McCain: Homosexuals risk harming America's military

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McCain: Homosexuals risk harming America's military

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I suppose freedom and liberty in America only extends itself to heterosexuals.  Even those willing to serve in America's blood-for-oil wars.  This man should be ashamed of himself.  This is not leadership. 

- The Angryindian

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From Intelligentaindiena: 

I suspect it’s difficult for supporters of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to come up with a rationale for their position. Take John McCain, for example.

In an April 16 letter to Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network (SLDN), McCain says the law, passed in 1993, “unambiguously
maintains that open homosexuality within the military services presents
an intolerable risk to morale, cohesion and discipline.” Senator McCain
goes on to incorrectly assert that the U.S. Supreme Court “has ruled
that the military may constitutionally discharge a service member for
overt homosexual behavior.” […]

“Most importantly, the national security of the United States, not
to mention the lives of our men and women in uniform, are put at grave
risk by policies detrimental to the good order and discipline which so
distinguish America’s Armed Services.”

This is breathtakingly dumb and is the latest evidence of just how far McCain has slipped into “crazy base world.”

First, McCain cites a Supreme Court ruling that doesn’t exist.
Strike one. Second, McCain calls gays an “intolerable risk” to military
morale, cohesion, and discipline. Really? According to a recent Zogby
poll of active personnel, 73% of military members say they are comfortable
around lesbians and gays. For that matter, more than one in five U.S.
troops already knows a gay person in their unit, including combat
units. So where’s the “intolerable risk”? Strike two.

Third, McCain emphasizes “national security” as a rationalization
for discrimination. In what way, exactly, does it improve our national
security for, say, Bleu Copas, a decorated sergeant and Arabic language
specialist who joined the Army after the 9/11 attacks, to be thrown out
of the military for being gay, despite his role in helping translate
intercepted messages from possible terrorists? Are we more or less safe
with Copas as a civilian? Strike three.