the ancient boundary Which your fathers have set.(Proverbs 22:28)The USA has crossed a very ominous threshold yesterday, when our legislators passed a bill repealing the “Don’t ask,don’t tell” policy for our military forces. That policy was a compromise dating back to the Clinton years, replacing our sane, earlier policy of no tolerance for homosexuality in the military . Without national debate, referendum, vote or any other say on the subject by “we the people”, our representatives voted for the repeal of DADT , as the last order of business before the congressional Christmas break. Here are a...

I know many of us are demoralized over Congress' decision yesterday to repeal the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't tell" policy which prohibits homosexuals from serving the Armed Forces of the United States. I am particularly saddened to read the comments of those who have children in the Armed Forces now. I claim no particular expertise in matters military, but decided to do a little research and actually read the statutes in question, both the repeal itself, which is short and the DADT statute from 1994, 10 U.S.C. 654, which is short as well. Let's start with the DADT statute itself,...

Can anyone just march into a recruiting office and demand his constitutionally guaranteed civil RIGHT to serve? Or does he first have to qualify? Mentally, educationally, physically, healthwise, morally, etc? Wanted: A few good MEN (girly-men in a pinch)

Just wondering.

WASHINGTON — President Obama is ending the first half of his term the same way he began it — with a storm of activity of impressive, even historic, dimensions. Year-end victories on taxes, economic stimulus and landmark cultural change are reshaping the image of a president who seemed isolated and out of touch only a month ago in the wake of an enormous midterm election defeat. Suddenly, he looks like a deal maker who can reach across party lines to get things done and, perhaps, make progress that Americans found lacking when they went to the polls in November. Obama...

Sorry if these are stupid questions, but I'm having trouble teasing the answers out of all the stuff being posted on this issue. 1) Why did the Lawrence vs Texas decision not vacate the anti-sodomy provisions of the UCMJ? 2) Would not the existing military laws about fraternization and/or adultery be extended to open homosexuals? I'm not looking to argue about these points, just to have some understanding of the legal questions.

The gay Army lieutenant's heart had been racing all night. Shuffling between meetings at his outpost in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday night, the 27-year-old officer kept popping his head into the main office to catch a glimpse of Fox News's coverage of the Senate debate that led to a vote lifting the ban on gay men and lesbians serving in the military openly. "Don't cry," a 21-year-old specialist, one of the lieutenant's confidants, told his boss jokingly when news broke that 65 senators had voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." "I'm completely numb," was all the lieutenant could mutter....

Saturday's historic Senate vote on repealing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was notable for who was there - and who wasn't. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., skipped two votes on DADT and one on the immigration DREAM Act bill. The junior senator from West Virginia had a long-planned family holiday party to attend Saturday and couldn't make it to nearby Washington, D.C. for the votes, his spokewoman told The Charleston Gazette. "While he regrets missing the votes, it was a family obligation that he just could not break," Sara Payne Scarbro told the newspaper." Instead, Manchin's office issued...

he final vote to end the Pentagon's 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" policy was 65-31, drawing support from eight Republicans. The bill now goes to the White House for Obama's signature. He is expected to sign the bill into law next week, a senior White House aide told Fox News. The eight Republicans who joined Democrats in passing the repeal were: Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mark Kirk of Illinois, George Voinovich of Ohio, Richard Burr of North Carolina, John Ensign of Nevada and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine.

With the passage of the law to repeal the Clinton-era legislation commonly referred to as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," President Obama enters into a new reality. In one last blaze of defiance of the American people, and expressly those who serve in our nation's armed forces, President Obama was able to shove social engineering into pretty much the very corner of American culture where we have no business doing so. Upon his signature President Obama will begin a process that will at the very least disrupt operations, and at the very worst see the eventual weakening of our armed forces....

(AP) Republican Mark Kirk broke with his majority of his party Saturday to support repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military, casting one of the first high-profile votes he’s faced as Illinois’ junior senator. The Senate voted 65-31 to let gays serve openly in the military. President Barack Obama was expected to sign the legislation next week, although the change wouldn’t take immediate effect. The House had passed an identical version of the bill, 250-175, on Wednesday. Kirk was one of six Republicans to break ranks. The move was a reversal for him after...

Instead of leading with how Army Private First Class Bradley Manning may have jeopardized national security with his document dump to WikiLeaks, NBC's chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski, in his profile of Manning on Tuesday's Today show, told viewers he was the "most unlikely suspect, with a youthful smile" and portrayed him as an abused victim of the military. Miklaszewski used the New York Times' Ginger Thompson in his report to tell the tale of young man who apparently decided to avenge the abuse he had taken over the years, dating back to high school, by selling out his country.

We are now stuck with sexual deviants serving openly in the U.S. military because of turncoat Republican senators ... Had the cloture vote failed, we would still have sane moral and sexual standards governing military personnel policy. But sadly those days are gone, perhaps forever. ... The armies of other nations have allowed gays to serve openly in the military. The reason they could afford to do this is simple: they could allow homosexuals to serve in their military because we didn’t allow them to serve in ours. They knew they could count on the strength, might, power, and cohesion...

(snip) Saturday's debate on the repeal of the "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy was only half an hour old when the Arizona Republican burst onto the floor from the cloakroom, hiked up his pants and stalked over to his friend Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Ignoring Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who had the floor, McCain hectored the men noisily for a few moments, waving his arms for emphasis. When McCain finally stormed off, Durbin shook his head in exasperation and Lieberman smiled. A minute later, McCain returned - he had apparently remembered another element of his grievance -...

Joe Manchin, the newly elected Democratic senator from West Virginia, is taking heat from Republicans for skipping several crucial votes on Saturday to spend time with his family. Manchin missed votes to advance the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants under a certain age who meet certain requirements, and repeal the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.