Pentagon marks gay pride month for first time
Two women, both active duty sailors in the Navy who gave their names as Nikki, left, and Lisa, kiss as they march in the Gay Pride Parade in San Diego Saturday, July 16, 2011. Almost a year later, the Pentagon marked gay pride month for the first time by hosting a panel discussion. / AP Photo/Gregory Bull
(AP) WASHINGTON - In the course of a year, Marine Capt. M. Matthew Phelps says he went from being a gay man "in the closet," afraid of being discharged, to invitee at the White House gay pride reception, drinking champagne with his commander in chief.
Phelps told his story Tuesday at the Pentagon's first-ever event to recognize the service of gay and lesbian troops. The historic event came nine months after repeal of the 18-year-old "don't ask don't tell" policy that had prohibited gay troops from serving openly and forced more than 13,500 service members out of the armed forces.
"Last June ... I was at a point in my career that if anyone had found out that I was gay ... I could have lost my job," Phelps told some 400 uniformed and civilian Defense Department employees packed into a Pentagon auditorium.
"A year later ... I, Capt. Matthew Phelps, was invited to attend this pride reception at the White House," Phelps said of the June 15 reception hosted by President Barack Obama. "And I thought how amazing is it over the course of a year, I could go from being fired for being who I am, to having champagne with the commander in chief — on cocktail napkins with the presidential seal on it."
2012 Gay Pride parades worldwide
Phelps appeared on a panel of current and former service members, some of whom told of their experiences before the repeal of "don't ask don't tell" and how life is different now. The audience filled the seats and dozens more stood along the walls, roughly 1 in 5 were in uniform and the rest civilians who had not been subject to the old policy.
"For those service members who are gay and lesbian, we lifted a real and personal burden from their shoulders," top Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson said in a speech opening the event that lasted about an hour and a half. "They no longer have to live a lie in the military" or "teach a child to lie to protect her father's career."
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Before the repeal, gay troops could serve but could be discharged if they revealed their sexual orientation. At the same time, a commanding officer was prohibited from asking a service member whether he or she was gay.
"For all of us, we should honor the professional and near-flawless manner in which our entire U.S. military implemented and adapted to this change," Johnson said of the months since repeal.
Although some had feared repeal would cause problems in the ranks, officials and gay advocacy groups say there have been a few isolated incidents but no big issues — aside from what advocacy groups criticize as slow implementation of some changes, such as benefit entitlements to troops in same-sex marriages.
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They succumb to the gay "pride" nonsense.
And they knuckle under to women who want to play soldier in submarines and combat roles.
Pentagon fogies don't have the guts they expect from real military men.
----WAKE UP AMERICA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE------
---VOTE CONSERVATIVE 2012--------
See, there's the problem. Rather than seeing gays and lesbians as people who have been unfairly singled out, and in many instances discharged, for what should be an irrelevant characteristic (same-sex attraction) you view it as some kind of special recognition absent of context that emphasizes gential arousal.