1. This isn't actually history, there have been contingents doing this for at least the past several years.
2. They're still risking their jobs by doing this. They can still get kicked out tomorrow. Why? Because even though the repeal was passed by Congress and signed by Obama, DADT is still in place. It will be until the chiefs all sign off and have all the implementation plans and all the other BS that got worked into the repeal. People are still being kicked out, and just this week the Ninth Circuit declined to strike down the policy and reinstate the people who had been recently removed from service because the Obama administration essentially said "No, no, change is coming, don't worry about it!" At every juncture, when asked, since December, everyone from the administration itself to SLDN have told active-duty military that they still should not come out on the job because they can still be removed.
I guess I'm not the only one who likes to piss on other people's fun.
I don't ever remember seeing any active duty U.S. military marching in a gay pride parade before, at least in any organized fashion or as a group..
You don't have to convince me that the administration is dragging its heels on the repeal. But as the article said, "The march took place one day after a federal appeals court temporarily reinstated the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving in the military, but prohibited the services from investigating or discharging anyone under the rule."
You can, and many people are. However, as the history of DADT and its enforcement has shown, actual gayness isn't necessarily the test they use. In most cases they can't - both legally and practically speaking. There have been women against whom an investigation is initiated merely because she turned down advances from a male colleague, or because she had short hair and a chunky black watch. There are men who are investigated and/or kicked out because they have a gay roommate - in a two-bedroom (or more) home! My ex got kicked out because his CO saw photos of him in a production of Rocky Horror. To say nothing of the substantial number of people, both male and female, who have been kicked out because they were seen at a gay bar. Or in the vicinity of a gay bar. The assumption is going to be that if you march in this parade, you're not straight.
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2. They're still risking their jobs by doing this. They can still get kicked out tomorrow. Why? Because even though the repeal was passed by Congress and signed by Obama, DADT is still in place. It will be until the chiefs all sign off and have all the implementation plans and all the other BS that got worked into the repeal. People are still being kicked out, and just this week the Ninth Circuit declined to strike down the policy and reinstate the people who had been recently removed from service because the Obama administration essentially said "No, no, change is coming, don't worry about it!" At every juncture, when asked, since December, everyone from the administration itself to SLDN have told active-duty military that they still should not come out on the job because they can still be removed.
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I don't ever remember seeing any active duty U.S. military marching in a gay pride parade before, at least in any organized fashion or as a group..
You don't have to convince me that the administration is dragging its heels on the repeal. But as the article said, "The march took place one day after a federal appeals court temporarily reinstated the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving in the military, but prohibited the services from investigating or discharging anyone under the rule."
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