Sooo..... Whats The Deal?

[Guest Cynthia Of Creation]

So whats this all about Dont ask dont tell?

so are wel allowed to join the military now? openly?

Isnt there a 6month repeal period?

So can anyone explain this to me? give me the low down etc.

[Guest ChloëC]

Cynthia,

It looks like it is still in limbo. Which means it is still in effect. Any ruling by a judge (except for the Supreme Court) can be challenged and a stay (or temporary stoppage) of the ruling can requested by interested parties.

This has been done. So until that stay is heard by the judge, nothing has changed.

Now, if the judge denies the stay, she will still have to hear the challenge.

And the military can at its leisure during the challenge continue to enforce the policy. It would be nice if a judge's ruling meant immediately effective but this seems to apply only to individuals who otherwise cannot afford expensive lawyers to continue requesting stays or challenges.

Most likely, if the ruling is left standing, the judge will create some kind of timetable. And of course, whatever ruling she makes after any stay (if done) will immediately be appealed to the next higher court.

Which means - it's still in limbo, and nothing has changed.

Stay tuned

Hugs

Chloë

[Guest DawnK]

By admitting to being openly gay, men are admitting to being guilty of an Article of the UCMJ. And even if the DADT is done away with and Gays are allowed to openly serve, they're still going to have to put up with ignorant people who think of them as freaks. And unless they've changed the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UMCJ), any actively gay person is subject to be tried under article 125 for Sodomy which is a Federal Conviction. The sad thing is, many heterosexual couples are guilty of the same thing, but no one would think of asking and or prosecuting them.

I know it's not fair, but there are still a lot of people out there who can't just let people live their lives. Women had to fight to be accepted in the military and they still have trouble. Gays are going to have to put up with 100 times the difficulty the ladies had.

And it's the same for Teachers, Scoutmasters, and anyone who works with groups of people young or old. I myself served 20 years in the Air Force, was a Scoutmaster for over 5 years, a Co-Leader for the Girl Scouts, and a Sunday School leader, but had anyone known about my cross dressing or desires to be female, I'd have been branded as a deviant and not allowed to do any of it. My mother even told me that had any of my teachers been gay that she wouldn't have allowed them to teach me.

But as each day passes, I live with the hope that the world will become more accepting. In the 60's, two men kissing on TV wouldn't have been allowed and Gays wouldn't have been allowed to openly march.

But now days, they've begun producing male facial products and clothing in fabrics that only women wore. And sex changes are coming down in price. The world is slowly changing, so don't give up hope.

DawnK

[Guest KimberlyF]

The Obama admin has stated in the last few days they're going to challenge this because its a law and they really have no choice since it's a law they have to defend it. They could do nothing and this would go away. They're going to challenge it.

Oh, the Obama admin sent the justice dept to challenge the immigration law in Arizona a while back because that was unfair and they didn't like it.

As I've said over and over here, these two parties are a joke. What's more important to the Dem party is the Mexican voting block than the LGBT voting block. Sure, they'll take the LGBT voting block, but they also don't want to upset the unions where there are a lot of homophobs in their ranks. So I believe they never wanted the DADT vote to come up in the senate and they allowed a few of their members to join with the GOP so there was never an official DADT vote on any bill just the filibuster.

[Carolyn Marie]

Yeah, the Obama administration is being pretty disingenuous about all of this. They say they want Congress to repeal the law, but

in an election year that haven't push Congress to do it. They have a short window in the lame duck session, but if they fail or do

nothing, and the Republicans get the majority next year, you can forget about DADT ever being repealed.

It will then be up to the courts, and that's a crap shoot at best.

I HATE politics. Hate it, hate it, HATE it!!!

Carolyn Marie

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

All talk....no action!

The world still spins and hate still rules....

Donna Jean

[Guest KimberlyF]

Carolyn,

I never trusted Obama because I know where he's from and it's where I'm from. You don't rise up here as a reformer. If you try you get crushed before you get a chance to make a name.

He's been passing the buck on DADT since he got in yet a group of military lawyers set the path so not a single member of the military had to lose their job since at lease June 2009. Well before this election year.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/dont_ask_dont_tell.html

Issue the executive order and it stops.

Kim

[Guest Billijo49504]

I sure wouldn't trust the court order, unless it stands up to the test of time. I was talking to an out coworker the other day, he asked what I've been doing. So I told him about dealing with the VA and that I was facilatating a transgender group, at the local LGBT center. He just turned around and walked away. Didn't say a thing. We worked together for about 15 yrs. And we were good friend, I thought!! That's proof of the good UAW union love for trans folks....Billijo

[Guest Sharah]

Carolyn,

Keep in mind that politics is a compound word built from poly meaning many and tics meaning small blood sucking insects.

[Guest Gina9223]

>DADT Repeal only affects Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual citizens openly serving the armed forces of the USofA.

>DADT Repeal does not affect the laws, regulations or rules that ban Transgender and Intersex citizens serving the armed forces of the USofA.

-So our Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual brothers and sisters will be able to openly serve when DADT is repealed. Honestly, at this point in time if the PotUS doesn't move his lame donkey and push Congress to do the same the courts may end up governing the USofA in lieu of the 'Do Nothing' Congress and PotUS.

-Sadly, I do have a few contacts within the Trans community that has been working the issues to include Trans and IS issues within the body of the repeal language but its just not going to happen in the near future. The best I think you'll see is mental health support and maybe HRT until the end of the person's contract and then discharge with no options given for re-enlistment. Maybe after the DSM V comes out, that may change. I certinaly hope it changes for the better.