News the Stars Bring Today

Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John M. Shalikashvili wrote in the N.Y Times, in Jan 2007: “I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.” His opinion was based on ” Zogby poll of more than 500 service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, three quarters of whom said they were comfortable interacting with gay people.” He felt that it might take some time, but that it would be possible that “gay men and lesbians will no longer have to conceal who they are, and the military will no longer need to sacrifice those whose service it cannot afford to lose.”

So, somehow since there is a great “Liberal-in-Chief” now, one highly trained West Point graduate and decorated officer “came out of the closet.” Lt. Dan Choi, according to Tower Road, is part of “the group of 38 West Point graduates (Knights Out) who came out of the closet in March 17,2009.” He is fluent in Arabic, which has allowed him to defuse some explosive encounters. He was terminated on April 23rd from the National Guard for “dereliction of duty…(and) homosexual conduct by the Department of the Army.”

CNN published his open letter to Obama and Congress on Monday, 5/11/09, in which he said: “the Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort.” He said that, as an infantry officer, he was not used to begging, but he was begging them to repeal the “Do Not Ask, Do Not Tell” Policy and not to fire him.

In another incident, Sandy Tsao, an Army officer in St. Louis, received an encouraging handwritten letter from Obama, according to Think Progress, but Obama said that it would take some time to pass through Congress.

However, according to Aaron Belkin, “A new study, about to be published by a group of experts in military law, shows that President Obama does, in fact, have statutory, stroke-of-the-pen authority to suspend gay discharges. Obama could simply invoke his authority under federal law (10 U.S.C. §12305) to retain any member of the military he believes is essential to national security. Or he could take advantage of a legal loophole. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” law requires the military to fire anyone found to be gay or lesbian. But there is nothing requiring the military to make such a finding. The president can order the military to stop investigating service members’ sexuality.”

He’s supposed to be a lawyer, why didn’t he figure this out himself? According to Washington Times, it’s just not a “top priority” for him.

This gentleman, John T. Simpson wrote that Ronald Reagan was more of a friend to gays and lesbians, and, when California was trying to ban gays and lesbians from teaching jobs, the Gipper wrote an op-ed: “Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual’s sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child’s teachers do not really influence this”…”In taking the bold stand he did, candidate Reagan completely alienated the right wing in California, which blamed him for both the Prop 6 defeat and John Briggs’ primary loss. It was an act of political courage on Reagan’s part that might not only have cost him electoral vote-rich California, but the Presidency itself…Based on Reagan’s record, I believe The Gipper would have put a stop to the (Iraq Gay Holocaust) and ordered American troops to hunt down the death squads, as American GIs once hunted down the SS ‘werewolves’ in postwar Berlin. I also believe he would have pummeled al-Maliki’s Shiite government over the issue as well. Which only makes the silence by the Obama Administration and Congress on this issue more profoundly deafening. O Gay Rights Hero President, where ARE you?” “Where is our Gay Rights Hero President on our American tax dollars subsidizing a Gay Holocaust?”