60 Minutes: Military Soft On Don't Ask, Don't Tell?

[RamboLiberal]

A gay soldier says he disclosed his sexuality to his superiors, even offering graphic proof, and was neither discharged nor reprimanded, despite the military’s "don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality.

Army Sgt. Darren Manzella appears in a Lesley Stahl report on gays in the wartime U.S. military to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Manzella, a medic who served in Iraq for a year, currently serves as medical liaison for the 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Kuwait, where he says he is "out" to his entire chain of command, including a three-star general. After leaving Iraq, he started receiving anonymous emails warning him about his openness that suggested he was being watched, so he went to his commander to head off an investigation he felt was coming. "I didn’t know how else to do it," he tells Stahl, acknowledging that he initiated an investigation of himself by violating the policy. "I felt more comfortable being the one to say, 'This is what is real,'" Manzella says.

He then says his commander reported him, as he was obliged to do, and then "I had to go see my battalion commander, who read me my rights," he says. He turned over pictures of him and his boyfriend, including video of a passionate kiss, to aid the investigation. But to his surprise, "I was told to go back to work. There was no evidence of homosexuality," says Manzella. "'You’re not gay,'" he says his superiors told him. This response confused him and, he says, the closest a superior officer came to addressing his sexuality was to say "I don't care if you're gay or not."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/13/60minutes/main3615278.shtml

[devilgrrl]

1. Wow! What a scandal!

:eyes:

[tabasco]

2. Front line units don't give a damn what you are as long as you do your job. n/t

[SharkSquid]

3. Too many people are willing to "prove" their sexuality

In order to get out and take advantage of DADT.

[MADem]

4. I used to stop people from telling me, and encourage them to tell me about their FRIEND....!!!

It was never a big secret when I got the request for an appointment, either.

And it was always my best workers, too.

I hated that stupid "once you tell, the wheels start rolling" rule. I made damn sure my subordinates understood clearly how the process worked. I had one guy who was such a prince, after I more or less said you AREN'T gonna give me bad news now, right when we need you the most, he asked if he could have another appointment to see me after we got through a massive, pain-in-the-ass inspection (he was VITAL to a successful outcome, and he knew it).

Needless to say, when he transitioned to civilian life, I gave him the best employment recommendation that one could possibly get. But he shouldn't have had to leave in the first place. He just couldn't stand that closet crap, and who can blame him, really. Every kid I had to discharge was pretty much on the same page on that score--they liked military service, they hated the lying and concealing and BS.

They need to get rid of that idiotic construct, and simply reiterate the already well instituted requirement that when you are in uniform, and when you are on duty, you WILL behave in a professional fashion.

I'll bet this kid is a top notch medic. I don't blame them for not wanting to lose him.

This is actually good news, because the softer the policy gets, the more lax enforcement gets, the sooner the Pentagon will wander over to Congress and ask them to just strike that whole 'homosexuality' prohibition from the rule book.