Americans Still Getting History on DADT Wrong

The US military community in Vicenza, Italy, recently attempted to host a “gay pride event” in which Stuart Milk, LGBT activist and nephew of Harvey Milk, was going to speak to DoD school children and the local community:

Stuart Milk will give three talks on [US Army post] Caserma Ederle — one at the high school for students who sign up, and one at the middle school, for eighth-graders whose parents will be advised in a letter that they may opt out. The third talk, open to the community, is…at the Hall of Heroes auditorium.

Just a few hours after the Stars and Stripes reported that event, however, it announced Milk’s visit had been canceled — without explanation: Read more

Senator Cruz Indicates Support for Reinstating DADT

As reported at the left-leaning Think Progress, Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz seemed to support reinstating some sort of ban on homosexuals serving in the US military:

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz told Iowa voters on Tuesday that he wants to reassess whether gays, lesbians, and transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military, saying the armed forces should not be treated “like a cauldron for social change” with the government “trying to pursue sexual identity politics.”

Cruz also noted the impact this “cauldron” is having on military religious freedom.

Regarding further “social change” — open service by Read more

Military Christians as the New DADT

In response to recent attacks on religious freedom, an article by Chuck Holton questions whether Christians in the US military have become the new class of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” worried the chaplains who follow the biblical view of same-sex relationships. Congress then stepped in, passing a bill that guaranteed the rights of all military personnel to exercise their faith.

Ron Crews, head of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, said the result of that legislation is that “chaplains can be chaplains.”

Unfortunately, there continue to be attacks on Christians who want to exercise or express their faith as they serve in the US military. (The article cites the story of Chaplain Lawhorn, for example.) While these attacks have generally come from outside the service — from critics like Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, for example, who attacks even Christian church services — the US military has sometimes reacted to these attacks as if the critics were correct from the outset, even if they were ultimately proven wrong.  The perception of this propensity is unprecedented on any other issue over which the military is critiqued.

The result has been Read more

Obama’s Popularity Among Military Affected by DADT

A Military Times non-scientific survey of subscribers described how President Obama’s “popularity” within the military has “crumbled”:

According to a Military Times survey of almost 2,300 active-duty service members, Obama’s popularity — never high to begin with — has crumbled, falling from 35 percent in 2009 to just 15 percent this year, while his disapproval ratings have increased to 55 percent from 40 percent over that time.

The Military Times piece and another article at the Christian Science Monitor imply part of the reason for the decline is the “heavy-handed social engineering” of the military during the past few years, including the repeal of the ban on homosexuals serving in the US military.

The Military Times article also continued the socially acceptable schizophrenic interpretation of the post-DADT environment in the US military. It first cites sources claiming the repeal of DADT was a “non-event.” From Richard Kohn, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill:  Read more

Military Commander Sues after being Fired for Violating Post-DADT Repeal

In a scandal surprisingly little-reported by the mainstream press, a US Army aviator and commander was fired, reprimanded, forced to meet a retention board, and now faces a forced retirement — because he intervened when two uniformed officers participated in a “full blown make out session” on the dance floor during a unit formal ball.

The two officers were homosexual.

He has now filed a lawsuit saying but for that fact, the commander would not be facing the end of his career.

Two years ago, LtCol Christopher Downey intervened when he was notified that two female officers on the dance floor were acting inappropriately — and they were becoming the focus of an increasing number of cameras and cell phones.  (The behavior was described several ways, including “French kissing,” “grabbing each other’s butts,” and a “full-blown make out session.”)  Having just returned from commanding the unit in Afghanistan, where Read more

US Navy Surveys LGB Sailors to Assess Post-DADT Readiness

The Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control has teamed with Palo Alto University in California to survey homosexual Sailors to determine their psychological and emotional health.

“The repeal of this policy really implemented a culture change for the U.S. military and it’s incredibly important to comprehend how this shift is not just impacting our people, but also affecting readiness,” said Capt. Scott Johnson, NCCOSC director and a Navy medicine psychology expert, in a statement Wednesday.

Navy Capt. Scott Johnson appears to be the first US official to openly admit the repeal of DADT “really implemented a culture change,” while most others have publicly said it was a “non-event.”

The implication that there has been an impact on readiness is interesting, given that even supporters of repeal (and the DoD itself) have claimed Read more

Highlighting Sexuality in a Post-DADT World

One of the main arguments for repealing the ban on homosexuals serving in the United States military was that it would be a “non-event,” and all anyone had to do was ‘shoot straight, not be straight.’ In an interesting bit of irony (or hypocrisy), various organizations continue to emphasize the sexuality of homosexuals, rather than de-emphasize it as they did in the runup to repeal.

For example, a group called the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Veterans Memorial Project has been working for a few years to publicize and fund a DC-area memorial for homosexual veterans. To be clear, that memorial would be for veterans of the military who were notable for their sexuality.

Similarly, cities continue to host the “Gay Games,” which make Read more

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