Pentagon Tries To Subdue Critics With New DADT Policy Rules (Bad Luck It’s Not Worked)

Whilst the move to repeal the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy that stops gays and lesbians serving openly in the army is going at a snail’s pace, it appears that this isn’t the general pace for everything DADT related with the progress in creating new rules for DADT dismissals by Defense Secretary Robert Gates speeding along.

And so you may ask what are these rulings? Well the first is that no new investigations will be launched based on third party information. This means if someone else says you’re gay then nothing SHOULD happen. It’s not a repeal but we’ll give Gates some credit for it, it helps things a tiny bit, especially with the addition that anyone testifying about a soldier’s sexuality now having to do it under oath.

However the reality is these are nothing more than token changes that do little to improve the day to day life of gay and lesbian soldiers. These changes don’t stop gay and lesbian soldiers having to live in secret and denying who they are. It doesn’t mean that now you can have photo of your partner on public display like all your straight counterparts without fear of it outing you, and you’re still not free to talk openly about that person you love, because again that’s you outing yourself and leaving yourself open to investigation.

So thank you, but no thank you Defense Secretary Gates. We don’t like your new rules. It’s time to go back to the drawing board, and let us give you directions. It’s the drawing board that says “scrap DADT completely”

Via Queerty and The US Army (photo).