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Loading ...First firing under DADT for Kansas National Guard
02.09.2009 5:56pm EST
(Kansas City, Kansas) The Kansas Army National Guard has dropped its first soldier under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the policy that bars openly gay people from serving in the military.
Amy Brian was discharged following an investigation that began when a civilian co-worker reported to authorities Brian had been seen kissing another woman in a checkout line at a Wal-Mart store.Brian had served in the National Guard for nine years, including a tour of duty in Iraq. She joined up in 1991 and served until 1994. In 2003 she re-enlisted.
Brian, who previously was married and has one child, said she had never tried to hide her sexuality to those she worked beside. She she came out to her family when she was deployed to Iraq.
Since DADT was enacted, more than 12,000 servicemembers have been dismissed when it was learned they are gay. According to statistics from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network which advocates for gays in the military an average of two service members are dismissed under the law every day.
Legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was taken up in committee last year for the first time, but did not make it to a vote.
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) has reportedly been working on a new version of the bill to be filed this year, but wants a Republican to cosponsor it.
The President has said that he supports repeal of the ban, but he has called for a study that could take up to a year to determine the effect of allowing gays to serve.
Why would they call it “dont ASK, dont tell” when it says they did an INVESTIGATION when someone TOLD the authorities? I mean woopdy friggin doo, two chicks kiss. How does being gay affect the army? Are they trying to save their reputation?
This woman reinlisted to put her life on the line for this country and they re-pay her with a kick in the teeth for the “crime” of loving someone who happens to be of her own sex. Shame on the Military.
This country should be damn grateful that good men and women are willing to put their lives on the line and devote their career to military service. What an embarssment to our nation. Obama and yet another “study” – give me a break. Talk about stalling.
This is an obvious miss-use of the added part of that law which is “don’t pursue”.
This will wind up in court and the Kansas National Guard will get a huge black eye
It’s perfectly legal what the military did.
Look:
TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART II > CHAPTER 37 > 654
(a)(9-11)
“The standards of conduct for members of the armed forces regulate a member’s life for 24 hours each day beginning at the moment the member enters military status and not ending until that person is discharged or otherwise separated from the armed forces.
Those standards of conduct, including the Uniform Code of Military Justice, apply to a member of the armed forces at all times that the member has a military status, whether the member is on base or off base, and whether the member is on duty or off duty.
The pervasive application of the standards of conduct is necessary because members of the armed forces must be ready at all times for worldwide deployment to a combat environment.”
She violated the code so why shouldn’t she be kicked out? The code also states that a person is not to be married to or attempt to marry someone of the same biological sex.
Why do people think that it’s ok for gay people serving in the military to act on such feelings in private or in the general public? That’s against the code of conduct regarding homosexuality.
She signed into the armed forces and their policies so shouldn’t she be subject to them as well?
Todd:
The fact that it is legal does not mean that it is right. Your apparent failure to grasp the basic inequity in this policy and its disproportionate application to GLBT persons makes it seem unlikely that you will comprehend the real issues here. Military personnel who are ‘breeders’ are not punished for sexual activity with persons to whom they are not wed, even though they have the right to marry the person of their choice. Extra-marital affairs are also illegal in the military but are rarely, if ever, punished. The reasoning behind the prohibition of all sex to LGBT persons is based on incorrect, uninformed, and prejudicial assumptions and continues to deprive the US Military of highly-skilled and highly-motivated people in a time when they are sorely needed among their ranks.
Your simple quoting of an illogical and basically unenforceable regulation as a legitimizing factor in cases such as this tells us more about your intellect and prejudice than it does about the serious deficiencies of this military policy. Once again, the US military lags-behind the forces of more enlightened democracies who have successfully integrated self-affirming GLBT into their forces for years. This issue is practically a no-brainer, but apparently you don’t get it…
If it is the Kansas National Guard, would governor Kathleen Sebelius have any ability to pardon Amy for her “crime” and get her reinstated? Gov. Sebelius has already issued an executive order barring discrimination against state employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Todd,
No one here is disputing that DADT is the law of the land in the military world. Thanks for pointing that obvious fact out. It’s the unfairness of it all that’s got us upset.
Yes, the military can have high standards and can ban certain practices by its soldiers which cannot be banned by government in general, but that doesn’t mean it’s right for it to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Allowing openly gay men and women to serve will not get rid of the rule against adultery or anything else. The push for the repeal about DADT is about showing respect for EVERY honorable man and woman serving his or her country.
2 tours in Iraq and 11 years of devotion meant nothing to the investigators who dismissed me under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
They wouldn’t have found out if not for a guy who was upset that I wouldn’t date him.
Haterosexuals are TROUBLEMAKERS. That’s why I would never fight their wars. It’s not worth my life.
“2 tours in Iraq and 11 years of devotion meant nothing to the investigators who dismissed me under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
They wouldn’t have found out if not for a guy who was upset that I wouldn’t date him.”
Unfortunately, for those of you who don’t quite get it. That is one of the many realities of being gay in the military. The fact is, a person who may be abiding by the rules can be investigated and tossed out simply because of someone didn’t know how to handle their crushed ego.
Many of us DO follow the rules and DO feel the NEED to serve our country for our own reasons. We keep our disgust of serving under such a rule private in hopes that one day the rule will be done away with so we (who don’t die in combat) may continue to serve to an honorable retirement just like everyone else. Many of us have a demeanor (not an act) that allows people to assume we are straight, but it just takes that one person to pick up on the fact that they have never seen or heard you express a more than platonic interest in the opposite sex and/or that you seem to turn down every girl who hits on you. Rumors develop possibly setting off an investigation and, depending on what’s dug out of your past, there goes another honorable career.
How would you like your career to end because you have an old picture of you holding an ex-boyfriend in your arms in a loving pose for the camera? Nothing dirty. Just a couple posing for a picture. Now say that picture was taken prior to you beginning your service. You keep it around for sentimental value just like any other picture. It’s tucked away out of sight locked away in your belongings and never shown to anyone. The military decides to do a surprise search of your units belongings for drugs or some missing property. A military security person, accidentally, knocks the picture from a book as he is moving your belongings around during the search. He decides to report what he saw to a superior. Now an investigation into your private life begins. The soldier in the next locker has photos of him and his girlfriend hanging up in plain view. Obviously, there is no investigation there. Sounds like some made up B.S. that can never happen. Think again.
To any of my brothers/sisters-in-arms. Stay strong our day will come.
Well the army IS a family institution. They can’t have just anyone in their army. Candidates must me purely heterosexual. You wouldnt settle for unpure honey would you?
(sarcasm intended)
Todd – Their actions violate the spirit of DADT, even if not every technicality. That you could even defend these actions speaks more about you – and not in a good way either. These actions by the military are reprehensible and embarassing to us as a nation.
Serves her right actually. Any gay/lesbian foolish enough to give his/her life for this insufferable shithole of a nation DESERVES to be discriminated against! LMAO! Nothing like workin’ towards your own demise, eh. Especially in such a homo friendly state like backwater KansASS! ROFL!
The case just shows DADT goes beyond territory of the military and is used as an unabashed persecuting tool against sexual minority which is also very likely unconstitutional.
I have no doubt the shitty law will be struck down in the near future by the Supreme Court. And the government will have to pay reparation to anyone fired for being spotted “acting” gay and extras for soldiers who had been deployed in battlefronts such as Iraq and Afghanistan. .