Suspected source of Wikileaks documents, raged on his Facebook page

[TheCorinthian]

Forgot to mention: this incident certainly can't be a good thing for those arguing for gays to be allowed in the military.

 

 

It's not.

 

And there are degrees of DADT. We had so far two MArines that were pretty much at least a little openly gay. But they were not only excellent Marines but really great guys too. So, the unit or at least the ones that knew protected them. If this guy was alright among his colleagues, then a lot of stuff can be and often is over looked.

[Flashermac]

Wendy, I grew up in So Cal. EVERYBODY knew Rock Hudson was gay. Richard Chamberlain too. My sister had a bi classmate who went a a gay party and met Chamerlain there. Raymond Burr .. who had served in the Coast Guard in WWII ... was well known as gay. And Doris Day, Rock Hudson's virginal heart throb in many films, was known to play around a lot. The Hollywood image did not extend over the area the stars lived in. Tony Curtis was somewhat suspect, and he now admits he'd gone both ways. There were even rumours about Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power and Randolph Scott. I suppose plenty of seemingly macho stars were of the try-sexual sort: they'd try anything at least once. They were basically in love with themselves.

 

I have no problem with the policy now - you can be gay, as long as you don't make a big thing of it. Keep your personal life personal. The same should go for heteros. What you do on your own time is your own business. Just don't act like being gay is something special.

 

I know a now retired Army E-7 who was a damn good soldier, a VN War grunt and door gunner. He is fairly open about being bi (he has a wife and son), but I sometimes do feel a little uncomfortable when he gets too friendly.

 

 

[Wallenda]

OK if you were in SoCal I could see, I meant more the general public, the ones going to his movies -- and even yeah Raymond Burr (I heard about him when I moved to San Fransisco, but never until then -- and that surprised me at least). But with both those guys, surely not the picture you have in your mind of what a gay guy looks and acts like. I would guess that even amongst those who did know Rock and others were gay, it was due to stories they'd heard or things they'd actually seen -- like being at certain parties or bars or whatever -- rather than anything in their on-screen behavior.

 

As for whether they're solid to serve, I dunno. I notice that most countries' armies don't allow women to fight. Maybe there's something along those lines that's part of why the military was so against it. Temperament. You say there's some you know of who were great soldiers -- sure, of course. But I'm sure someone else can find some who are terrible. What matters more is whether or not there's a strong tendency amongst the whole group to be of lower quality for one reason or another. Me, I have no idea. Another factor might be the increased likelihood of romantic entanglements and or sexual tensions becoming a distraction. Then there's another factor of a lot of your rank and file soldiers having some combustible feelings on this subject -- which is easy to imagine becoming a big distraction. There was a time when the military in the US was racially segregated, with some of these factors applying at the time.

[Flashermac]

You basically identified it. Part of the logic is that gay GIs might get romantically attached to each other and do something stupid to compromise the safety of others. Suppose one member of a gay couple got wounded or captured. The other might take foolish chances to save him. Another reason is that many hetero guys just don't like to be around gays. In today's all volunteer military, the working class provides the main source of recruits - and they are the ones most likely to be intolerant of gays.

 

Sooner of later, the gay ban will be dropped. Society is slowly changing and gays are increasingly more accepted. But I don't think the US is quite there yet.

 

 

[chuckwoww]

I can't understand all the fuss. Apparently half of Alexander's army were bumfuckers. Not sure about the other half.

[shygye]

In Israel,

 

Since 1993, homosexuals serve openly in the military, including special units, without any discrimination. This happened after a reserves officer testified before the Knesset that he had been barred[by whom?] from researching sensitive topics, and his rank had been revoked, because of his sexual orientation.[28]

[Flashermac]

I can't understand all the fuss. Apparently half of Alexander's army were bumfuckers. Not sure about the other half.

 

 

They were Greeks! I'm surprised it was only half.

 

Story time: When I was an instructor at the NCO Academy, one my my ANOC (Advanced NCO Course) students told me about his time working with the Greek army under the UN flag. Several times when he was sergeant of the guard he had come upon a guard post and found it empty. The soldier's weapon and equipment would be there, but no Greek. He'd proceed to the next post and find the two of them going at it. He'd continue his rounds and report the situation to his Greek counterpart, who would go and throw cold water on them or whatever.

 

 

[chuckwoww]

Odd bunch those ancient Greeks. I guess guys who didn't pack fudge were considered effeminate. There's a thesis in this for someone.

[Flashermac]

Several friends who worked in Saudi said they considered the Saudis essentially bisexual. Since women were so off limits to single guys, the Saudis did each other. However, only the "buggerie" was considered queer, not the "buggerer". I've heard the same from folks who lived in the UAE. Inshallah.

 

p.s. A gay university colleague called the Middle East "homo heaven".

 

 

 

 

 

[chuckwoww]

I hear the Taliban fancy a bit of council gritter too.

 

http://globalgayz.com/country/Afghanistan/view/AFG/gay-afghanistan-after-the-taliban-homosexuality-as-tradition