Cut and paste the link below to see the special report by Lesley Stahl on CBS.com.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4256733n
According to Stahl, one of Bill Clinton's proposed acts as president, 15 years ago, almost derailed his presidency when he proposed gay men and women to serve openly in the military. Instead the Military adopted a policy called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" where queers can serve as long as they remain in the closet. The Pentagon says it has been a success. But 1200 have been discharged under the policy.
Now something curious is happening, discharges of gay solders are dropping dramatically from over 1200 a year in 2001 to merely 600. With the military struggling to fight two wars, there are growing cause to repeal the policy. And retain soldiers. Gay soldiers claim that commanders are reluctant to discharge key personnel – even those openly gay nowadays - in the middle of a war, despite the policy. And some commanders could care less about sexual orientation. Commanders need them -- gay soliders who go above and beyond their duties to serve this country. They say it is about fighting and winning the nation wars, and allowing gays to serve openly could hurt unit cohesion, adding that military troops are conservative unit and serving openly gay could cause chaos and prevent the unit to bond during combat. The military top brass is out of touch with the troop. Many people think that gay can serve better when they are serving openly...and not hiding in the closet. The gays do belong in the military. Other gays of the other 15 NATO countries are serving openly. The culture of conservatism and macho-ness is still on-going within the US combat unit as well as sexism and racism. Recently, according to Stahl, some of them were discharged for making homosexual statement when they were interviewed by CBS last December, one of them had served two tours in the Iraq war and was recently given an honorable discharge.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4256733n
According to Stahl, one of Bill Clinton's proposed acts as president, 15 years ago, almost derailed his presidency when he proposed gay men and women to serve openly in the military. Instead the Military adopted a policy called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" where queers can serve as long as they remain in the closet. The Pentagon says it has been a success. But 1200 have been discharged under the policy.
Now something curious is happening, discharges of gay solders are dropping dramatically from over 1200 a year in 2001 to merely 600. With the military struggling to fight two wars, there are growing cause to repeal the policy. And retain soldiers. Gay soldiers claim that commanders are reluctant to discharge key personnel – even those openly gay nowadays - in the middle of a war, despite the policy. And some commanders could care less about sexual orientation. Commanders need them -- gay soliders who go above and beyond their duties to serve this country. They say it is about fighting and winning the nation wars, and allowing gays to serve openly could hurt unit cohesion, adding that military troops are conservative unit and serving openly gay could cause chaos and prevent the unit to bond during combat. The military top brass is out of touch with the troop. Many people think that gay can serve better when they are serving openly...and not hiding in the closet. The gays do belong in the military. Other gays of the other 15 NATO countries are serving openly. The culture of conservatism and macho-ness is still on-going within the US combat unit as well as sexism and racism. Recently, according to Stahl, some of them were discharged for making homosexual statement when they were interviewed by CBS last December, one of them had served two tours in the Iraq war and was recently given an honorable discharge.