Military Fired 443 Servicemembers for Being Gay Last Year

[babylonsister]

http://washingtonindependent.com/83038/military-fired-443-servicemembers-for-being-gay-last-year#more-83038

Military Fired 443 Servicemembers for Being Gay Last Year
By Spencer Ackerman 4/22/10 5:12 PM


That statistic comes to you from Servicemembers United, which opposes “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and seeks its repeal. It’s lower than in previous years: There were 627 such discharges in 2007, for instance. From a Servicemembers United press release:

“As expected, this record low in total annual ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharge numbers reflects a continuing downward trend, as military commanders continue to ignore this law that is clearly outdated and which impairs their unit readiness,” said Alexander Nicholson, a former U.S. Army interrogator who was discharged under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the current Executive Director of Servicemembers United. “But this new number still means that 443 lives were unnecessarily turned upside down in 2009, 443 careers were unfairly terminated, and military units unexpectedly lost a valuable asset 443 times last year as two wars raged.”

According to the group, that figure doesn’t include discharges from the reserves or the National Guard, so the full number of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” discharges is higher. Whether the law actually gets repealed this year or not, last month Defense Secretary Robert Gates took unilateral measures to curb its enforcement.

[Lerkfish]

1. the number should be zero.

but we won't see that because the repeal is being pushed off indefinitely, as far as I heard.

[muffin1]

2. Yep

Bluebear had a thread on this yesterday. Senator Levin said that the White House and the DOD have asked him NOT to move on it this year. :wtf:

[bullwinkle428]

3. 443 Americans willing to put their lives on the line defending

this country, and protecting bigoted fat-asses lounging back in their La-Z-Boys, consuming copious quantities of Cheetos, and whining about the "damn queers" and their "pet issues"! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[lonestarnot]

4. Welp, if kids find themselves in when they don't wannabe then, for now...

:shrug: Take advantage of the wrong until it's stopped I say. :evilgrin:

[KG]

5. good thing there's a fierce advocate in the WH.

:P

[BR_Parkway]

6. Considering that we have families and all, a lot more than 443 llives

were disrupted. I know Servicemembers United was trying to make a specific point, but it still feeds the meme that our families don't count the same way everyone else's do.

[msongs]

7. lol Obama wants to study it for a few more years. so much for civil rights for gays nt