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Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told


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Don't ask, don't tell. And, whatever you do, don't ask Elaine Donnelly to tell you what she thinks about gays in the military.

The House Armed Services personnel subcommittee made just such a miscalculation yesterday. Holding the first hearing in 15 years on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, lawmakers invited a quartet of veterans to testify on the subject and also extended an invitation to Donnelly, who has been working for years to protect our fighting forces from the malign influence of women.

Donnelly treated the panel to an extraordinary exhibition of rage. She warned of "transgenders in the military." She warned that lesbians would take pictures of people in the shower. She spoke ominously of gays spreading "HIV positivity" through the ranks.

"We're talking about real consequences for real people," Donnelly proclaimed. Her written statement added warnings about "inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community," the prospects of "forcible sodomy" and "exotic forms of sexual expression," and the case of "a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault" a fellow soldier.

At the witness table with Donnelly, retired Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, a lesbian, rolled her eyes in disbelief. Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a gay man who was wounded in Iraq, looked as if he would explode.

Inadvertently, Donnelly achieved the opposite of her intended effect. Though there's no expectation that Congress will repeal "don't ask, don't tell" and allow gays to serve openly in the military, the display had the effect of increasing bipartisan sympathy for the cause.

Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) labeled her statement "just bonkers" and "dumb," and he called her claims about an HIV menace "inappropriate." Said Snyder: "By this analysis . . . we ought to recruit only lesbians for the military, because they have the lowest incidence of HIV in the country."

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), a veteran of the war in Iraq, called Donnelly's words "an insult to me and many of the soldiers" by saying they "aren't professional enough to serve openly with gay troops while successfully completing their military mission."
TyMarshal

4 responses // Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told

  • What an idiotic shrew!
    Becky6378
  • i'm glad to see the "experts" on their side
    donkeyfly69
  • I was watching the news and saw the Mr. Obama is in favor of ending the don't ask don't tell that President Clinton signed in to law.
    This will effect areas no one wants to address;

    1} Military Bases follow state laws, so if you are allowed to get married in a state how will this effect military base housing?

    2} If you allow two homosexual too room in the Bachelor Enlisted Quarters in the same room can a man and women share the same room?

    3} If the military excepts gay marriage will they pay them the same as a heterosexual couple and if so when they transfer to a state that does not allow gay marriage will the pay stop?

    4} If the U.S. military allows gay marriage and the service member is stationed in a country that will not allow gay marriage can the service member refuse to transfer?

    5} If you allow them to transfer to Iraq or a Muslim nation and that country finds them kissing in public and wants to punish them what action should the US take?

    6} Can a gay couple be stationed in the same command?

    I can go on but these things are what no one wants to look at, our military all ready has problems with females in Muslim nations. The put to death in public gays in a lot of them how are we to protect them and keep our forces affective?
    retired_Navy
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