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A shabby way to treat gay soldiers

It seems the military doesn't want homosexuals in its ranks - unless they are nearing deployment. Then the policy shifts from "don't ask, don't tell," to "if told, don't listen."

The number of discharges for gay service members has fallen off substantially since 2001, with last year marking the lowest number in a decade. As reported in Reason magazine, part of the cause might be found in the military manual titled the Reserve Component Unit Commander's Handbook, which includes a regulation suspending the discharge of gay soldiers in those units about to be mobilized.

The military has vociferously objected to allowing gay soldiers to serve in the armed forces on the grounds that they undermine unit cohesion, which the military says is necessary for success on the battlefield. Yet when battle is imminent and recruiting is down, the military is apparently happy to look the other way.

U.S. Army spokesperson Kim Waldron explained it this way to the Washington Blade: "The bottom line is some people are using sexual orientation to avoid deployment. So in this case, with the Reserve and Guard forces, if a soldier "tells,' they still have to go to war and the homosexual issue is postponed until they return to the U.S. and the unit is demobilized."

We get it. First gay soldiers go overseas and serve their country, putting their lives on the line. Then if they survive and make it home, we boot them out.

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:18:14]