久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

  Home>News Center>Life
         
 

Gay US soldier wants to serve openly
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-08 11:51

An Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq wants a chance to remain in the military as an openly gay soldier, a desire that's bringing him into conflict with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.


Undated photo provided by Army Sgt. Robert Stout showing Stout with his Purple Heart and Certificate. Stout, a decorated officer who was wounded in Iraq is campaigning for the chance to serve as an openly gay soldier in the military, a cause that has attracted the attention of gay advocates and once again put the issue on the government's doorstep. Stout, 23, says he would re-enlist in the military if it wasn't for the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, which permits gay men and women to serve in the armed forces if they keep their sexual orientation to themselves and abstain from homosexual activity. [AP]

Sgt. Robert Stout, 23, says he has not encountered trouble from fellow soldiers and would like to stay if not for the policy that permits gay men and women to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret.

"I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if they could just be open," Stout said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But if we have to stay here and hide our lives all the time, it's just not worth it."

Stout, of Utica, Ohio, was awarded the Purple Heart after a grenade sent pieces of shrapnel into his arm, face and legs while he was operating a machine gun on an armored Humvee last May. 

He is believed to be the first gay soldier wounded in Iraq to publicly discuss his sexuality, said Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

"We can't keep hiding the fact that there's gay people in the military and they aren't causing any harm," said Stout, who says he is openly gay among most of his 26-member platoon, which is part of the 9th Engineer Battalion based in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Stout, who served in Iraq for more than a year as a combat engineer, said by acknowledging he is gay, he could be jailed and probably will be discharged before his scheduled release date of May 31.

"The old armchair thought that gay people destroy unit camaraderie and cohesion is just wrong," Stout said. "They said the same things when they tried to integrate African-Americans and women into the military."

Before the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, enacted in 1993 under the Clinton administration, the Pentagon had explicitly barred gays from military service. At least 24 countries, including Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Canada and Israel, allow gays to serve openly.

In an e-mail following the AP interview, Stout said he had been ordered not to speak to the media. "I guess they found out somehow that I was talking to the press and now they are having a fit. I will try to get everything straightened out," Stout wrote.

Martha Rudd, a spokeswoman for the Army at the Pentagon, said soldiers who are discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" typically receive honorable discharges, although the timing would be up to the individual's commanding officer. She declined to comment about Stout, saying the Army doesn't comment on specific cases.

The issue of whether gays should be allowed to openly serve in the military has received increased attention in recent months as the Army has struggled to meet its recruiting goals. Twelve gays expelled from the military sued the government in December, citing a Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional state laws against homosexual sex.

The Bush administration has asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey has said he opposes changing the policy, although Pentagon figures show a sharp decline in the number of U.S. military members discharged for making it known they are homosexual, falling from 1,227 in 2001 to 653 last year.

A recent congressional study on the impact of "don't ask, don't tell" said that hundreds of highly skilled troops, including many translators, have left the armed forces because of the rule, at a cost of nearly $200 million, mostly for recruiting and training replacements for 9,500 troops discharged between 1994 and 2003.

Gary Gates, a statistician at the University of California at Los Angeles, estimates there are about 65,000 gays and lesbians currently serving in the military, accounting for about 2.8 percent of all personnel. He estimates that at least 25 gay soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a conservative advocacy group that opposes gays serving in the military, said a better way to avoid the cost of replacing soldiers who are discharged for being gay is to make it very clear to people who enlist in the military, including Stout, that they are ineligible to serve if they are gay.

"I honor and respect his service to this country, but the fact that he's wounded really doesn't change the underlying fact. ... He is not eligible to serve," Donnelly said, adding that there are many reasons why people aren't eligible to serve. "This is just one of them."

Stout said he suspected while in high school that he was gay but didn't acknowledge it until later. "Then I noticed that it wasn't a phase or anything. This is me," said Stout, who enlisted in the Army after graduating in 2000.

"The 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, when it first came out, was a good stepping stone, but it's outlived its usefulness," he said. "We've progressed past it both as a military and as a society."

Recent media polls indicate some increased public acceptance for allowing gays to serve openly in the military, with more than six in 10 Americans supporting the idea while about half supported it a decade ago. An Annenberg poll taken last fall among members of the military showed a majority opposed to such service, though half of junior enlisted personnel said gays should be allowed to serve openly.



Has the deceased Pope been embalmed?
Cameron Diaz takes a tumble
Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton boozing again
  Today's Top News     Top Life News
 

FM rebuts US threat of economic sanctions

 

   
 

Poll: American views on China improving

 

   
 

EU guide on textiles 'violates WTO rule'

 

   
 

Tough task ahead to curb speculation

 

   
 

Boeing says insulation blankets 'no problem'

 

   
 

Beijing to see electricity price hike

 

   
  Gay US soldier wants to serve openly
   
  Jackson performs oral sex on boy: Guard
   
  Paralyzed panda in good care
   
  Jay Chow, DaoLang compete for media nods
   
  Body in 'wife murder' case to be exhumed
   
  Charles and Camilla form royal 'Brady Bunch' family
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Feature  
  1/3 Chinese youth condone premarital sex  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久精品国产400部免费看 | 欧美黄a| 熟女毛片 | 91久久精品国产91久久性色tv | 交性视频免费看 | 一级特黄一欧美俄罗斯毛片 | 国产精品久久成人影院 | 亚洲国产另类久久久精品小说 | 在线天天干| 成年女人毛片 | 日本一级高清片免费 | 国产三级做爰在线观看视频 | 毛片网站大全 | 中文字幕成人在线 | 在线91精品国产免费 | 国产精品久久久久久久久久影院 | 亚洲久久久久久久 | 国产亚洲精品成人a在线 | 99福利资源久久福利资源 | 亚洲国产老鸭窝一区二区三区 | 国产精品欧美一区二区三区 | 亚洲第一色网 | 亚洲成av人片在线观看 | 草草影院在线播放 | 成人性生片全套 | 中文字幕在线精品 | 亚洲字幕波多野结衣作品 | 日韩专区亚洲综合久久 | 亚洲综合网在线观看首页 | 欧美日韩一区二区三区在线观看 | 国产成人精品实拍在线 | 亚洲国产第一区二区香蕉日日 | 亚洲毛片在线观看 | 91视频站 | 国产一区免费在线观看 | 亚洲精品国产综合99久久一区 | 综合久久91 | 久久久久久亚洲精品影院 | 男操女b | 久久精品一区二区三区四区 | 浮力影院网站午夜 |