Ruling on gay Air Force major creates dilemma (You MUST read the comment!) [View All]

[WillParkinson]

Ruling on gay Air Force major creates dilemma

(Seattle) A pressing legal reality for the “don’t ask, don’t tell” standard for gays serving in the military is that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already struck down the way it’s practiced in much of the Western United States.

The 2008 ruling, while largely overlooked, would force the military to apply a much higher threshold in determining whether a service member should be dismissed for being gay.

The government declined to appeal the ruling by the three-judge panel, which leaves it standing as law in the nine states covered by the court. That means gay military members at bases in the West technically have greater protections than their colleagues across the world.

Although it doesn’t appear that the military has ever applied the more stringent standard, the court case presents several problems for the Pentagon now that the Obama administration has embarked on a yearlong review of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“It’s muddled things up for the military,” said Rep. Vic Snyder, an Arkansas Democrat who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. “They really haven’t started grappling with it yet, and I don’t think they know how to respond.”

http://www.365gay.com/news/ruling-on-gay-air-force-major-creates-dilemma/

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The first user comment sums it all up beautifully!

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Our Canadian Focrces have openly gay memebers. We have been serving with your armed services in Afghanistan, and have been doing so for years.

Did your armed forces need a year long study to determine how our gay soldiers would impact US straight soldiers morale? No, the Bush administration was willing to take any help they could get from the international community. Same applied to the Brits and the Dutch.

Your military needs to have its collective head examined.
Immediate repeal of DADT will have zero impact on anything military.

BUT, it will impact gay marriage. That’s the real problem for conservatives.