Politics As Usual
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Tom Shine covers congressional politics for ABC News.
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"When I Joined the Navy, I Didn’t Know I Was Gay"
July 23, 2008 2:04 PM
Retired Navy Captain Joan E. Darrah says whenever the Admiral called her into his office she was 99.9 percent certain it was to discuss an operational issue, "BUT THERE WAS ALWAYS THAT FEAR IN THE BACK OF MY MIND THAT SOMEHOW I HAD BEEN OUTED AND THE ADMIRAL WAS CALLING ME IN TO TELL ME I WAS FIRED."
Darrah says by the time she realized she was gay, she was well into her Navy career and it was an exceptional one. But in the testimony that she plans to give to a House Armed Services subcommittee this afternoon, she says when a "smart, energetic, young person, who happens to be gay, asks me about joining the service, "I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT THEY DO NOT JOIN."
Retired Captain Joan E. Darrah wants "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" THROWN OUT!
She says, "We didn't let RACISM prevent us from integrating Blacks. We didn't let SEXISM prevent us from fully integrating women. We cannot let HOMOPHOBIA continue to prevent us from doing what is right now."
July 23, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (6)
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What a dumb story...how do you not know you are gay as an adult?
Posted by: evagal | Jul 23, 2008 2:35:20 PM
yeppers, the bush admin led the firing of gay military translaters.. so our intelligence forces were short handed in translating foreign messages.
how bright is that?
better dead than an employer of gay people
Posted by: trettione | Jul 23, 2008 2:47:21 PM
what does being gay have to do with being competent in your job especially to serve in our military. the logic behind this really is illogical. do homosexual not know how to control their urges are they that primative? Give me a break! how many heterosexual military people are incompetent. At the end of the day it does not matter your sexual preference - you are brave enough to protect our country and that in itself should be reason enough. what you do in your bedroom is your business not the military's, not your CO's, not the government, not your fellow service people. Let's turn on our brains and really think about this.
Posted by: rochester | Jul 23, 2008 3:09:34 PM
steve - is that right about John Edwards? Interesting. He could be BHO's VP choice.
Posted by: 2008voter | Jul 23, 2008 3:41:36 PM
What was the law before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" Wasn't it, "We Don't Want YOU!"? That's what I recall. So what happens if the law is struck down, back to the old one? I smell a Republican feast against homosexuals AGAIN as well as abortion in order to DISTRACT. IT IS! Come on people, stay on your toes, 'cause here it comes; the evil wedge issue, scapegoating, hate preaching, evil Republican Machine.
Posted by: irma | Jul 23, 2008 5:36:58 PM
Sully heterophobes!
Posted by: plover | Jul 24, 2008 1:28:29 PM
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