Rep. Frank: ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell' to be Repealed Next Year

About time that people get over their gay phobias.

If Frank is involved it cannot be good

When will this guy be voted out?

Then expression of religious preference should be permitted on military facilities. Keeping some things to one's self helps assure a neutral work environment. Dominance of one ideology over another in a work environment creates division and conflict. Any effort to favor one ideology over the other is discriminatory. The debate over this issue should not be had in the rank of our military. To do so is to open the struggle to empower one ideology over another.

Gays and lesbians have served our country well for a long, long time. There should be no barriers against them being who they are openly while they serve; their lives are good enough to offer for our country, so we should just be grateful they love their country and want to contribute.

I find it frustrating that everyone uses the military as a social engineering playground. To say that repealing this policy will just make everyone in the military suddenly accepting of gays and lesbian amongst our ranks. I have served with a Marine who was open about being gay, however for the most part was not vocal about. I was not sure if my command knew about his orientation, but I do no he completed at least one term of enlistment. He was for the most part an above average Marine.
It was an issue, however, when it came to finding Marines willing to share a barracks room with him. There were several Marines and friends who were willing to live with him. However you rarely get to choose who you live with in the barracks. At least one Marine I know of requested a room transfer because they felt uncomfortable. I knew that Marine as well. The two would work and get along just fine, the straight Marine was just uncomfortable living with a gay Marine.

I'm not going to make an asinine comment and think every gay male/female is going to be attracted and approach every member of their sex. Just like I don't become attracted and approach every member of the opposite sex. However the potential is still there. That is the reason why male and females still do not share barracks rooms. We even for the most part have sleeping birthing areas in combat zones.

To force the military to intergrate in that respect violates our rights to feel resonably comfortable in our places of living. I know I'll catch flack for this analogy but here goes: Everyone who wants forced intergration into the military should have a reformed sex-offender placed in their home. Its the same level of uncomfortable atomosphere that this will create.

next year? arn't elections next year? how convenient!

I am a retired military member and even though I am a conservative, I supported Clinton's Don't ask, don't tell policy. I think many people really don't realize what the policy entails. Don't ask don't tell simply put, required tha the military stop asking a potential member if they were gay or lesbian. In return, the member, even if they were gay or lesbian could serve our country with the same honor and pride as everyone else. In return, the rule specified that while serving in the military, the individual was to take no action that would indicate to thier fellow servicemen and women that they were gay or lesbian. In other words, thye were not to disclose their sexual orientation and were not to pursue a gay or lesbian lifestyle while serving in the military. To do so, would be a violation of the UCMJ.

What MR Frank is proposing is that the barrier that has been established to allow gays to serve their country without adversly affecting the moral of the men and women they serve with be disbanned. In most cases, men and women are not forced to share quarters in the military, straights and gays should not be forced to do so either. With the enactment of this law, is Mr Frank willing to provide the monetary means for the military to establish 4 sets of living quarters on each base instead of two? Fours sets of showers and latrines? Or as happens routinely in Washington, are the rights and feeling of the majority going to once again be sacrificed for the few?

Leave the current rule alone !! It is the best possible solution to the situation.

Nothing like a politician who sexual attraction is his only motivation. Why does he do stupid stuff like this?

When you are gay that means you are sexually attracted to the members of the same sex. So, if you have gay people serving in the military and sharing the same living space with the sex they are attracted to, what is the difference between that and allowing members of the opposite sex to share living quarters including bathrooms and showers? By sexual preference THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL!! So, if you support allowing gay people in the military than by definition you should support men and women sharing the same living quarters.

"""About time that people get over their gay phobias.""""

Posted by: Rick McDaniel

Via "forced integration"? Are you serious?

"""Gays and lesbians have served our country well for a long, long time. There should be no barriers against them being who they are openly while they serve; their lives are good enough to offer for our country, so we should just be grateful they love their country and want to contribute. """"

Posted by: Laura

Why do I need to know their sexual preferences? I don't run around to every gay proclaiming my "straightness". They can join all they want, just keep the private life where it belongs.

Rwraith --- They don't let straight men shower with women, why should a gay man be allowed to shower with those he may be attracted to? It's not a phobia, it's a fact. I was in 20+ years and never had a problem with gays and kneew several of them. Barney Franks is doing what many gays do and that is climb on a soapbox. Well Barney, we know you're gay and against this policy. If you think straight people will accept your way of life as normal, please stop now and quit trying. We can tolerate and this policy allows for that.

Laura -"Gays and lesbians have served our country well for a long, long time. There should be no barriers against them being who they are openly while they serve;"------
Okay Laura, lets take your statement at face value and turn it around a bit. lets assume that you are a proud member of our armed forces who happens to be femail. I am also a proud member of our armed forces who happens to be a chauvinistic womanizer in my private life. Using your statement about being allowed to be open while serving my country... I should be allowed to demand that not only do we serve together, but that we need to share showers and sleeping quarters on a regular basis. The fact that I might ogle you, proposition you, shed clothes in front of you or view you in the most personal of settings should be MY RIGHT and what you think of it should not matter. Is this what you are saying???

When I say that gays should be able to serve openly, I mean that they should be able to have a personal life like any straight person, go on dates, etc., without fear of getting discharged. I'm not saying they have the right to harass people. I understand the concerns that are being expressed here in regards to living situations and privacy. That is a very interesting point, and I have no clear answer for that. The truth is there are already gays shedding their clothes and taking showers with everybody else.

Well we already have hederosexual assault in the military, might as well complete the circle... Who cares... (That is until there is a draft...)

Why do those of the Gay persuasion feel the need to drag their personal, intimate lives out into the public eye?
I am heterosexual, yet I do not feel the need to speak out about it...and just one question for the good people of Massachusetts..WHY do you keep voting Barney back in?? I would think bby now he would be a major embarassment for your state...his ties to the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae debacle...his former lover/roomate who ran a prostiution ring out of Franks home ( But Barney SWORE he knew nothing about it...mmmhmm)...get a grip folks...he's a CROOK

I have no problem with gays, until they think they need special status......I do have a problem with idiots like Barney Frank.....He flat needs to be gone from congress....."Frank stated in 2003, "These two entities...are not facing any kind of financial crisis.... The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."[51] - wikipedia