This is truly great news for America. There will be no weakening of our military due to the repeal of this policy. The weakening of the military will come from budget cuts. Also, congrats to Lady Gaga for getting this done when the House and Senate couldn't get together on this.

The dems just love to label everyone one way or another----it's sex...so what, keep it to yourself and private, the way sex is supposed to be---this is rediculous. And they wonder why we threw them out!

Don't Ask' repeal -- what next?

The onslaught of lawyers preparing suit for hostile work place ,sexual harassment, etc.. along with a good share of separate living space for homosexual men and , homosexual women.

Lawyer$ are going to love this, there are so many arguments to make and hours to bill that they won't be able to leave it alone. The first time some man or woman decides that being made to live with people who see them as potential sex partners, is a violation of their rights to be free from a "ho$tile work place" will open up the whole can of worm$. Every workforce sexual harassment rule that now exists ,and every gender equity regulation that now applies will now be open to be redefined and applied to an entirely different set of circumstances.

Insurance companies on the other hand will not be very pleased with it.(but their Lawyer$ will love it any way)

Glad all of you are so happy.

Gay people in the military (the smart ones are not).

All this is going to do is cost millions and cause serious resentment against gays in the military.

DADT was a gay soldiers best friend.

Now, the ones stupid enough to come out will be shunned, harassed, passed up for promotion, and shipped

out to places they never really wanted to go to.

Bad part is, the gay people I worked with in the military (who we knew were gay) are scared because

even if they keep mum, they are afraid their counterparts will rat them out for not "getting with the program".

You people just wished for and got your wish.

A Pandoras Box of hell for gays trying to make a career.

Good job!

You sympathizers are OVERSTATING how many homos are in the military, and how important they are. FACT: They carry diseases akin to drug addicts and ARE PROHIBITED from donationg blood because of those diseases they are prone to get and transmit.

They are DISCHARGED becuase we don't allow male and female soldiers to live in the same rooms, so we can't allow homos to room with NON-HOMOS for the VERY SAME REASON. It will kill morale.

It is NOT NOW NOR HAS IT EVER BEEN A MATTER OF CIVIL RIGHTS. We don;t allow handicapped, criminals, drug adicts, mentally ill, etc to serve as it NOT a matter simply of wanting to server, it's a matter of being QUALIFIED. Homos DISQUALIFY themselves becuase of their BEHAVIOR AND HYGIENE.

If a homo is bleeding on the battlefield and we have to carry him, and be exposed to his blood, and the DISEASES it may carry, we don't HAVE TIME TO PUT ON LATEX GLOVES to avoid the blood born diseases, so we now HAVE THEM RISKING OUR LIVES BECUASE 'THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO SERVE'. And THEY ALSO BY LAW DO NOT HAVE TO TELL YOU THEY HAVE AIDS.

ISn't that a FACT GOTIT???

The reality is, however, that under the more stringent guidelines for enforcement of the law implemented in October, there have been no servicemembers discharged from the military. So it would be unlikely that anyone would be forced out of the military during the certification process.

encouragement to be vocal, disregard the counsel from the military, obey your civilian obligations to the cause first? lol

That will sure bring all the service personel home quicker (sarcasism).

Since we're all throwing things down as fact, I would like to direct attention to scientific research and several reliable surveys:

From an article in a leading primatology journal:

In- sofar as nature is often the popular criteria for crafting moral and social policies (Boswell, 1980; Weinrich, 1980; Haraway, 1989; "l]~avis and Yeager, 1991), one might be left with the impression that homosexual behavior is a recent abnormality unique to humans, and thus outside natural order. Nevertheless, there exists robust evidence that homosexual behavior, and by extension, other nonreproductive sexual behaviors, are the products of a long evolutionary history that occurred independent of human culture. While ho- mosexual behavior is widespread among our primate relatives, aggression specifically directed toward individuals that engage in it appears to be a uniquely human invention.

full text here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/t18t2213605303j7/fulltext.pdf

CBS news poll (margin of error is only about 3%):

Forty-two percent of Americans now say same sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds. That's up nine points from last month, when 33 percent supported legalizing same sex marriage.

Support for same sex marriage is now at its highest point since CBS News starting asking about it in 2004.

Twenty-eight percent say same sex couples should have no legal recognition – down from 35 percent in March – while 25 percent support civil unions, but not marriage, for gay couples.

full article here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-4972643-503544.html

harvardcrcl:

Across a variety of questions, over 70% of servicemembers surveyed believed that repealing DADT would affect unit cohesion positively, equally positively and negatively, or not at all. Less than 30% of those surveyed believed that it would affect unit cohesion negatively or very negatively. Most questions related to social cohesion were also 70% or more in neutral or positive categories. The low point in the category was a question asking how a repeal of DADT would affect how service members trust each other within a unit, to which 66.9% of responders expect neutral or positive effects.

full text here: http://harvardcrcl.org/2010/11/30/pentagon-publishes-survey-supporting-dadt-repeal/

And while the above text does cite the difference between current/recent combat troop opinions, it is also expressed that a majority of the people involved (whether by small or large margin) predict a neutral to positive outcome.

You can also find the official results of the Work Group study here: http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2010/0610_gatesdadt/DADTReport_FINAL_20101130(secure-hires).pdf

I think that perhaps instead of flinging our personal views around, maybe scientific review, pointed studies and surveys of directly affected groups (with a margin of error being +/- 1%) should be considered first.

What's next?

The same as seeing what else the Dems are going to cram down our throats the next two weeks.

Bend over and smile!!!

Sorry gay people, dont want you anywhere near me in combat, thank GOD im out of military service now and cant call me back up. I want to know the percentage in combat arms that thinks that this is a good idea. Im betting very few. Sure dont care if a MOE supply clerk gives me a blanket, but dont want dome DEGENERATE with unstable feelings, am i a man or a woman, firing rounds down range next to me.

The DADT repeal is nice, but it is like the 13th Amendment. It is symbolic.

The DADT repeal merely affirms what gay persons have already been conferred with by their "Creator".

Equality. God gives it to us and the Constitution merely chronicles that fact. The Constitution confers no rights that the "Creator" hasn't already.

Gay people should have all of the "inalienable" rights conferred them by God. Our Constitution says that. You right wing ding-a-lings and pseudo-patriots ought to bother reading some of it sometime. "Real" Americans like we Liberals love our country, and we don't hop around screaming with guns on our hips and tea bags stapled to our heads.

You connies need to start caring more about this country instead of yourselves. You need to start saying "What can I do to help" instead of "How much can I get"?

 While they have the votes, might wanta repeat another Clinton policy,

that Eeeee-Villee Defense of Marriage Act, I mean what goods joining the Navy

if you can't marry your Shipmate?

and oh yeah, theres that bigoted ban on Gays donating Blood, you know, cause some

spoil sport might get the Hivie or Hep C.  OK, its not really a ban on "Gays" just men who've

had sex with men(even once!:) since January 1st 1977

The argument against repealing DADT is always an interesting one focusing on unit cohesion and combat effectiveness. Like there is some fear that if gay and lesbian service members will suddenly go dye their camis pink and hit the front lines or that gay men will flagrantly flaunt their sexual orientation while showering with straight men by standing and staring or propositioning themselves. That somehow being homosexual will infect the mind of a squad mate and that soldier will no longer be able to funtction because "the gay" is always on his mind or how could he possibly trust that queer to have his back if the bullets start flying?

These arguments are absurd and missing the point completely.

While the military has taken amazing strides to improve health care and quality of life for it's service members none of this has been able to reach a significant portion of service members. The problem is that the military is not a democracy. EVERYONE is a significant member and there is no majority rule. As such, policies that are put in place should reflect TRUTH not sensitivity towards a group of homophobic men. What does it matter if the person looking down his sights next to you is gay? It doesn't.

What matters is when these soldiers come back home. It's cruel and inhuman to tell one of those two that they should go home and have a nice R&R time with their family because they have done such an outstanding job protecting the US's interests abroad. Only then to turn to the other soldier and tell him that if he dares show himself holding his husband's hand around his friends that he has fought and suffered for he will be discharged for doing nothing more than having a loving and heartfelt relationship with another man.

To then preach about honor, courage, commitment, loyalty, and integrity is nothing more than hypocrisy. Repealing DADT is a milestone for the military, a milestone that the rest of the country set decades ago. It's about time the military caught up to the rest of the country.

I am so sick of this. Why do you think you have to tell everyone that you are gay anyway. Most people don't care and don't want to know. Our government has much more important things to be working on, than making gay people feel good. If you want to server then serve if you don't then don't, why do you need to have the world know you are gay and in the military. Let me say it again, no one cares!!!!! Do your job and shut up. It makes me sick that my children have to grow up in a country that cares more about how gay people feel than they do about God, the jobless rate, the dept, the environment and energy situation. This atheist president makes me sick and so do all the gay crybabys that are wasting our governments time. One more time, shut up, no one cares!!!!

*********FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND IMPLEMENTATION**********

With the repeal of DADT, all liberal redistributionists may immediately resume using derogatory alternative lifestyle references when discussing or adressing Conservative Patriots.

Signed

D. Axelrod

Minister of Propaganda

Finally!

For those whining about the repeal, well live with it. You say it was working? Well it denied gay people the rights to live their lives like others in the military. It kept many kids from joining because they had to give up so much more than the straight soldiers. And how many were discharged and lost everything because they just wanted to serve and live their lives.

You people don't get it because you can't step outside your programming and do not have the capacity to see the reality of how it affects others that are not you.

For the nitwits or homophobics who talk as if they are the voice of the military, and know so much, you look like idiots to many "thinking" conservatives and the rest. You are a relic, and you are going to fade into the past just like this terrible legislation.

Hats off to those who supported trashing this crappy legislation! Congrats and a salute to Gays that did join and serve in the face of this terrible legislation, which DID take away your common rights. While straight people did not have to worry about their home life in the military, because they could have a wife of husband and live normally, you had to hide.

You deserve our sincerest congratulations for still serving us and defending us while faced with this.

Thank you!

  This is a major victory for all those that hate America.  The pieces are being put together so that the military will collapse.  The law is in place, next will come the lawsuits, and then the vast expenses the taxpayers will be forced to fund for housing, medical,etc., and finally the bankruptcy of our military.   Like Rome we will be forced to 'buy' soldiers.

As a Vietnam vet and an American citizen I am delighted that DADT was repealed – about friggin’ time. I am under no illusions and the road ahead will be difficult as folks on all sides adjust to a changing reality.

There will be blow-back from some and trouble from others just as there was when the armed services became integrated. Bias, bigotry, and ignorance does not vanish at the stroke of a pen but in the end the mission will prevail.

The repeal of DADT is neither the end of the world nor is it the dawning of a new nirvana – it is simply changing the page in the evolving story we write about ourselves as we continue to define ourselves as a people and a nation.

ORIGINALLY POSTED FROM SAME BLOGGER ON 08 JULY AND 12 NOVEMBER 2010, RESPECTFULLY:

08 JULY 2010

"I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Oath of Enlistment. This Is the oath that myself, my mother, my father and my brothers, and many of the bloggers who are veterans took to serve in this Nations' Armed Forces. Almost as old as the Constitution, this oath is required to be taken by anyone who wants to join the military by federal law.

Let me ask those that have served, how did you feel when you took it? How did you feel when you knew that you were joining something that was larger than yourself, that people before you, who have fought and died, have taken the same oath, both during times of peace and war? If you're like me, you still remember how sacred it felt, how honored, humbled, and proud when you uttered those words, and whether you are joining up, still serving, or are getting out of the military, you still live by it, and anyone who has spoke the same words, regardless of branch of service, they were your brother and sister in arms, and you never felt so much pride being in such company.

What did you give to say those words? What price did you pay? If you're like me, nothing.

However, We are asking/telling/demanding people, who are not like you, because of their sexual orientation, to lie, cover up, hide, deny, and sit/serve in silence, what they are in order to take that oath that you and I were so willing to say without cost of who you are. Some have paid that steep price, in order to serve our country, and wear the uniforms of our military. But it's not pride that they wear it in, they wear it in shame and dishonor because they cannot be truthful about who or what they are, and if they do speak out, they risk ending their career.

To the LGBTs, this is akin to Faust's deal with the Devil.

Regardless of how you may feel personally, deep down inside, CONSTITUTIONALLY, DADT must be RE-PEALED."

12 NOVEMBER 2010

"Do I believe that we choose our lifestyles? Yes I do, and you choose whether or not you want to be LGBT or straight. IMHO, THAT IS A CHOICE A PERSON MAKES, and we have no right to impose our views or ethics on another.

I'm an African American. Does that mean that LGBT person's struggle for Civil Rights is the same as mine? No; but do we share some parallels? Yes, we do.

I'm also a Christian, and the Bible teaches me that acts of Homosexuality is a sin, but I am also mindful of a couple of things that the Bible teaches me: You LOVE your fellow man as you would yourself, and that you pray for the sinner, NOT THE SIN!!!!

I'm also a Veteran. Eight years did I serve in the U.S Army, and like some of the veterans that have posted on here, I swore an Oath to defend the Constitution, and to this day, even though I no longer wear the uniform, I still defend the rights of those that are not being protected.

So I ask you: How can you swear to defend the rights of many when you will not defend, or rather, REFUSE to acknowledge the rights of those that are different to you? How can you defend the right for people to worship as they see fit when you condemn the religion of someone who prays to God DIFFERENTLY than you?

The answer is simple: YOU CAN'T!!!"

In short, the re-peal of DADT has to be seen as a daybreak of liberty, justice and equality for those that had to endure the nightmare of blackmail and silence.

"SCIENCE says homosexuality is a mental issue. It was that way and was treated that way until the sodomoy lobby was able to get it excluded as a mental issue abd treated it as though it was a genetic issue."

Homosexuality was excluded from the DSM in 1986. People of SCIENCE had it excluded as there was no SCIENCE to back up the claim that it was a mental disorder. Show the scientific evidence that it is a mental disorder. You can't because there isn't any credible scientific evidence that it is.

"That's A LIE, there is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that it is GENETIC. NO CREADIBLE EVIDENCE THAT IS, A HOMO WILL LIE ABOUT ANYTHING, SO IF THEY POST SOMETHING HERE, REQUIRE THEY POST THE LEGITAMATE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE."

How about you back up your own claims first?

Cold HARD facts, not CONJECTURE

DADT= This is a government coined acronym Which mean's Don't ask me if I've stolen all your money and I won't tell you I gave it to Afganistan.

Oh, by the way, Iam an not a fan of the Gay or Lesbian lifestyle, suffice it to say a Taliban or Iraqi bullet does not discriminate is kills all soldiers, sailors, and marines equally

I for one would not want to shower with someone that I knew as gay or even sleep in a tent with someone I knew as gay . I would not have a problem socializing with a gay person or having a meal with a gay person . Maybe all gays should be assigned to a gay unit . This may be a way to nip in the bud some of the problems this will cause .

AAAMAAAZING!!!!!

My father was with the 82d Airborne Division way back when they debated integrating black troops with white ones. You know, I pointed some of this crap here out to him & he told me that there must still be some of the same idiots around from back in his day trolling in a new cause these days since some of the same crap he heard back then is being spread around now, just saying "Gay" instead of "Black". Back then you could not even give blood from a black to a white or vice versa.

You know, he told me that he believed some of that crap for a while. Later once the blacks had been in his unit for a while they discovered there were more than a few fine soldiers amongst them. The others caused no more problems than any other random group of White soldiers that his unit had received while he was there.

In my own 10 years as a soldier I knew more than a few gays/lesbians in that time. None of them made it obvious or were obnoxious about it. As a matter of fact the ones I found annoying & obnoxious were the so-called "Macho men" who were always going around bragging about how many women they had bagged since their last brag-fest, often bragging about bagging some Other soldiers wife/girlfriend/daughter. THAT sure leads to good unit cohesion doesn't it? As far as the homosexuals that I've ever known as long as they kept their hands out of My pockets we got along & could easily work together.

Thank you Brianb 999433 I totally agree. This country wasted so much time and money on an issue that should be kept under the blanket wherever you are. Personally I think homosexuality if a recreational choice......and I think they flaunt it for attention. Can I ask Mr. President whom which I did not vote for......where are all the jobs for us? Hmmmm. While you sit there and create new laws for stupid things that don't need a law......your not even thinking about creating one job for me are you. You are a child sitting in a seat that is way too big for you.

There will be a gay pride fest on Ft. Dix, NJ Feb. 14, 2011.

More details coming.

I am simply astounded to read most of these comments. Hatred and Intolerance abounds against anyone who disagrees.