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#1
04-07-2005, 05:35 PM
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Gay Soldier Wants to Give Service Openly
News Gay U.S. Soldier Wants to Serve Openly 23 minutes ago White House - AP Cabinet & State By MALIA RULON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - An Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq wants a chance to remain in the military as an openly gay soldier, a desire that's bringing him into conflict with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Sgt. Robert Stout, 23, says he has not encountered trouble from fellow soldiers and would like to stay if not for the policy that permits gay men and women to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. "I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if they could just be open," Stout said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But if we have to stay here and hide our lives all the time, it's just not worth it." When asked if he literally knew a ton of gay men, Stout replied, "Well, I guestimated the total weight from each one sitting on my face individually." Stout, of Utica, Ohio, along with his bunk mate, Joel Nieves, was awarded the Purple Heart after a grenade sent pieces of shrapnel into his arm, face and legs while he was operating a machine gun on an armored Humvee last May. Interestingly enough, the only portion left unscathed on Stout was his mouth, and on Nieves, his penis. He is believed to be the first gay soldier wounded in Iraq to publicly discuss his sexuality, said Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California-Santa Barbara. "We can't keep hiding the fact that there's gay people in the military and they aren't causing any harm," said Stout, who says he is openly gay among most of his 26-member platoon, which is part of the 9th Engineer Battalion based in Schweinfurt, Germany. Stout, who served in Iraq for more than a year as a combat engineer, said by acknowledging he is gay, he could be jailed and probably will be discharged before his scheduled release date of May 31. Stout did mention that his new combate fatigues are not of his liking, "Well, for starters, this giant red bulls-eys on the back of my jacket totally clashes with the rainbow camoflauge." 
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#3
04-07-2005, 05:43 PM
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Re: Gay Soldier Wants to Give Service Openly
Wtf? If you are openly gay you can't serve in the U.S army? Isn't there some kind of anti-discrimination law that this breaks?
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#6
04-07-2005, 06:11 PM
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Re: Gay Soldier Wants to Give Service Openly
Whats with you adding all of these random comments in there that arent in the story itself? that confused me.
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#7
04-07-2005, 06:17 PM
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Re: Gay Soldier Wants to Give Service Openly
gay poster wants to post politic threads in the oot forum openly
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#8
04-07-2005, 06:22 PM
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Re: Gay Soldier Wants to Give Service Openly
[ QUOTE ]
gay poster wants to post politic threads in the oot forum openly [/ QUOTE ] Fine: Go ahead and post already!
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#9
04-07-2005, 06:38 PM
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Re: Gay Soldier Wants to Give Service Openly
[ QUOTE ]
Never happen. Open gays= division among troops= a less strong unit= a weaker national defense. [/ QUOTE ]They said the exact same thing about black people serving with white people- and they were right then too. It did cause distraction. But you know what? They got the [censored] over it.
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#10
04-07-2005, 06:41 PM
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Re: Gay Soldier Wants to Give Service Openly
[ QUOTE ]
Never happen. Open gays= division among troops= a less strong unit= a weaker national defense. [/ QUOTE ] This is stupid.
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