Sigh. Poor Michael Medved of Town Hall. He bloviates in his column that lifting Don't Ask, Don't Tell will result in an explosion of toe-tapping cruising in the latrines.
Imagine the impact on morale and unit cohesion if two guys from the same barracks engaged in toe-tapping hanky-panky (and perhaps much more) while occupying adjacent bathroom stalls in the military facilities?
Of course, advocates for gays in the military will insist that any such indulgence would involve a violation of the rules, with offenders facing stiff, severe consequences. But the impact of gay GI’s on bathroom atmospherics doesn’t just stem from the real chance of actual sex acts in the latrine, it involves whole sexualization of one of the most frequented and important conveniences on any base.
Does he not realize that Larry Craig has said he's not gay, and that the Atlanta police department found that the majority of men busted in his stings are married with kids? How, exactly then, will DADT prevent bathroom hookups if self-proclaimed heterosexuals are engaging in public, anonymous homosex? If you read on, it's clear the level of Medved's projection that he will be the target of amorous toe-tapping is, well, extreme.
The problem isn’t just the chance of molestation, it’s the radical change of mood and sensibility if you know you may be checked out as a sex object at a very private moment (of urination or defecation) when most normal people prefer to avoid any and all thoughts of physical intimacy.
...The national shudder of discomfort and queasiness associated with any introduction of homosexual eroticism into public men’s rooms should make us more determined than ever to resist the injection of those lurid attitudes into the even more explosive situation of the U.S. military.
Oh, please. How does the desire to serve one's country without being in the closet now turn into an orgy of bathroom sex? It's about the inappropriate nature and location of a sex act, not the orientation, Medved.
If Craig thinks he's straight and has to cruise public restrooms for same-sex encounters, it says more about homophobia and the pathology of the closet driving men like him to engage in this kind of public, anonymous, illicit behavior, particularly because of the deceit and the pain it causes their families.
[UPDATE: CREW has filed an ethics complaint with the Senate ethics committee against Craig, calling for an investigation into whether the senator violated the Senate Rules of Conduct for his restroom sexual foray.]
It just keeps getting better and better. This is just pathetic. Just days after his guilty plea for cruising an undercover officer in the mens room of the Minneapolis airport, Larry Craig wrote a constituent a letter propping up the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.
In what could be called another of Craig’s "he said/he said situations," the Senator corresponded with a constituent (and SLDN supporter) earlier this month about why he’d never support repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." In the August 17 letter to his constituent, Craig wrote that, "The armed forces exist to wage war. It is unacceptable to risk the lives of American soldiers and sailors merely to accommodate the sexual lifestyles of certain individuals." He also noted that, "I don’t believe the military should be a place for social experimentation."
No, that's what train station and airport loos are for, huh, Larry?
When the ethics committee voted to boot Bob Packwood from the Senate for lewd sexual harassment in 1995, Sen. Larry Craig lamented the difficult decision, but called it "the right one."
After Packwood resigned the next day, Craig, then a member of the Senate ethics committee, shared a tearful embrace with his former colleague.
"One particularly poignant moment came during an exchange between Packwood and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, a member of the Ethics panel," Edwin Chen reported in the Los Angeles Times Sept. 8, 1995. "Afterward, they shook hands and hugged one another. Then Craig began sobbing and quickly strode into the GOP cloakroom, his hands covering his face."
Steve Ralls at The Frontlines reports on Randy Miller, who was injured in Iraq during a parachute jump accident, falling 900 feet, sustaining injuries to his leg and ankle.
Miller's injuries weren't what got him booted from the 82nd Airborne -- it was because he was turned in by a fellow soldier who reported Miller's presence in a gay bar to a superior.
In Miller's case, he said he was in a known gay bar minding his own business when a male soldier made him a sexual proposition, which he rejected. The rejected soldier reported Miller to a superior, and Miller was subsequently called in. He didn't lie. He admitted he was gay.
With his two-year anniversary in the Army coming up, marking a promotion and pay raise, officials acted swiftly to discharge him. It also meant he had to pay back a sign-on bonus he had already spent because he didn't fulfill his commitment.
"Going to a gay bar is not grounds for dismissal. It's unfortunate he made the admission to his commander without legal representation," said SLDN spokesman Steve Ralls, who was unfamiliar with Miller's case.
One consequence of his discharge under DADT is that his homosexuality is disclosed on his official Army papers since it is the reason for separation.
Because Miller was discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," his homosexuality becomes public knowledge anytime he applies for a new job because the reason is stated on his Army discharge papers.
"I've probably already had some job-related issues. People have refused to call me back," said Miller, referring to job openings he says he was qualified for since returning home. He has not pursued legal action against those employers, although it is against the law in California to discriminate against a potential employee based on sexual preference.
GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul sat down with "Recovering Republican" and former Constitution Party presidential candidate John Lofton to talk about abortion, gays in the military, and other hot button issues on Lofton's radio show, The American View. You can listen to the interviewhere (head about 24:30).
LOFTON: Do you believe it [homosexuality] is a sin?
PAUL: I have not...I'm not as judgmental about that probably because of my medical background, so I don't see it in those simplistic terms; I think it's a complex issue to decide whether it's sin or other problems with the way people are born. It's to me too complex to give an answer as simple as that.
LOFTON: Do you believe that God says it is a sin?
PAUL: Well, I believe a lot of people understand it that way, but I think everybody's God's child too, so I have, you know, trouble with that.
LOFTON: Well, actually everyone's made in the image of God, but not everyone's a child of God. Some of them are children of the devil...
Paul is then asked about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Lofton first goes into a fairly lengthy diatribe about how all sinners need to be booted from the military.
LOFTON: We'll try to stop anyone from getting in the military who is a homosexual, who is an adulterer, who is a fornicator, and then other categories that indicate a character flaw. Why we shouldn't try to do that?"
PAUL: Looking it in protecting the military if they are going to perform the services, and they are imperfect -- because we're all imperfect and we all sin. If a heterosexual or homosexual sins, that to me is the category of dealing with their own soul. Since we cannot have only perfect people going in the military I want to separate the two because I don't want to know the heterosexual flaws, nor the homosexual flaws and that's why I got in some trouble with some of the civil libertarians because I don't have any problem with Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Because I don't think that, for the practicality of running a military, I'd just as soon not know every serious thing that any heterosexual or homosexual did, and those flaws have to do with all our flaws because each and everyone one of us has those imperfections.
This is ridiculous. Again, heteronormativity blinds Paul to the fact that gays don't want the repeal of DADT to have sex in the barracks -- gays and lesbians simply do not want to hide their orientation. Heterosexuals serving our country are able to speak openly about their lives -- a partner back home, for instance, without fearing that they will be kicked out of the military. Heterosexuality, and the culture that surrounds it, is everywhere, presumed and affirmed.
BTW, Lofton goes on to say that "God will not bless an army or a military that is full of unrepentent, practicing homosexuals, and adulterers and fornicators."
From the Onion News Network, the real reason for Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- a "general" reveals that gays are too precious to sacrifice:
Speaking of humor and the military -- Steve at The Frontlines asks, "How Many Push-Ups Can Elaine Do?" (Elaine Donnelly, shrill doyenne of discrimination at the Center for Military Readiness).
When Bush announced Admiral John Mullen as his nominee to succeed General Peter Pace as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it wasn't clear whether he would be in favor of lifting the ban on gays and lesbians openly serving in the military.
The first hint of change came when I located a transcript of a speech Admiral Mullen gave at The Brookings Institution in April of this year. He said: "If it's time to revisit that policy, the American people I believe -- and we live in a country -- the American people ought to raise that issue and we'll have the debate."
In a hearing the other day, he reiterated that belief. (SLDN):
Admiral John Mullen, President Bush's nominee to succeed General Peter Pace as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was questioned about the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel during a Senate hearing Tuesday. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine queried Mullen on the continued dismissal of gay troops under the ban. While confirming that he would implement the current law, Mullen also told Collins that "I really think it is for the American people to come forward, really through this body, to both debate that policy and make changes, if that's appropriate." He went on to say that, "I'd love to have Congress make its own decisions" with respect to considering repeal. Mullen's remarks follow a firestorm of controversy surrounding comments by Pace referring to gay personnel as "immoral" during a March interview with the Chicago Tribune.
..."Admiral Mullen's remarks are a welcome change of pace among military leadership, where there has long been an adversity to encouraging debate on opening the services to lesbian and gay patriots," said Sharra E. Greer, director of law and policy for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). "As Senator Collins rightly pointed out, there is growing concern among the national security establishment that the loss of talented gay troops is having a detrimental impact on our armed forces. Admiral Mullen should be applauded for his willingness to take part in a national conversation about that issue, and for his open-minded approach to working with Congress as they consider the future of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"
Ah, do you hear the sounds of fundie heads exploding. Expect a shrill press release from homophobe Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness shortly.
It just keeps getting better and better. This is just pathetic. Just days after his guilty plea for cruising an undercover officer in the mens room of the Minneapolis airport, Larry Craig wrote a constituent a letter propping up the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. 
