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The military expects to be ready to implement the repeal of the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy by midsummer, a top Pentagon official said Friday. Clifford Stanley - the Defense Department under secretary tasked with overseeing the repeal - told members of a House Armed Services subcommittee that the process will not be rushed "because we want to make sure that it's done right." But "at the same time, we don't want to take forever to do it," he added. Vice Adm. William Gortney, director of the military's Joint Staff, agreed with Stanley's assessment. We are "making sure that...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon said Friday the military should be trained in working with openly gay members by summer's end, prompting House Republicans to complain that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" was moving too quickly in wartime. In a status report to Congress, Clifford Stanley, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and Vice Adm. William Gortney of the Joint Staff said the Pentagon was moving forward on educating members of the military on the new policy, what's expected of them and the responsibilities for commanders and other leaders.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A Navy petty officer who was investigated for violating the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers says a review board at his California base has voted against his discharge. Derek Morado said the three-member board voted unanimously after a six-hour hearing at Lemoore Naval Air Station on Thursday to allow him to serve out the remaining three years of his current enlistment.

The U.S. Army has officially threatened military chaplains they must either embrace the new openly homosexual military, resign from service, or face court-martial for their "religious, conscience" objections. The Pray In Jesus Name Project has obtained leaked copies (unintended for media disclosure) of a private briefing given to chaplains, threatening them with court-martial unless they compromise their Christian message. Christian Chaplains who speak out against homosexual sin can be accused of "harassment" by homosexuals and face disciplinary action simply for voicing their religious views outside the "context" of their religious ministry. [Chaps' interpretation: The phrase "vocational reflection" is not-so-subtle code...

SAN FRANCISCO – Gay rights advocates on Monday filed a challenge to a request by the Obama administration to keep the repealed "don't ask, don't tell" policy in place while the Pentagon prepares for an end to the ban on allowing gays to serve openly in the military.

Washington (CNN) -- A magazine designed for and by gay military members may soon be displayed at military installations worldwide, an advocacy group announced Monday. "Our first objective with the magazine is to let all the gay, lesbian, bi, and trans members currently serving know that they are not alone," an active-duty officer who goes by the pseudonym JD Smith said in a statement. Smith, along with co-director Ty Walrod lead the organization known as OutServe, the group describes themselves as an underground network of actively serving military members of the United States Armed Services who identify as lesbian, gay,...

A group of gay troops and veterans says 261 service members were discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell” in 2010. President Obama signed the law repealing the military’s policy that barred gays from serving openly in the military in December. But before, Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued a directive in October making it more difficult for service members to be discharged under the rule. Alexander Nicholson, the executive director of Servicemembers United, said though the numbers are at an all-time low, last year’s tally is unusually high considering Gates’s mid-year directive. "Despite this law clearly being on its deathbed at...

23 Years into a military career I can say I have seen a lot. I have seen good and bad decisions of military and political leaders but have come away with one very important understanding of what their decisions do when it comes to life in the military...many of their changes are forever lasting. I was inducted in the mid eighties. When I went through pilot training in the 1990s they used the Chaplains to start several "conversations" with all of us. One on religious "tolerance" and the other on sexuality, read gay tolerance. In the religious tolerance we had...

Civilian leaders and political officers within the Pentagon are anxiously anticipating great social benefit from imposing new concepts of cultural engineering on our armed forces. Our armed services, the most tightly regulated and controlled element of our society, are expected to bear the brunt of a small minority forcing itself upon our culture and demanding respect and equal treatment under the threat of law. The military is not only subject to the law of the land, but more importantly, they are under the Uniform Code of Military Justice: a stern and uncompromising code that dictates a way of life...

The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, just foisted on us by the lame duck Democrats and Obama hides the real reason they are determined to make this happen. It’s all about breaking up the military’s traditional Republican voting bloc, and that’s their hidden agenda. Just think of how un-principled the effort to couch homosexuals sharing next bunk intimacy with heteros becomes when we realize it’s being done to introduce a liberal voting bloc into the traditionally conservative military services which vote their conscience and moral Biblical values. “Allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military would likely result, for...

The Republican Party has a history of using desperate times to call for drastic measures and when bailing out AIG, bolstering Medicare or bombing Iraq, that party has always been willing to go big and bold on some of the largest government expansions in this nation’s history. But what about cutting government? You know, that stuff GOP politicians always talk about during election time? One might think that in a political environment in which so many are desperate to reverse what they see as unsustainable government growth, Republican rhetoric might at least attempt to reflect that desperation. But when GOP...

U.S. Justice Department lawyers have moved again to halt the court fight over Don't Ask, Don't Tell... At the same time, government lawyers asked the appeal court to reverse a federal judge who ruled that the military's ban on open homosexuals was unconstitutional. The Log Cabin Republicans... said the administration's positions regarding the two laws were at war with each other.

The pink tide has turned in Obama’s favor. After months of challenging interactions with his gay base, which included heckling from gay protestors at events and a drop in contributions from the community, Obama is back on track with LGBT voters. The reversal, which took successfully repealing DADT and an administrative abandonment of the Defense of Marriage Act, which he ruled unconstitutional, has put Obama back on the gay radar as a positive force for the community. As a bisexual man who doesn’t hook up with guys, and having a brother who is gay, I have the good fortune of...

For Immediate Release February 24, 2011Contact: Elaine Donnelly, CMR President - (734) 464-9430 Contact: Tommy Sears, Executive Director - (202) 347-5333DOMA Decision Reveals: Obama Administration Misled Congress on Military Housing and Benefits for Same-Sex CouplesIn response to the announcement that the Department of Justice will no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in federal courts, Elaine Donnelly, President of the Center for Military Readiness, issued the following statement:“The statement issued by the Department of Justice yesterday was partially based on the reckless action of last-year’s lame-duck Congress to repeal the 1993 law stating that homosexuals are...

Combat troops to get gay sensitivity training—The Washington Times, Feb. 25 From: Commander U.S. Forces, Afghanistan To: All Officers Re: Homosexual Sensitivity training As everyone by now knows, the president has signed the order rescinding Defense Directive 1304.26 – “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” As the DOD implements this policy change, all U.S. forces in every theater must receive integration training, otherwise known as “sensitivity training.” This training will be immediately and will include every unit in this theater, including combat units, wherever they are operating.

I was a Marine for eight years. I spent those years fixing navigation systems, and teaching other Marines how to fix navigation systems. If we messed up, planes would crash, and people would die. When we joined the military, we took an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States, and we gave up many of our Constitutional rights.

American combat troops will get sensitivity training directly on the battlefield about the military’s new policy on gays instead of waiting until they return to home base in the United States, the senior enlisted man in Afghanistan said Thursday. The Pentagon is launching an extensive force-wide program to ease the process of integrating open homosexuals into the ranks, including into close-knit fighting units. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill, the top enlisted man in Afghanistan where 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed, said that the sessions on respecting gays’ rights will go right down to the forward operating bases, where troops...

Townhall mtg. today, 1:30-2:30 pm @ Joe Crowley Student Union Bldg., UNR, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno. I'm on his email list and this is the first I've heard of it.

The President has not yet certified the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and it will not go into effect until 60 days after that. But during a teleconference from Afghanistan to Camp Pendleton, Major General Richard Mills said training packages to prepare for the repeal have already arrived in Helmand Province. Mills described the training as "quite extensive,” with a series of classes, including scenarios and discussion groups. He said the trainers are being trained, and Marines based at Camp Leatherneck will start going through the program as soon as the directive comes down from headquarters. “It’s a little...

The deputy chief of chaplains of the United States Army told fellow army chaplains on February 17 that “the upcoming end to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ which will allow openly gay and lesbian individuals to enlist and for soldiers who have hidden their preferences to come out, if they want, means Army chaplains will have a major part in preparing the service to accept the lifestyles of some,” according to an Arizona newspaper’s summary of his remarks. Father Donald Rutherford, a priest of the Diocese of Albany who holds the rank of brigadier general, reportedly added that “you don’t have...