...Homosexuals in the Military Homosexuals have been excluded from our society since our country's beginning, giving them no equal protection underneath the large branch of the law. The Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to blacks from slavery in the 1800's and women were given the freedoms reserved for males in the early 1900's with the women's suffrage movement. But everyone still knows the underlying feeling of nation in dealing with minorities and women, one of contempt and utter disgust. Hate crimes are still perpetrated to this day in this country, and most are unpublicized and "swept underneath the rug." The general public is just now dealing with the struggle of Homosexuals to gain rights in America, although this persecution is subtle, quiet and rarely ever seen to the naked eye or the general public. The big question today in Homosexuals rights struggles are dealing with the right to be a part of our country's Military Forces. At the forefront of the struggle to gain access to the military has been Females who have tried to gain access to "All Men" facilities and have been pressured out by other cadets. This small group of women have fought hard, and pressured the Government to change regulations dealing with the inclusion of all people, whether female or male, and giving them all the same opportunities they deserve. The Homosexual struggle with our Nation's Armed Forces has been acquiring damage and swift blows for over 60 years now, and now they too are...
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...The policy prohibited military personnel from harassing and discriminating against closeted homosexual members and banned openly gays from military service. In Military Policy Toward Homosexuals, Davis discusses how: homosexuality is incompatible with military service…yet there are certainly homosexuals within the military. Current policy is to not let them in, if they somehow get in, they are to be put out. To facilitate this process, current policy allows separation based on homosexual tendencies alone, without proof of any homosexual acts. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy negatively affected the gay community, although many believed its original intention was to reach a compromise between the military and the gay and lesbian community (Belkin). Members of the military may only have a problem with gay and lesbian soldiers because they are experiencing the effects of the “mob mentality.” What I mean by “mob mentality” is that when members of a group are together, they tend to behave in a manner that they might not have when alone, or in a more intimate...
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...Controversy in the Military For the longest time homosexuals have had to deal with discrimination everywhere, including the military. When Bill Clinton ran for president, he gave a promise to the gays he would allow them to fight, but changed his stance when elected and did not follow through on his promise. Instead Clinton issued the policy Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that still hindered the homosexual’s chance of getting into the military. Finally, now after years of discrimination, a Representative of the House wrote a bill that will allow homosexuals the right to join and fight in the armed forces. The H.R. 1283 Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 states homosexuals can join the military and should pass for the benefit of all those who serve the armed forces. Official discrimination against homosexuals began during World War II. Before World War II, it was only African Americans who had a hard time joining the military, but then the military started becoming stricter on who can join and who cannot. The military started making people take a psychological test, where anyone who wanted to join the military had to get tested by a psychiatrist (Katel). If people claimed they were gay, they could not join the armed forces. Discrimination continued in every war America has fought until Bill Clinton came along. When Clinton ran for president, he guaranteed to lift the ban that the military established on not allowing homosexuals the right to fight. To get around his campaign...
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...administration work of the hospital. Doing my time in the military there was a law in the military call the “The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. This law was passed in 1993 that mandated the military to discharge service man or woman that was openly homosexual or bisexual. I knew of fellow military personals who were homosexual but they were never openly telling a number of people. I knew they were homosexual just because I knew some of their close friends, who I was also close with. When gossiping with these friends they would inform me of different individuals who were homosexual. I also knew of several servicemember who was homosexual and would be open about their sexuality to get out of the military. They would do this because the knew they would be discharge from the military, so that would be an easy way out since they no long wanted to be in. Now let take a look at the history of the law, the changes that will take place, and my opinion on the issues. 1. Now let take a brief look at the past history of homosexual in the military. The Department of Defense from a policy that stated homosexual could not be in military. “According to a 1992 report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), nearly 17,000 men and women were discharged under the category of homosexuality in the 1980s” (Herek1997- 2010, para. 15). This cause a priority for gay and lesbian advocates to fight for the civil rights of homosexual in the military. In 1992 legislation was introduced in the US Congress...
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...jumped to your aid and helped you out, did you stop to think about what their sexual preference was and if so would it have mattered to you? Well if you are in one of the United States Military branches, it is almost guaranteed to have come up and it has caused enough of an issue, commotion and publicity that the President of the United States had to step in and put into place a policy for what is the beginning of a giant human rights and equality motion in history. Even in this new century, who you choose to have sex with or love, still appears to be an issue for many people. Some even know that this person may one day save your life and have your back and it’s still an issue for some. The struggles of discrimination and inequality were all too frequent in the lives of homosexuals who were serving or trying to serve in the United States Military started to catch attention with the media and caught the attention by many who had voices to make a difference for equality. During the civil rights movement in the 1960’s, homosexuality wasn’t a right that was openly fought for. Albeit that today, most people view the right to love whom they choose as a civil, and human right. Many people believe that a relationship should be between a man and a woman and therefore the rights of the homosexual community were not fought over in any of the early civil rights movements. Some of these biased thoughts are said to have stemmed from the impact of the churches and Christianity, where...
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...Homosexuality in the Military John P. Wernegreen DeVry University Professor Foley Homosexuality in the Military The issue of homosexuality in the military has long been considered a taboo subject, not to be discussed openly, and essentially prohibited with the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy established in the 1990’s. However, attitudes have changed and evolved over the years making homosexuality in general less of a stigma and more of an acceptable lifestyle that some people live. After much deliberation and research, the Department of Defense (DOD) has established its own set of rules and regulations, thus continuing the controversy and discrimination of homosexuality within its ranks and the redefining of its regulations. Beginning in 1916, the United States military began issuing an administrative discharge called a blue discharge. This discharge, also known as a “blue ticket,” was neither honorable nor dishonorable, but it “became the discharge of choice for commanders seeking to remove homosexual service members from the ranks…” (Serving, para. 1). The policy for discharging service members found to be homosexual or engaging in homosexual acts prior to these “blue tickets” was to court-martial them for sodomy, imprison them and subsequently dishonorably discharge them. When the United States began to mobilize troops in World War II, though, it was no longer practical to hold court-martials due to time constraints and troop movements, so commanders began administratively...
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...a stick so the boat can pass through the murky frozen waters. This picture is meant to elicit pride in this moment just before a major victory that would boost morale. It depicts troops who are willing to sacrifice their life for freedoms, a tradition that is carried throughout American military history. Americans...
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...the Constitution of the United States, it lies within the discretion of the Congress to establish qualifications for and conditions of service in the armed forces. (4)The primary purpose of the armed forces is to prepare for and to prevail in combat should the need arise. (5)The conduct of military operations requires members of the armed forces to make extraordinary sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice, in order to provide for the common defense. (6)Success in combat requires military units that are characterized by high morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion. (7)One of the most critical elements in combat capability is unit cohesion, that is, the bonds of trust among individual service members that make the combat effectiveness of a military unit greater than the sum of the combat effectiveness of the individual unit members. (8)Military life is fundamentally different from civilian life in that— (A)the extraordinary responsibilities of the armed forces, the unique conditions of military service, and the critical role of unit cohesion, require that the military community, while subject to civilian control, exist as a specialized society; and (B)the military society is characterized by its own laws, rules, customs, and traditions, including numerous restrictions on personal behavior, that would not be acceptable in civilian society....
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...Serving in the military is for many the most honored position they will hold in their lifetime. Many dedicate their entire lives to serving their country. For some soldiers however their dream of proudly serving their country was cut short because they are gay, lesbian or bisexual. America’s attitude towards acceptance of homosexuals has continued to grow over the past couple of decades, but full acceptance and equality is still far off. Nowhere are attitudes towards homosexuality more conservative than in the U.S. military, yet even here attitudes are slowly evolving towards acceptance and equality. Gays and lesbians were banned from serving in the military until 1992 when President Clinton signed into law “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, which allowed homosexuals to serve as long as they did not discuss their sexuality, and the military could not ask about it. The debate about whether homosexuals should be allowed in the military at all and of whether they should be allowed to be open about their sexual orientation while serving has been ongoing over the last thirty years. Sexuality has no bearing on one’s ability to be a good soldier or on the cohesion of a military unit. Gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, because the policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is harmful to both soldiers and the military. Human sexuality is complicated, yet we live in a society that tries to only see such issues in a black and white fashion. Homosexuals have been a...
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...Organizational Behavior Managing Diversity with Organizational Behavior I believe the president of the United States Barack Obama and many of the 2010 Congressmen and Senators could have learned a lot from this Organizational Behavior class. I believe that their lack of managing diversity training is the root cause of some major turmoil both in and out of the military, and will continue to be for many years to come. In this analysis I would like to focus on some issues with the legislations repeal act of president Bill Clinton and his 1993 legislation’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and discuss how the 2010 legislation could have managed diversity with less complications. The following analysis is not meant to voice the military nor my personal opinion of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy nor its repeal. This analysis will focus purely on how the 2010 legislation could have managed diversity with less complications (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010, p. 35) in regards to: the repeal act of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (Wikipedia, 2012), the Defense of Marriage Act (Beutler, 2011), and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 125: Sodomy (SLDN, 2012), and how these policies are currently not working well together (Beutler, 2011). Diversity represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among people. Diversity is not an issue of age, race, or gender. Diversity is not an issue of being heterosexual, gay, or lesbian or of being Catholic...
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...has affected not only homosexuals wanting to serve our country, but also those attempting to find employment. Homosexuals serving in the military have been a long debated topic throughout U.S. history. As early as Revolutionary War times, the military did not exclude homosexuals from serving our country. However, they did consider sodomy a criminal offense. According to the “Article 125 of Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) prohibits all service members from engaging in sodomy. Service members found violating this article can be court-martialed and imprisoned if found guility.” (Alexander) Sodomy is defined as, “anal or oral copulation with a member of the same or opposite sex” (Sodomy). In 1778 the first solider, Lieutenant Gotthold Frederick Enslin, was discharged from the Continental Army for sodomy. The military’s main focus was on homosexual behavior, but eventually shifted to eliminate homosexual personnel all together. During this time, psychiatric evaluations were administered to prevent homosexuals from entering the military due to an alleged “medical” reason. In 1916, the Articles of War clearly forbid homosexuals from serving in the U.S. military. For the first time in 1942 the army included a clear definition of regulations for both homosexual and “normal” persons. This included distinct procedures for rejecting gay draftees. In 1981, the Department of Defense issued a new policy which indicated that determinedly homosexuals were unsuitable to serve...
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...as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Now imagine exactly how many of those individuals are currently serving in the military. In 1916 the Articles of War made homosexual conduct a military crime. Thus, the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. "Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration. Homosexuals were not allowed to speak about their sexuality in service and higher ups were forbidden to ask. “While senior military leaders say the change has had no impact on readiness and little to no effect on most of the 1.2 million members on active duty, gay troops describe the repeal’s effect on them as life-changing.”, said one reporter 9 months after the repeal. The subject happens to be a huge milestone for the LGBT community in terms of equality. Once the Articles of War made homosexual conduct a military crime with the “don't ask don't tell” policy it negatively impacted lgbt individuals in and out of the armed forces by...
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... | |WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 , 2011 | [pic] |ATTORNEY JOHN WASHINGTON | |BUL 5323 – BUSINESS LAW | Introduction Ever since its declaration in 1993 under President Bill Clinton’s administration, don’t ask, don’t tell (DADT) has been a major dispute amongst the United States citizens; especially those involved in the U.S. Military. Questions such as: “Is it even constitutional?” and “What are the pros and cons?” and “Should the policy be repealed?” have been propound. Subsequent to all of the questioning, viewed opinions and assessments, this subject generally falls into three perspectives: the permissive, the restrictive and the prohibitive. This paper...
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...Allegiance is what almost every student in the nation recites or had recited every morning from the day they start school till the day they graduate, but why is it that we don’t truly mean what we say? The adults now that have formed rules such as “Don’t ask don’t tell” and that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military once said the pledge, and should definitely know what it stands for, so why do these rules not give us equality and justice for all? I believe that liberty is an intrinsic part of the individual; members of society can ensure liberty through government protection from the moment they are born or become a citizen of a country and obtain the individual guaranteed rights. Liberty has been defined as the condition of a society in which individuals can be free ‘politically’ and free to develop as individuals. For stable individual liberty to be maintained, the people must have oversight and control of the...
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...the United States Military gays and lesbians has been banned from serving openly. They were not allowed to participate in any type of homosexual activities. This is a direct violation of these individuals’ constitutional rights but it didn’t stop the military. Homosexuals have been around and in the military for as long as the military exists they have served in some of the biggest wars. However they were at war within themselves. Young men and women were living a lie they cannot openly be who they really are and if they were even suspected of having homosexual activities they will be penalized whether it was by their peers or by the chain of command and later separated from the military. Homosexuals did exist but it was so unheard of it was almost like they weren’t there. They lived amongst their fellow comrades ‘in silence feeling trapped not being able to be free. Feeling discriminated against feeling like they are less of a sailor or soldier. Under “The don’t Ask Don’t Tell”(DADT) policy the military was not allowed to ask a recruit about their sexuality, however if there was suspicion of homosexuality they were allowed to investigate. This too was a form of discrimination against theses service members. In 2011 the ban was lifted and it is now legal for gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. This means that they can openly disclose their sexual orientation with no fear of repercussion and they can now engage in homosexual acts. They are now...
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