Gay soldier to Obama: "I beg you today: Do not fire me."

[kpete]

Gay soldier to Obama: "I beg you today: Do not fire me."
by John Aravosis (DC) on 5/12/2009 10:00:00 AM
http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/gay-soldier-to-obama-i-beg-you-today-do.html

An American service member, about to be discharged for being gay, penned an open letter to his commander-in-chief on CNN's Web site. Here is an excerpt:

As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you today: Do not fire me. Do not fire me because my soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force – we are a family and we support each other. We should not learn that honesty and courage leads to punishment and insult. Their professionalism should not be rewarded with losing their leader. I understand if you must fire me, but please do not discredit and insult my soldiers for their professionalism.

When I was commissioned I was told that I serve at the pleasure of the President. I hope I have not displeased anyone by my honesty. I love my job. I want to deploy and continue to serve with the unit I respect and admire. I want to continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.

Please do not wait to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Please do not fire me.

more:
http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/11/gay-soldier-dont-fire-me/
via:
http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/gay-soldier-to-obama-i-beg-you-today-do.html

[Voice for Peace]

1. k&r

how can Obama not respond to this?

[FLAprogressive]

2. K&R

[QueenOfCalifornia]

3. But teh gay

is contagious. If they let one openly gay stay in.... pretty soon they will all be gay. :eyes:

I hope that Obama does the right thing.

(edit to include K&R)

[snot]

4. wow. k&r'd.

[glitch]

5. "My subordinates know I’m gay. They don’t care. They are professional." K & R nt

[Duke Newcombe]

25. Kinda says it all, in one neat, little package

DADT is dumb, dumb, dumb...

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Question: Is DADT recindable by presidential edict, or by

congressional review?

If the former, then it is in Obama's ballpark - otherwise, he can do nothing about the law as it stands.

[TwixVoy]

9. Read the constitution

it makes it ABUNDANTLY clear that the president is commander in chief of the armed forces. The president gives direct orders to the military not congress.

All it takes is Obama calling up the necessary General and saying "I ORDER you not to discharge this soldier" End of story. The military does not have any negotiation room on this. Once the president gives a solider of ANY rank an order it is essentially "the word of god". They are under obligation to follow it unconditionally.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Read the constitution.

Only Congress has the power to make or remove laws.

The President is Commander-in-Chief, but that does not give him the right to break laws, even if it involves the military.

[TwixVoy]

14. The constitution TRUMPS all federal laws

The constitution says the president is commander in chief. Period. Congress can NOT pass a law stopping him from making an order in that capacity.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. So you're saying if the president does it, it's not illegal.

Thanks, genius.

[konnichi wa]

26. The Constitution -provides for- federal laws...it is not a repository of them all.

The DADT policy is indeed federal law. The president can't invalidate a law he may not like...isn't that what we were bitching about when Bush was trying to do it?

I want it changed as much as anyone but not at the expense of the rule of law.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/10/654.html#b

[Chulanowa]

19. You're right, Obama can't change the law

He can't just say that if an investigation of the armed forces shows that a given soldier is gay, the rule doesn't apply.

However, he can tell the armed forces to not investigate for that sort of thing. The military is not under a legal compulsion to look into the matters, and if ordered not to by hte president, well, anyone who tries is facing a court martial themselves.

The President also has the power to rescind discharges from the military. So in this case, the man could be fired as per the law.. .and then brought back as if nothing had happened, with an order to not investigate again.

See how this works? Obama can't change the law. He can, however, change the parameters under which hte law would normally work, and then issue a pardon to those punished by hte law.

Of course, I still think Congress should simply scratch that particular law out, make it graceful and simple. But the fact is the president damn sure DOES havethe authority to keep the military from discharging gay servicemebers.

[nichomachus]

23. But he CAN decide unilaterally not to enforce laws against torture??????

Torturing people is against the law. Obama said he won't prosecute. Why can't he do the same with DADT?

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. Nonsense. That's the same bogus argument the Bushies made

and goes back to Nixon's "if the president does it, it is not illegal".

The president has to follow the law just like everyone else.

My question is, is DADT an internal military regulation or is it a law?

Incidentally, even if he is the CIC, he does not have the authority to overturn military law - he can pardon someone convicted of breaking military law, but he cannot ignore the law itself. In DADT, the punishment is specified in the regulation itself, so he cannot pardon this person for outing himself. That being the case, the only option is to change the regulation, which goes back to my original question -

Is this a law, which must be changed by Congress, or is it a military regulation which Obama has the authority to change?

[blue_onyx]

21. "he can do nothing "

Are you serious? He is a very popular president and has a lot of power. He could do plenty to pressure lawmakers to repel Don't ask, Don't tell. I don't understand why so many on DU give Obama a pass on everything. President Obama hasn't said much about gay rights, which is odd since it has been a big issue in recent months. He can not push gay rights issues aside because it's politically convenient.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

7. KICKING

Because this needs to stay at the top.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Eyerish]

10. K&R

[Neecy]

11. It's ridiculous that this policy is still in place

It's one of the greatest injustices still in place in our country today - after all, the US military is a huge employer - and Obama promised to end it. Then we hear fudging, that it'll take more study, blah blah blah. What's wrong is wrong. The country is in favor of ending it and letting us serve openly. Why the delay?

[AspenRose]

12. Wisdom from (of all people) Barry Goldwater

"You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight. "

K&R

[Lugnut]

15. Common sense.

Wow. What a concept.

:kick:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

17. K&R

[Lex]

18. DADT puts this country at risk by firing good & brave men & women willing to serve.

nt

[Karenina]

22. They NEED his SKILLS!!!! DESPERATELY!!!

Talk about stupid on steroids... :freak:

[nichomachus]

24. I'll tell you why he can't/won't stop DADT

Because the military is firmly in the grasp of a large and growing group of radical evangelical Christians. They are working overtime to convert all the top brass to their way of thinking. They want our troops to be crusaders converting Muslims to Jesus.

As Reza Aslan said on Bill Maher the other night, the Pentagon has a group so influential, it's almost an official office of the government. They have space in the Pentagon from which to launch their conversion campaign. The Air Force Academy is now just pretty much an evangelical seminary.

These people are not going to sit quietly by and allow gays and lesbians into the military.

[readmoreoften]

27. Allow gays and lesbians to REMAIN in the military, not "into."

Let's be clear. We're not asking to be "let in" to the military. We're asking not to be fired since we're already there and always have been. I mean, come on, lesbians, in the military? In the mid 20th century lesbians were the majority--which is why Eisenhower backed off the demand to hunt gays in the military. When he tried, the female soldier he gave the order to said, "Okay, but I'll have to resign and so will the secretary typing up the order and you'll lose 97% of your female troops overnight." And he walked out and dropped the subject. This is documented in the film "Before Stonewall."

[nichomachus]

29. Well, I'm assuming it would also apply to people not already in who want to join

it's rather a minuscule splitting of hairs.

[whopis01]

37. It is not about "splitting of hairs" at all.

There are people who make arguments about how gays will not be able to perform well in the military. They make up idiotic arguments about what will happen in a foxhole under combat conditions if gays are allowed to be there.

And all that time they do their best to hide the fact that there are gays in the military. And those gays in the military serve with the same honor and ability as everyone else in the military. But of course, no one can come forward and claim that because the moment they do, they get discharged.

Of course this will apply those not in the military who wish to join. But pointing out the fact that there are gays in the military who are currently serving with the same honor and ability as anyone else is not splitting hairs - it is getting to the very core of the argument. The more people realize that this is the case, the more people will realize how ridiculous it is to restrict gays in the military.

[HillWilliam]

28. K&R

There are tens of thousands of us who have thought the same thing. Tens of thousands of us have served honorably.

Enough of the witch-hunts, enough of the right-wing idiocy, enough of the bushwa way of doing things. We've tried stooput and, y'know what? It doesn't work. Gay and Lesbian soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines make just as good soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines as their hetero counterparts. We've proven it over and over, time and time again, decade after decade.

It's been half a century since our military was racially integrated. Sumbitches still haven't given Turing credit for cracking Enigma. If it weren't for that we'd all be speaking German now. G'd forbid a gay man should get credit for helping his country, let alone the world, but gayfolk are stilllllllllllll waiting for a little acknowledgment for our patriotism and our service. At least the English, the Dutch, the French, the Belgians, the Danes, the Swedes and a few others are somewhat ahead of us. Still not much credit where credit is fully due, though.

You'd think by now we'd let DADT die the death it deserves, but nooOOOOooo, we're still kowtowing to the nutcase nutwing right.

Why, I'll never know. They never did any of us any favors.

[VenusRising]

30. K&R

I wrote to the WH on behalf of Lt. Choi and all the other brave soldiers who will no longer lie about who they are. I stand by them, and hope others will write as well.

:patriot:

[Wednesdays]

31. K&R

:kick:

[Mari333]

32. k nr

[BlooInBloo]

33. C'mon Obama - just do the right thing on this.

[BrightKnight]

34. He could tell them to stop wasting scarce resources enforcing that insane rule.

You do not have to actually change the rule in the short run. The Commander in Chief has the power to set priorities. Of all of the things that the military has to worry about harassing patriotic gay and lesbian people has to be below the bottom of the list.

[livefreest]

35. what a sad waste

[Skittles]

36. Obama will not stop gay troops from being canned

period - it's sad and disgusting but it is true

[Echo In Light]

38. K&R