World
U.S. Military To Gay Soldiers: You're Only Good For Wartime
By Staff
Sep 14, 2005, 11:44

American military documents have been uncovered that outline a procedure for delaying a gay soldier's military discharge until after they have participated in "active duty" for the United States. In other words, known gay soldiers who are not good enough for the U.S. military are more than acceptable to fight for their country in a time of war.

The document was released by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM) on Tuesday. According to 365gay.com the document was discovered by accident during research for a story being prepared for the American television network, ABC.

It has been a well known public secret that the American military's policy on gay recruits and personnel is 'don't ask, don't tell'. If a person's homosexuality is made public, that person will be 'discharged for homosexual conduct' from the military.

Despite the U.S. military's continued denial of such a regulation, the 1999 edition of the "Reserve Component Unit Commander's Handbook" clearly states if a person who is gay is awaiting official discharge from the military because of his or her sexuality and the country is involved in a war or conflict at the time, that discharge will not be authorized and the "member will enter active duty with the unit."

The Pentagon also continues to deny that their policy is to send known gays to war or conflict at a time when recruit levels are dwindling but there are countless reports by gay soldiers and activists that known gays are regularly sent into combat situations only to be discharged upon completion of their theatre rotation, a practice which is backed up by military discharge records.

A study released in May of this year by the Congressional Research Service admitted that the discharge of known gays do decline during wartime but goes on to qualify that by explaining that the declines are a result of "random fluctuations in the data" and not an official policy that retains gays during wars and conflicts.

It should be noted that the general American policy on gays not being welcome in the United States military is self-defeating. As reported by a UCLA study, the U.S. military could increase their personnel numbers by as much as 41,000 members if the gay ban was lifted.


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