I had to take a test for my work regarding discrimination and harassment. I understand that the military doesn't allow gays in the military. Isn't that a form of discrimination? Just curious.

I'm just curious why you don't use your search engine to research the answer to your question...Now I may be wrong, but unless you've "been in a closet" yourself the last few years, you should already know the answer...

LOL Did I hit a wrong nerve? For your information, I'm happily married to a man and I am a women. So I guess I'm not "in the closet" so to speak.

Since I got to you, you must be gay and in the military and keeping hush hush about it because if they found out, you will be kicked out. That's the only reason someone would get upset about me asking a simple question.

quote:

I am a women

Let me guess your name ... Sybil? Eve? Cher?

Let me guess..... Another gay military "don't ask, don't tell" member?

Is there a point to this?

I just wanted to know why the military discriminates against gays. My husband says they don't but I feel they do and wanted to know if anyone knows why. I asked a question and some people jumped on me for it. Oh well, you can't please them all.

quote:

I had to take a test for my work regarding discrimination and harassment. I understand that the military doesn't allow gays in the military. Isn't that a form of discrimination? Just curious.

Well, this one got off to a rough start!

The Five Armed Forces regularly discriminate on the basis of gender (DOD no females in Combat Job), dependent status (too many kids, will not allow in), sexual orientation, prior drug use, indebtedness, and physical/mental defect(s).

Based upon centuries of experience, the items listed above prevent the member from doing their duty.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) does not allow members to be homosexual/bisexual, or perform a variety of other personal behaviors.

Without being judgmental either way, I can say based upon my experiences in Active Duty, the rules are there to prevent problems that prevent "good order and discipline" and prevent peers, or seniors, from preying upon juniors.

This is not such a bad question..but i would rather you asked it over on the Marines board..i am sure they would give you a nice civil reply..

good luck sc

>>Without being judgmental either way, I can say based upon my experiences in Active Duty, the rules are there to prevent problems that prevent "good order and discipline" and prevent peers, or seniors, from preying upon juniors<<

Thank you for replying and helping me understand.

There have been several Supreme Court cases in the past regarding "suspect classes". Those classes are race, religion, and national origin. Sexual orientation and gender are not considered suspect classes, so the burden for proving that government discrimination against those classes is much higher.

In short, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is still permitted in governmental decisions, most notably the organization and operation of military forces. (I.e. there has not been a Supreme Court decision on the validity of DADT).

The Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy promulgated during the Clinton administration is the linchpin behind the current policies affecting gays in the military.

If you feel as if you've been "jumped all over" by posting that question on a military discussion board, you might have tried Googling "don't ask don't tell" or "gays in the military" and you would have been able to learn this info beforehand.

The reason that people won't respond to you in an honest manner is that if they're on active duty, they have NO DISCRETION about whether or not to enforce the DADT policy. It's the policy of all of the armed forces.

Beating up on military members won't help your cause at all. The policy was decided upon at a much higher level than any of us are in.

That being said, there are limits to what the active duty people (and reservists, for that matter) can discuss with regard to this policy.


One more thing-- if you don't like the answer you got to your question, there are lots of other fora you could ask the question in.

Now, establishing that, what are your points you'd like to have someone counterpoint? That is, after all, the point behind this particular board on the CG forums of military.com.

>>If you feel as if you've been "jumped all over" by posting that question on a military discussion board, you might have tried Googling "don't ask don't tell" or "gays in the military" and you would have been able to learn this info beforehand.<<

I didn't google it because it's really no big deal. I was taking a test for my job and was wondering about the military so I posted a question here.

>>That being said, there are limits to what the active duty people (and reservists, for that matter) can discuss with regard to this policy<<

If there are limits to what active duty can say, they don't have to reply to my posts. They don't have to "jump" on someone for asking a question. Besides, a couple are "retired" and they seem to be E-7 or higher so they can be mature about it and either not reply or reply in a nice way.

>>One more thing-- if you don't like the answer you got to your question, there are lots of other fora you could ask the question in<<

What's the difference if I ask it here or somewhere else?

quote:

Originally posted by Children11:
I had to take a test for my work regarding discrimination and harassment. I understand that the military doesn't allow gays in the military. Isn't that a form of discrimination? Just curious.

Here is a discussion board discussing this topic.
http://forums.military.com/eve/forums?a=corfrm&cf=27819558

quote:

Originally posted by Children11:
I had to take a test for my work regarding discrimination and harassment. I understand that the military doesn't allow gays in the military. Isn't that a form of discrimination? Just curious.

Let me ask you a question.

Have you posted this question to the other four services?

What were their responses?

If not, why did you come here first?

Just curious.

Maybe she came here first, because she is married to a Coast Guard member.

Children11,

As n1dp pointed out regularly discriminates, he fogot to put fat people and people with the wrong or too many tattoos to the list.

My husband is in the Coast Guard. He's been in for 29 years, making Chief and is retiring next year. So I post on the CG board. I have posted in the past and many of these posters have been a help with my questions.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this question. I was just wondering why the rules are so different from the miitary to the civilian.

If your husband has been in the CG for 29 years I'm a bit surprised he wasn't able to explain the whole "don't ask/don't tell" policy.

I did ask him and he told me about the "don't ask, don't tell". I asked him isn't that discrimination? He said no and I didn't ask anything further. I come to Fred's Place from time to time. I was on here looking to see what posters are saying and thought I would ask you guys. SO I did. I didn't think it was going to be a big deal. I guess I wanted to know why the government can discriminate while the cilivian world can't. An employer can't refuse a gay person a job because they are gay but yet the military can. To me, it doesn't make sense.

quote:

To me, it doesn't make sense.

Not to make light of things, but...surely you don't expect things that our politicians do to make sense.

--M

quote:

Originally posted by Children11:
I had to take a test for my work regarding discrimination and harassment. I understand that the military doesn't allow gays in the military. Isn't that a form of discrimination? Just curious.

I say you join us and demand that liberal enclaves allow for students of illegal immigrants to be bused there. Also, these liberal enclaves should have public housing projects within them. After all, isn't it discrmination that such places like Beverly Hills and Bethesda, Maryland don't have such social justice mechanisms in place?