This morning, I was so excited for this bill coming up, that included DADT repeal and a plethora of other things that were just awesome, and would have been epic if they'd gone through.
Then I hear that Reid's postponing the vote until after the election. Okay, that's crappy, but maybe there's still a chance, as long as we don't lose too many seats, right?
And then I read this, and I'm just ... I don't even know anymore.
First, there's this:
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the only Republican to support repealing the law and widely seen as the crucial 60th vote, announced Tuesday that she would not support advancing the bill because Democrats wouldn't allow the Republicans sufficient leeway to offer amendments.
Well, that's great, but that's not what really got my goat. What really got me ranting was this:
Top defense officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, have said they support a repeal but want to move slowly to ensure changes won't hurt morale.
(emphasis mine)
Hurt morale? You're worried about "hurting morale"? When servicemembers can lose their job and benefits because a vindictive person decides to "out" them? That's not a danger to morale to you people? Servicemembers have been abused by their higher ups because "we think you're gay", and that's not a danger to morale? Female soldiers have had to submit to being raped because otherwise they'd be outed, and that's not a danger to morale?
And that was bad, but that wasn't the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. No, that honor belonged to this:
In another blow to the bill, Obama's pick to lead the Marine Corps told a Senate panel on Tuesday that he worried that changing the policy would serve as a "distraction" to Marines fighting in Afghanistan.
"My primary concern with proposed repeal is the potential disruption to cohesion that may be caused by significant change during a period of extended combat operations," Gen. James Amos said in a written statement provided to the panel for his confirmation hearing.
/snip
"I don't see this as a racist issue," Amos said. "I see this as an anxious issue ... because we don't have the answers yet."
(emphasis mine)
A distraction? A "disruption to cohesion"!?
Let me tell you about "disruptions to cohesion", since you obviously don't really comprehend what that phrase means (although, I guess it's hard to remember what rank-and-file life is like, being a damn politician four star).
A "disruption to cohesion" is a Marine having to lie to her NCOs and her fellow Marines, and make up a false life that doesn't include her girlfriend, even while in combat zones, for fear of being outed and/or hazed or abused or raped or blackmailed.
A "disruption to cohesion" is a soldier being unable to list her spouse on her notification paperwork because her spouse is a woman, and thus spending the deployment worrying how her spouse will find out if something happens.
A "disruption to cohesion" is an airman knowing that his husband can't go to any of the unit functions and therefore has to suffer in isolation and silence while he's deployed, because any participation in the "military family" would out the airman and end his career.
A "disruption to cohesion" is a deployed sailor having to speak in code while talking to his boyfriend on the phone, not being able to say "I love you, not being able to say "I miss you", and having to live within a facade that he must keep up 24/7.
A "disruption to cohesion" is an NCO worrying that they might be right, that their subordinate might be gay ... and if they find out, they have to choose between enforcing DADT and ruining a servicemember's life or not enforcing DADT and having to participate in this lie that must be continued in order for the servicemember to do something as simple as serve their country.
This list makes me cry. It eats at me that the military (and society in general!) is like this. It's disgraceful that people are treated like this! But you, General Amos? You're willing to send them to die in combat zones, but not willing to let them be full members of the military, with all the things that straight members take for granted. That, sir, is a shame on yourself, on my Marine Corps, and on this nation ... although I don't expect you to realize it, since that would require a nuanced view of the world and that's something you're sorely lacking.