General: September 2005 Archives

Members of the Army Reserves and the National Guard who inform their commanders that they are gay are routinely converted into active duty status and sent to the Iraq war and other high priority military assignments, according to a spokesperson for an Army command charged with deploying troops.

The spokesperson, Kim Waldron, a civilian who works for the U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Ga., said the active duty deployment of Reservists and National Guard troops who say they are gay, or who are accused of being gay, takes place under a Forces Command or “FORSCOM” regulation issued in 1999.

Waldron said the regulation is aimed at preventing Reservists and National Guard members from using their sexual orientation - or from pretending to be gay - to escape combat.

“The bottom line is some people are using sexual orientation to avoid deployment,” Waldron said. “So in this case, with the Reserve and Guard forces, if a soldier ‘tells,’ they still have to go to war and the homosexual issue is postponed until they return to the U.S. and the unit is demobilized.” [...]

Years of Pentagon denials
The existence of the 1999 FORSCOM regulation was revealed earlier this month by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, a think tank affiliated with the University of California at Santa Barbara. In a news release issued on Sept. 13, the group said its researchers discovered the document while assisting the ABC television program “Nightline” with research on gays in the military.

Aaron Belkin, executive director of the CSSMM, said he was “astonished” that a military spokesperson has confirmed that military commanders routinely deploy service members thought to be gay into active duty assignments.

“The Pentagon has consistently denied that, when mobilization requires bolstering troop strength, it sends gays to fight despite the existence of a gay ban,” Belkin said. The existence of the 1999 FORSCOM regulation was revealed earlier this month by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, a think tank affiliated with the University of California at Santa Barbara. In a news release issued on Sept. 13, the group said its researchers discovered the document while assisting the ABC television program “Nightline” with research on gays in the military.

Aaron Belkin, executive director of the CSSMM, said he was “astonished” that a military spokesperson has confirmed that military commanders routinely deploy service members thought to be gay into active duty assignments.

“The Pentagon has consistently denied that, when mobilization requires bolstering troop strength, it sends gays to fight despite the existence of a gay ban,” Belkin said. (source)

I love the fact that with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the government is basically saying that, you are good enough for us to send you to the front line and, if you come back alive, we will discharge you when we return you to the United States and no longer need you. And by the way, we will take your military benefits away from you as well.

And this is the government that I’m suppose to supposed to support if I’m a “good American”? I don’t think so.