<tt id="6hsgl"><pre id="6hsgl"><pre id="6hsgl"></pre></pre></tt>
          <nav id="6hsgl"><th id="6hsgl"></th></nav>
          国产免费网站看v片元遮挡,一亚洲一区二区中文字幕,波多野结衣一区二区免费视频,天天色综网,久久综合给合久久狠狠狠,男人的天堂av一二三区,午夜福利看片在线观看,亚洲中文字幕在线无码一区二区
            Home>News Center>Life
                   
           

          Gay US soldier wants to serve openly
          (Agencies)
          Updated: 2005-04-08 11:51

          An Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq wants a chance to remain in the military as an openly gay soldier, a desire that's bringing him into conflict with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.


          Undated photo provided by Army Sgt. Robert Stout showing Stout with his Purple Heart and Certificate. Stout, a decorated officer who was wounded in Iraq is campaigning for the chance to serve as an openly gay soldier in the military, a cause that has attracted the attention of gay advocates and once again put the issue on the government's doorstep. Stout, 23, says he would re-enlist in the military if it wasn't for the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, which permits gay men and women to serve in the armed forces if they keep their sexual orientation to themselves and abstain from homosexual activity. [AP]

          Sgt. Robert Stout, 23, says he has not encountered trouble from fellow soldiers and would like to stay if not for the policy that permits gay men and women to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret.

          "I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if they could just be open," Stout said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But if we have to stay here and hide our lives all the time, it's just not worth it."

          Stout, of Utica, Ohio, was awarded the Purple Heart after a grenade sent pieces of shrapnel into his arm, face and legs while he was operating a machine gun on an armored Humvee last May. 

          He is believed to be the first gay soldier wounded in Iraq to publicly discuss his sexuality, said Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

          "We can't keep hiding the fact that there's gay people in the military and they aren't causing any harm," said Stout, who says he is openly gay among most of his 26-member platoon, which is part of the 9th Engineer Battalion based in Schweinfurt, Germany.

          Stout, who served in Iraq for more than a year as a combat engineer, said by acknowledging he is gay, he could be jailed and probably will be discharged before his scheduled release date of May 31.

          "The old armchair thought that gay people destroy unit camaraderie and cohesion is just wrong," Stout said. "They said the same things when they tried to integrate African-Americans and women into the military."

          Before the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, enacted in 1993 under the Clinton administration, the Pentagon had explicitly barred gays from military service. At least 24 countries, including Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Canada and Israel, allow gays to serve openly.

          In an e-mail following the AP interview, Stout said he had been ordered not to speak to the media. "I guess they found out somehow that I was talking to the press and now they are having a fit. I will try to get everything straightened out," Stout wrote.

          Martha Rudd, a spokeswoman for the Army at the Pentagon, said soldiers who are discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" typically receive honorable discharges, although the timing would be up to the individual's commanding officer. She declined to comment about Stout, saying the Army doesn't comment on specific cases.

          The issue of whether gays should be allowed to openly serve in the military has received increased attention in recent months as the Army has struggled to meet its recruiting goals. Twelve gays expelled from the military sued the government in December, citing a Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional state laws against homosexual sex.

          The Bush administration has asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit.

          Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey has said he opposes changing the policy, although Pentagon figures show a sharp decline in the number of U.S. military members discharged for making it known they are homosexual, falling from 1,227 in 2001 to 653 last year.

          A recent congressional study on the impact of "don't ask, don't tell" said that hundreds of highly skilled troops, including many translators, have left the armed forces because of the rule, at a cost of nearly $200 million, mostly for recruiting and training replacements for 9,500 troops discharged between 1994 and 2003.

          Gary Gates, a statistician at the University of California at Los Angeles, estimates there are about 65,000 gays and lesbians currently serving in the military, accounting for about 2.8 percent of all personnel. He estimates that at least 25 gay soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

          Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a conservative advocacy group that opposes gays serving in the military, said a better way to avoid the cost of replacing soldiers who are discharged for being gay is to make it very clear to people who enlist in the military, including Stout, that they are ineligible to serve if they are gay.

          "I honor and respect his service to this country, but the fact that he's wounded really doesn't change the underlying fact. ... He is not eligible to serve," Donnelly said, adding that there are many reasons why people aren't eligible to serve. "This is just one of them."

          Stout said he suspected while in high school that he was gay but didn't acknowledge it until later. "Then I noticed that it wasn't a phase or anything. This is me," said Stout, who enlisted in the Army after graduating in 2000.

          "The 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, when it first came out, was a good stepping stone, but it's outlived its usefulness," he said. "We've progressed past it both as a military and as a society."

          Recent media polls indicate some increased public acceptance for allowing gays to serve openly in the military, with more than six in 10 Americans supporting the idea while about half supported it a decade ago. An Annenberg poll taken last fall among members of the military showed a majority opposed to such service, though half of junior enlisted personnel said gays should be allowed to serve openly.



          Has the deceased Pope been embalmed?
          Cameron Diaz takes a tumble
          Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton boozing again
            Today's Top News     Top Life News
           

          FM rebuts US threat of economic sanctions

           

             
           

          Poll: American views on China improving

           

             
           

          EU guide on textiles 'violates WTO rule'

           

             
           

          Tough task ahead to curb speculation

           

             
           

          Boeing says insulation blankets 'no problem'

           

             
           

          Beijing to see electricity price hike

           

             
            Gay US soldier wants to serve openly
             
            Jackson performs oral sex on boy: Guard
             
            Paralyzed panda in good care
             
            Jay Chow, DaoLang compete for media nods
             
            Body in 'wife murder' case to be exhumed
             
            Charles and Camilla form royal 'Brady Bunch' family
             
           
            Go to Another Section  
           
           
            Story Tools  
             
            Feature  
            1/3 Chinese youth condone premarital sex  
          Advertisement
                   
          主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲综合精品香蕉久久网| 国产粉嫩美女一区二区三| 午夜精品福利亚洲国产| 伊大人香蕉久久网欧美| 四虎国产精品永久在线| 精品国产精品国产偷麻豆| 国产亚洲一区二区三区四区| 99热精品国产三级在线观看| 国产乱码精品一区二三区| 三上悠亚精品二区在线观看| 好大好硬好深好爽想要20p| 成人午夜大片免费看爽爽爽 | 《特殊的精油按摩》3| 97人妻免费碰视频碰免| 毛片无遮挡高清免费| 亚洲一卡2卡3卡4卡 精品| 亚洲深夜精品在线观看| 野花韩国电影免费观看在线| 日本中文一二区有码在线| 91热国内精品永久免费观看| 久久国内精品一区二区三区| 成人国产精品中文字幕| 久久综合给合久久狠狠狠| 亚洲成精品动漫久久精久| 伊在人间香蕉最新视频| 免费无码一区二区三区蜜桃大| 国产99视频精品免费视频6| 中文字幕有码无码AV| 日韩精品人妻中文字幕有码视频| 99久久无码私人网站| 男按摩师舌头伸进去了电影| 亚洲av二区国产精品| 亚洲经典千人经典日产| 国产18禁一区二区三区| 91在线精品麻豆欧美在线| 亚洲国产精品国自拍av| 精品熟女少妇av免费观看| 国产精品综合av一区二区| 国产自偷亚洲精品页65页| 国产成人亚洲老熟女精品| 91青青草视频在线观看|