Outrageous anti-gay Don't Ask, Don't Tell commentary up at MSNBC.com

Is someone tryng to make Elaine Donnelly look Smart?

  If he is not trying, he is doing one heck of a job.  Then again, I think it may be Elaine, the right is trying to rename everything.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 06:57:15 AM CST

what the hell

what the hell is the "openly gay behavior" he is talking about?  Does this man think that allowing gays to serve "openly" means that gays will start having sex on the floors of the barracks?

Is that allowed now for openly "straight" behavior?

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by: timNC @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 07:51:07 AM CST

Because we all know...

"Many GIs are fundamentally opposed to the idea [of openly gay troops] especially due to HIV/AIDS, which takes time to appear in lab tests but can infect you upon contact," a retired non-commissioned officer (NCO) in Army Special Forces remarked. "Imagine this scenario: There are mass casualties requiring medivac and the helicopter's rotor-wash, as you know, throws sand, debris, and blood as well as other bodily fluids all over the place. Guess what-any blood or bodily fluid residue, no matter how minute, that hits an open wound or moist area including the eyes will be a conduit for transmission of the virus. Therefore, the casualty count increases not because of battlefield injury but cross-contamination."

Because as we all know straight people don't get HIV/AIDS and so there is no risk in a straight military. (Doesn't even mention that there are already LGBT people serving either.) WTF?! Seriously, where do they find these experts?

The problem is obnoxious behavior that other troops should not have to tolerate on duty or off duty.

Speaking of obnoxious behavior...

watashi no yomeiri wa doko desu ka

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by: belfrieboi @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 08:25:56 AM CST

non-veterans

notice he dismisses Clinton, Obama, and the rest of us as non-veterans. all us non-veterans are ignorant, dangerous, and possibly democrats!   there is just this insider secret blood bond we don't have.

his veteran battlefield scenario ignores hetero HIV possibilities, of course.

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by: joe in oklahoma @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 08:28:59 AM CST

Never mind...

...Cheney, who had "other priorities",

...Limbaugh, who is had a cyst on his ass,

...Rumsfeld,

and of course, the Former Frat Boy In Chief.

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by: Darkrose @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 17:27:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Hey! I am in favour of repeal and I am a veteran

just not of any US armed forces.....

I tell you Chica that no greater abomination exists than women denying their spirit of sisterhood and instead becoming the oppressor. -Rebeca, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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by: MauraHennessey @ Tue Feb 17, 2009 at 12:54:07 PM CST

[ Parent ]

It's all BS

They can talk about containing sexual behavior as much as they like. You will never convince me that a group of young people, predominantly men, will be celebate for the duration of their tours. It's ridiculous.

If the military really wants to crack down on unwanted sexuality, why not go after the Captain who raped my friend while she was serving a tour in Iraq?

Absolute power corrupts. Absolutely.

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by: pb1025 @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 09:11:38 AM CST

aids scare

"try to enlist if you are hard of hearing or color-blind; or, if you have a trick knee or fallen arches; or, if you have diabetes, TB, epilepsy, or AIDS;"

Wait I thought you said all the HIV/AIDS infected gay men were going to infect all of the straight soldiers, now you are saying they can't get in because testing. So which is correct Merrill Darby(who the heck is this person?)?

hmm which seems more sensical to you? that all the gay recruits with hiv/aids somehow magically get passed all the tests clean, or that testing continues as it does now and your whole article is a bunch of pure bulls***.

...homophobia that's all it is close minded people plain and simple, utilizing scare tactics like AIDs to divide and spread their irrational fears.

I would have joined the navy if it werent for all of the homophobic questions on the enlistment paperwork. You must swear never to have homosexual encounters with another soldier or think about having sex with another guy and a bunch of other bull.  unsurprisingly there is nothing asking you to promise that you never have sex with someone of the opposite sex.

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by: cphoover @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 11:31:11 AM CST

ugh

I can't wait for parts 2 and 3. WTF?

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by: ggw59 @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 12:32:37 PM CST

Ridiculous homophobic nonsense...

Elaine Donnolley is clearly at the end of her tether, as she realizes that the ban on openly gay servicemembers in the Armed Forces will, in due course, be eliminated.  Hence her assertion that many black people reject the comparison to racial integration in the Armed Forces.

For the record: I couldn't give a fiddler's you know what whether or not black people accept or reject the comparison.  This is the classic case of the formerly oppressed turning into the oppressor (after all, if you are not better than a homo, who are you?).  The bottom line is that the comparison is valid, notwithstanding the objections that some black people raise to this comparison.

Nation after nation in the western world has rescinded the ban on openly gay people serving in the Armed Forces -- with no ill effects relative to unit cohestion, ability of personnel to cope with the change, or increase in violence directed against gay servicemembers.  Is the USA truly so backwards and so morally obtuse that it is unable to do what so many other nations have done successfully?

Give me a break!  Donnelly is reduced to presenting us with a parade of horribles -- does she truly believe that gay servicemembers are going to forcibly sodomize heterosexuals?  Does she truly believe that gay servicemembers are going to have sex on the floors of the barracks?

This is a clear-cut demonstration of the full measure of intellectual emptiness that animates persons such as Donnelly and her cadre of simpering idiots.

PHILIP CHANDLER

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by: philipcfromnyc @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 13:51:23 PM CST

Umm...

The bottom line is that the comparison is valid, notwithstanding the objections that some black people raise to this comparison.

Just FYI, there are reasons some black folks don't like the constant comparison thing that have nothing to do with homophobia, and everything to do with the fact that it's perceived as an attempt to co-opt someone else's struggle.

I'm not even sure that it's a valid comparison with regards to the military, because there are already GLBT people in the military, and everyone knows it--the question is whether those people will be allowed to be out. Which, you know...not (usually) so much the question with race.

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by: Darkrose @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 17:33:10 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Comparisons to racism...

Darkrose -- I respect your opinion, but I stand by my statement (to the effect that homophobia and racism can be compared).

Contrary to the ravings of people such as the late Reggie White (of the Green Bay Packers, who outraged the Wisconsin state legislature several years ago when he delivered an anti-gay tirade), I did NOT choose my sexual orientation -- it chose me.  I take your point when you assert that race is clearly visible, whereas sexual orientation can be hidden -- but if anything, this makes sexual orientation discrimination even more pernicious and ugly, precisely because homophobic bigots frequently get away with making statements in the presence of closeted gay persons that they would never make in the presence of openly gay persons.  I cannot begin to count the number of times I have heard anti-gay insults bandied about in my presence by people who did not know that I am gay; had they known that I am gay, almost all of them would have refrained from making such comments.  It is for this reason that the closet is so destructive, and it is for this reason that "coming out" is perhaps the single most politically powerful act that any gay person can invoke.

I am not trying to co-opt anybody else's struggle.  However, I do believe that there are legitimate points of comparison between homophobia and racism, particularly as applied to institutional forms of bigotry.  What I do NOT understand are the angry denunciations that I hear, all too frequently, from those black Americans who are themselves homophobic.  Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination -- and, personally, I think it stinks.

PHILIP CHANDLER

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by: philipcfromnyc @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 05:12:51 AM CST

[ Parent ]

The hard truth about HIV and the troops

DOD regulations state that HIV testing of all troops, which began in 1985, will be conducted on each servicemember every two years in conjunction with the Periodic Health Assessment (PHA). Those who contract the virus are placed on limited duty (non-deployable) and transferred, with complete confidentiality, to a PCS station within 50 miles of an HIV Evaluation and Treatment Unit within the continental U.S. They are allowed to continue service.

http://www-nehc.med.navy.mil/h...

Guide for Navy Commanding Officers (downloads as a pdf):

http://www.bethesda.med.navy.m...

Data from the Navy Marine Corps Public Health Center (downloads as a pdf) http://www-nmcphc.med.navy.mil... :

Data from Navy HIV Central indicate that, in 2007, there were 75 active duty sailors and 20 active duty marines newly identified with HIV. All are men except 3 sailors and 1 marine. All were enlisted except 7 Navy officers.

Rates. HIV seroconversion rates (number of people positive per 100,000 people tested) in 2007 were 32 for sailors (down from 33 in 2006) and 15.5 for marines (up from 11 in 2006).

Age. Among the 65 HIV positive enlisted sailors, 49 (75%) were aged 17-29. Among the 20 HIV positive enlisted marines, 13 (65%) were aged 17-29.

Race. HIV seroconversion rates among black sailors and marines have been disproportionately high for many years, and remained so in 2007. For example, the seroconversion rate per 100,000 members tested for black, white, Hispanic and other enlisted sailors were 86, 19, 30 and 22, respectively. These disproportionate rates mirror the HIV epidemic in the general US population. Rates among other categories of sailors and marines may not be reliable due to small numbers of cases.

Approximately 521 HIV positive sailors (442) and marines (79) were on active duty at the end of 2007.

521 personnel out of a Navy of over 341,000. That's 0.1% of the entire force. I'm still waiting for the epidemic that Prune Lips keeps harping about.

HIV is just one more strawman propped up by troglodytes whose entire argument is, "But gays are ICKY!" I'm sick to death of this shit; every time I hear it I just want to go on a 16-state killing spree.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

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by: Keori @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 18:19:55 PM CST

Face it, Spain is more professional than the US Armed Forces.

At least according to american right wingers.

Spain has gays and Lesbians in its' armed forces. No problems, and they have been in combat.

Apparently US forces just cannot handle change the way that Spanish forces can

The Radical Right had best hope that Spain not decide to unleash it's angry Lesbian Special Operations units on the US to even the score for a nasty little war in the late 1890's

I tell you Chica that no greater abomination exists than women denying their spirit of sisterhood and instead becoming the oppressor. -Rebeca, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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by: MauraHennessey @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 18:30:56 PM CST

Commentary in Red

It always was in red.

When I first came across this homophobic diatribe and wrote a story about it soon after very early Sunday morning on my blog LGBT Rainbow Links, it was in red then.

Pam was one of several bloggers/writers whom I emailed and were good enough to do a writeup on this travesty of providing a gay basher a credible soapbox to stand on via WOAI-TV.

But as another commentor mentioned, at least the MSNBC RSS feed from WOAI-TV to the "commentary" has come to an end.

As long as that "commentary" continues I will be covering it.

Guess it going to be a very long three weeks.


Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar. - Edward R Murrow

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by: Lyndon @ Tue Feb 17, 2009 at 19:28:48 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Interestingly

WOAI made a change & now the word "comment" is in bright red bold letters.

I believe msnbc may have taken it down finally (link from this site brings up and error page).

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by: ggw59 @ Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 21:13:54 PM CST