'Bring back DADT' post: Personal update. See below

This homosexuality question is a manner of how other soldiers perceive DADT. It's all debatable. However, real world implications come into play here. For example, the Governor of Oklahoma wants to deny spousal benefits to ALL soldiers, simply because it would include allowing benefits to gay couples as well!
This woman defied a Presidential decree because of her hatred of gays. And is this something that should be tolerated? Seriously?

"Oklahoma law is clear. The state of Oklahoma does not recognize same-sex marriages, nor does it confer marriage benefits to same-sex couples. The decision reached today allows the National Guard to obey Oklahoma law without violating federal rules or policies. It protects the integrity of our state constitution and sends a message to the federal government that they cannot simply ignore our laws or the will of the people."

Ridiculous!

On one hand I do agree that PDA is inappropriate regardless of sexuality. Same as E4s and below or 1st and 2nd LTs not giving proper respect to their seniors. And soldiers reeking of alcohol in PT formation or soldiers smoking and walking or talking on their cell phone while walking.
should we make it that you always attend Military Balls and other functions alone without your spouse? That you have no pictures of your spouse or family displayed in your office? That when referring to your spouse with other service members you refer to him/her as "Your roommate"? Because if you are not doing just that then you are bringing a double standard into the discussion.

What if you have a subordinate service member that comes to you as their leader that is having problems? Say that their "Roommate" was injured or killed and needed time off work? Are you saying that they cannot talk to you about it because their "Roommate" is of the same sex that they are?

We are Non-Commissioned Officers, Professionals and Leaders. We need to remember that you will be fair and impartial in our leadership. Also remember that, Just like Facebook, what we post on here can have lasting effects. At some point in our careers we will have a soldiers and sailors as subordinates that will be LGBT. You have to present ourselves in a manner that our soldier/sailor can come to us about anything and feel that they can respect us and have confidence in us and that they can trust us. We may also have a someone in our NCO Support Chain that is LGBT and we will have to interact with them in a professional manner that does not denote a prejudice or a bias so that they can have faith in our abilities as leaders.

It takes a lot to correct yourself like that on a public forum. It says quite a lot about your character. Hooyah, and great job.

A Soldier's sexual orientation does not in the least bit define their competency in terms of their job, their physical fitness or overall knowledge. To waste time on even thinking of bring back a protocol of such disguised discrimination shows the lack of the ability to prioritize in today military and every other aspect of this world. As the analogy goes, "We have bigger fish to fry."

Why does any of this even matter? I dont care if my guys are gay, straight, confused...whatever... I just expect the work to get done, the equipment to get fixed, and no one gets shocked or hurt. Thats all i care about and everyone else should be the same way. We are here to serve, not to sit our a**es down and waste time deliberating on meaningless issues. There are bigger problems in the armed forces....budgets...broken ships..overspending on ridiculous items of the poorest quality..sexual assault..DUI... THOSE are issues.

No, DADT was a poorly conceived compromise. It should never have been within the military's purview to control in any way the private speech or actions of service members, especially during their off-duty time. If you can participate in KKK Clan demonstrations and belong to clearly offensive and destructive organizations then there is no justifiable reason to discriminate against sexual identities.

First, homosexuality was never illegal under DADT, only the open display or declaration of sexual preference. A soldier was well within their right to march in an LGB pride parade during DADT so long as they did not declare their personal sexual preference publicly or leave evidence (photographs, videos, partners/witnesses willing to testify) of their sexuality. In fact I have inspected rooms of soldiers with gay porn in their lockers that a platoon sergeant wanted to use to expel the soldier but of course nothing about possession proves anything about sexuality logically or under DADT.

Second, DADT led to an atmosphere of fear for those that were gay and misinformation for those that weren't. For many, the knowledge that their battle buddy was gay could become a burden. Regulation (until close to the end of the policy) dictated if you witnessed a soldier performing homosexual acts or publicly declaring there homosexuality you were to report them. What kind of unit cohesion can you have if a person is forced to guard every word or action when it is a core part of their identity? Regulations like this instead lead to contempt for authority because many simply will not follow the rules they disagree with and human psychology tends to correlate and generalize.

Finally, public demonstrations in uniform without command approval and support are wrong. Period. I would go even farther and say that commands should not support or approve service members participating while in uniform in any kind of political demonstration, rally, parade, etc... On the other hand, the picture on this post shows service members not in their uniform but in t-shirts that display their service affiliations (most services allow the wear of the PT shirt in civilian attire). This is simply a part of their identity, just like it is for any other service member.

DADT needed to be repealed for purely constitutional reasons, never mind the many periphery issues. I do not support forcing any ideology on anyone and I don't believe that sexual preference deserves to be a protected class, but neither should religious artifacts in our social and political system be allowed to influence the policy of the military or our society.

This discussion needs more cow bell.

I don't belive we should "bring back" the Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but rather the policy name should change to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Care!" From a military standpoint, I do not care if one is heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or try-sexual. Ask yourself these three simple questions: Can he/she do their job? Will their preference slow me down? Is the sexual preference impeding their ability to get the job done? If you answered YES, NO and NO, then move out and draw fire!

I am really surprised that people are still viewing homosexuality as a "choice." I am heterosexual, but never thought of it as a "choice". It just is what it is. If there was an on/off switch for this, I highly doubt gay teenagers would be committing suicide every year over this "choice".
I admit that I have struggled to understand "gay pride", though. I don't have a "hetero pride". But I'm trying to learn.
In every unit I have been in, everybody just kind of knew who was gay, anyway. The whole "don't ask, don't tell" thing never really mattered. Some of the best, most proficient soldiers I knew just happened to be gay. I mean, shouldn't competency count more than someone's sexuality anyway?
Affairs happen on the daily in the military...where is the outrage in that? There is none, as long as it's between a male and a female. Yet, having an affair is most definitely a sexual choice. And since you referenced Sodom and Gomorrah, religious influence plays a part in your assessment. So, what of the other "evils" service-members indulge in? And maybe my view is skewed because female soldiers, in my experience, don't care about whether another soldier is a lesbian, as long as she pulls her weight.

There is no Choice there, it just is. You would not be able to make a choice to change your orientation the same way I cannot, one of the reasons that so called gay conversion therapy is a farce and discredited by every medical and mental health organization in the country.