Army Secretary: Military Ready To Lift Ban On Openly Gay Service

In an interview with the Army Times published Sunday, Secretary of the Army John McHugh indicated that the army would be ready to lift the ban on gays serving openly if both Congress and President Obama decided to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." The ending of the policy has come to seem more likely in recent weeks, with Obama reaffirming his campaign pledge to do so in a speech at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group. "We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country," Obama said, though he did not offer a timetable regarding when such action might be taken.

McHugh speculated that gays might be allowed to serve in some units but not others, while also stressing that no such plans had been discussed. More importantly, he told the Army Times there was no reason to believe major disruption would ensue in the army if the ban was lifted.

"Anytime you have a broad-based policy change, there are challenges to that," he said. "The Army has a big history of taking on similar issues, [with] predictions of doom and gloom that did not play out."

Comments

[1differentdrummer]

02:13 PM on 10/28/2009

How many Arabic linguists did the Army lose due to DADT?

[hallowellboy]

01:16 PM on 10/28/2009

So Gays can serve in "some units but not others" ? Doesn't sound like it equality to me. More specifics please.

[spiderbucket]

12:00 PM on 10/28/2009

The military is ready to act grown up on this issue ? Good.

[Budokan]

11:36 AM on 10/28/2009

Stop talking about it and do it.

Yeah. Sometimes it's really that easy.

[ICorpsDoc]

10:05 AM on 10/28/2009

I had a rate in the Navy that had just about the highest % of gays in it that you could find.

The sailors knew it and the Marines we served with knew it. Those of us in the rate knew it. It was just a fact of life.

It was also the rate that had the highest % of MOH winners not just in the Navy but quite possibly of all the services. (not to exclude our Army brothers that did the same job)

Present poster excluded but these guys that took that rate and then served with the Marines may have been the bravest most dedicated group of military folks you could find. Absolutely beloved. Absolute legends.

And the number that died trying to save a wia Marine is staggering.

And yes many of thse hard chargers were gay. We all knew it.

The only question those Marines had though was this: Will you keep up? Will you answer the call for "corpsman up" each and every time when every sane person in the world wants to get as low to the ground and stay there as they can.

The answer more often than naught was a resounding yes.

[pumpupthevolume]

11:45 PM on 10/27/2009

instead of complaining contradicting, you should be preparing a petition or some sort of strategy to get congress to bring it up. Wastiing your time worrying about what the government did'nt do, you should be igniting the base. to bring this issue to the forefront.

[duxguts]

11:37 PM on 10/27/2009

Can someone tell me what the Secretary of the Army does? Does he type and file things away and stuff like that?

[IntellectuallyHonest]

09:15 PM on 10/27/2009

The government is desperate to appear as if it is doing the right thing after doing the wrong thing for ten years or more.

[klandish]

10:44 PM on 10/27/2009

Wrong thing for sure ... but more like at least 70 years.

[DonJM]

08:30 PM on 10/27/2009

The United States cannot call itself the "land of the free" as long as it discriminates against an entire group of its citizens.

[suejester]

10:30 PM on 10/27/2009

Yes it does...it has legislative discrimination everywhere...

When an 18 year old joins the military they can vote and die for their country, but cannot drink until they are 21

When a homosexual joins the military they can vote and die for their country, but cannot have equal right until the majority of the country is comfortable with it.

Since when do we have to wait for the majority of the country to accept the rights of a minority. This is the land of the free, equality for all, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Although we are gay, it's very hard to pursuit happiness when there are constant reminders that you are not equal...

If you are straight, try an experiment...walk into a gay neighborhood, or gay bar alone. Or instead of telling people you are married that you are "civil unioned", "domestic partnered" and that you have partner. Take in the responses you get from people. See how equal you feel...

[DonJM]

08:28 PM on 10/27/2009

You would think that if so many other countries in the world allow gays to serve openly in the military, that the United States could find a way to drag itself into the 21st century.

[TheBlackCat]

11:00 PM on 10/27/2009

one would think...

[Howey]

07:46 PM on 10/27/2009

It's about time we ended hate crimes against gay military members too. Without repeal of DADT, they will continue unchecked.

http://theworldofhowey.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/army-secretary-end-dadt/

[wdw505]

08:26 PM on 10/27/2009

hate crimes are made up

[klandish]

10:45 PM on 10/27/2009

You are are made up ... not real in the least.

[popart]

07:33 PM on 10/27/2009

americans are conservative and cautious and not very sophisticated....still very much tied to religious dogmas of yesteryear. one would hope that americans would be smarter than that. There were many young gay men in my company in the army in Hawaii in 1960....good soldiers all and i was poud to serve with them.

[ducttape]

06:53 PM on 10/27/2009

wow how merciful this john mchugh is

somebody email me when we enter the 20th century

[edgarcaycedoc]

06:39 PM on 10/27/2009

The same sort of dissension and damage to esprit de corps was predicted when blacks were integrated into the military, and when women were used for fields other than typing and "comfort."

[RButler]

06:31 PM on 10/27/2009

It would seem that for all the soldiers that have died in the last 7-8 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, having a gay soldier look at them in the shower would be the very least of their problems. If they can't handle that, how do they handle killing and being killed?