Free Republic

A gay veterans group said Wednesday it has been denied permission to march in this year’s Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade just two years after organizers made the groundbreaking decision to allow gay groups to participate for the first time. OutVets, which marched in Boston’s 2015 St. Patrick’s Day parade after decades of resistance from organizers, said on its Facebook page that the reason for the denial to this year’s parade is unclear, but “one can only assume it’s because we are LGBTQ.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOKi5YeNtRI#t=45

Dear America, After seven decades of wondering, agonizing, spending sleepless nights tossing and turning in my flaming bed in Hell over why I lost the war, I now know why. It was right under my cropped–moustached nose the entire time. How could I not have seen it all those years ago? On March 13th your Führer, Barack Obama, had a federal commission study and decide that there was “no compelling medical reason” to exclude “trannies” (transsexuals; men with breasts who fancy themselves as women, or women with penises who fancy themselves men, or anyone with gender identity issues) from your...

Pentagon counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations around the world were abruptly suspended this month when the Defense Department officials overseeing the programs failed to ensure they were funded by congressional authorizations, according to documents obtained by The Washington Examiner. The lapse has caused serious national security and diplomatic problems for the U.S. military, according to Defense Department officials. The authorizations cover joint counternarcotics operations with foreign governments, as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the U.S. The mix-up occurred when the anti-narcotics programs were not included on a list provided to Congress of operations that needed to...

President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed the end of the policy banning gays from serving openly in the armed forces, as the Pentagon vowed "zero tolerance" for harassment of homosexuals in the military. "Today, the discriminatory law known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is finally and formally repealed," Obama said in a statement. "As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love." The repeal went into effect on Tuesday, ushering in a new era in the armed forces. The law had allowed gay men...

An innocuous-looking memory stick, no longer than a couple of fingernails, came into the hands of a Guardian reporter earlier this year. The device is so small it will hang easily on a keyring. But its contents will send shockwaves through the world's chancelleries and deliver what one official described as "an epic blow" to US diplomacy. ... The US military believes it knows where the leak originated. A soldier, Bradley Manning, 22, has been held in solitary confinement for the last seven months and is facing a court martial in the new year. The former intelligence analyst is charged...

Even though we live in a democracy in which the people are supposed to rule, the Pentagon refuses to release the contents of a much-publicized survey about openly gay military service. However, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Pentagon spokesmen Geoff Morrell, and at least one gay activist group all admit that the survey is designed to facilitate open homosexuality within the ranks. “I strongly encourage gays and lesbians who are in the military to fill out these forms,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a July 8 press briefing. “We’ve organized this in a way to protect their privacy and the...

I am a retired soldier. My service began in 1942 and ended in 1983. I am one of the several hundred generals and admirals who signed a letter to the president asking that he not change the law concerning the military service of homosexual persons or the policy that spawned the "don't ask, don't tell" expression associated with the law. ... "Don't ask, don't tell" did not change the law or the responsibility of unit commanders to preserve the good order and discipline prescribed by the UCMJ. A policy change might allow homosexuals to serve openly if they so desire,...

If one had to read one columnist to appreciate the state of contemporary left-wing commentary, my nomination would be Frank Rich of the Sunday New York Times. No well-known leftist columnist better exemplifies the worst aspects of today's left. Virtually every piece is filled with anger, filled with ad hominem responses to arguments, filled with insults of opponents and at the same time devoid of intellectual arguments. A Frank Rich column is essentially a weekly tantrum meant to make his readers nod in agreement and reinforce their contempt for those who differ with them. I offer this past Sunday's column...

The question of whether Congress should repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and allow openly gay soldiers to serve likely will be a divisive issue in the fall elections, but not in the 2nd Congressional District. Incumbent Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-New Orleans, and his expected Democratic challengers state Reps. Cedric Richmond and Juan LaFonta expressed support Wednesday for President Barack Obama's call to change the policy, a move that also has been endorsed by top military officials. "When the military hierarchy supports it, I defer to the people who do it for a living and have the...

Homosexuals waiting to serve openly in the armed forces will have to keep waiting. President Obama is effectively putting this issue to bed until after the November elections.... Mr. Obama's supporters among the homosexual activist community have been increasingly restive over his failure to address the issue. A liberal Democratic president with huge margins in both houses should be able to deliver on such an important election promise, but Mr. Obama lacks stamina even on issues he says he cares about passionately. In order to claim some forward movement, the administration is reportedly constructing a more lenient enforcement framework, but...

Gay Military Porn Bust Reminds Us of Some Inconvenient Truths Regarding Homosexuality and the Military

The Defense Department starts the clock next week on what is expected to be a several-year process in lifting its ban on gays from serving openly in the military. A special investigation into how the ban can be repealed without hurting the morale or readiness of the troops was expected to be announced Tuesday by...

. . . This Is For Shooting, This Is For Fun," is what we boot Privates at Parris Island had to shout while running around the old, wooden Second Battalion barracks if we called our rifle a "gun." Since Googling, I don't have to be more descriptive as to what the disciplinary measure was about. It had something to do with a Private's privates, and not confusing them with the Private's weapon. * In President Obama's State Of The Dysfunctional Union Speech Wednesday night, he promised to deliver on his threat and payback of opening the military front door [as...

A panel of legal scholars has suggested that Congress remove sodomy as a crime punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a recommendation that could boost efforts to end a ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military. The Commission on Military Justice recommended that Article 125, which deals with sodomy, be repealed, arguing that “most acts of consensual sodomy committed by consenting military personnel are not prosecuted, creating a perception that prosecution of this sexual behavior is arbitrary.” In its report — dated October 2009 — the commission suggested several changes be made to the UCMJ, including...

On gays, Obama's Joint Chiefs chair is caught between his boss and a conservative military. In the next year, Mullen might have to ask troops to do something many will find even more uncomfortable: welcome openly gay men and women into their ranks. Such was the promise made by President-elect Obama in the 2008 campaign—gay-rights groups will hold him to it.

President-elect Barack Obama will not move for months, and perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to end the military's decades-old ban on open homosexuals in the ranks, two people who have advised the Obama transition team on this issue say. Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise

Philadelphia Congressman Among 17 Veterans Co-Sponsoring Repeal Legislation WASHINGTON, May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA), the highest ranking military veteran in Congress, on Saturday urged fellow lawmakers to join him in repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law banning lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel from serving openly in the military. Sestak, who had served as a three-star Admiral and who spent thirty-one years in the Navy is one of seventeen veterans in Congress who are co-sponsors of legislation to lift the ban on openly gay service. Sestak's remarks came before a panel discussion hosted by Equality Forum on...

CNN is defending its job in vetting questions for last night's debate, reports Politico's Kenneth Vogel: The retired general who quizzed Republican presidential candidates about gays and lesbians in the military was not the only person linked to a Democratic presidential candidate who got to ask a question at Wednesday’s CNN/YouTube debate. CNN also aired questions from supporters of Democratic candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama. And that’s fine by the network, which is standing by its question selection process and lashing out at critics who say the debate demonstrated CNN’s liberal bias. “We’re focused on the questions, not the...

The ignominious fall of Senator Larry Craig casts new light on the importance of the nation’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning open homosexuals from military service. If preventing public sex in airport men’s rooms is important enough to justify the deployment of undercover cops, isn’t it similarly significant to avoid, at all costs, sexual encounters in military 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...