When reporters asked President Bush about the comments made by General Pace calling homosexuality “immoral,” he dodged the initial question saying, “I will not be rendering judgment about individual orientation.” However, he did go on to defend the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy commenting that he believed it is “a good policy.” John McCain also supports the policy.
• According to a GAO report, nearly 800 specialists with critical skills have been fired from the U.S. Military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” including 323 linguists, 55 of whom specialized in Arabic.
• The Urban Institute estimates at least 65,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans [8 of the 10 transgender MTF women that I personally know are former military] are already protecting our homeland. More than 10,000 have been discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” since the policy was implemented in 1993.
• American taxpayers have paid between $250 million and $1.2 billion to investigate, eliminate, and replace qualified, patriotic service members who want to serve their country but can’t because expressing their sexual orientation violates “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
So do you feel safer at night knowing we have 55 fewer people in the military that are experts in Arabic?
For legal advice, check with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
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Sunday, April 08, 2007
Bush: Don't Ask, Don't Tell "A Good Policy"
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2 comments:
What's really frustrating is that no reporters are on the ball enough to say, "But the policy has led to the dismissal of servicemembers with skills like Arabic language abilities. Can we afford that kind of policy now?" But no, no details, just a sound bite.
This is maddening and archaic! When will it end?
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