There was a moment this week that many thought they would never see. Brig. Gen. Randy S. Taylor rose to address a major conference and introducing his spouse. However in this case his spouse was his husband Lucas who was sitting in the same row with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Army Secretary John McHugh and other senior officials. Taylor has served 27 years through the ban on gays, the “don’t ask don’t tell policy,” and now the new policy of openness. He and Lucas have had an 18-year relationship.
Taylor discussed the sacrifices that Lucas made for his career and how they both bet everything on the Army. The bet paid off.
This week also saw the adoption of a new policy barring discrimination against members of the U.S. military based on their sexual orientation. Sexual orientation now joins discrimination based on race, gender and other protected categories.
The event itself is notable as the Pentagon’s 4th Gay Pride celebration that featured a gay Marine officer, a gay Army sergeant who is a criminal investigator, a lesbian chaplain and a transgender, Amanda Simpson, who is executive director of the Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives.
Carter set the perfect tone and told the crowd that “We need to be a meritocracy.” Indeed, our military will only stay competitive if we take the best and brightest from our ranks. Many gay and lesbian citizens have answered that call throughout history and they have now achieved true equal status with their peers in service.
Source: Washington Times
bam, They do indeed have a written in stone playbook and they stick to it. Liberals have perfected groupthink. It’s a cult.That’s why this place used to be an echo chamber. It’s much better now, w/ people of all views. Understand, this mindset is not just relegated to this blog. Liberals cloister themselves, only being social w/ people of their views. They will abandon family members. Hell, they even vacation together. My family used to have reunions on Martha’s Vineyard. That is their Mecca, and they take their haj there annually.
A modicum of eloquence, obvious selective references, adjectives for emphasis, yet nothing more than residue, that which will erode away in time, however, it is necessary to illustrate how far we have evolved.
Typical liberal responses to anyone espousing an opinion out of line with their playbook.
Chapter One:
Call any person, who dare say a word, contrary to the liberal agenda of turning society on its head, the following: a hater, a racist, a bigot, phobic, or other such names or descriptions meant to stifle disagreement. Note that it is not necessary that the offender’s speech actually contain any hateful, racist, bigoted or phobic content. All that matters is that those terms, which are encouraged to be thrown about and used loosely and often, will certainly serve to suppress any thought of disagreeing with our great liberal agenda. Use them with abandon.
Funny how liberals are the first to defend the idea of FREEDOM OF SPEECH, yet that freedom only protects their very limited version of what is considered appropriate liberal speech. Heaven help the person, bold enough to point out medical statistics, with regard to HIV among bi and gay men, and how those very statistics could serve to destroy the unity and cohesiveness so critical in a military setting. The mere suggestion that fears regarding HIV transmission could distract from the above-referenced unity or cohesiveness, so very critical in the military, makes the veins pop in their respective necks. To dare suggest that there is a morality component involved, related to our Judeo-Christian values, upon which this country was founded, is, of course, verboten in the New World Order. One is automatically cast as a hateful, racist, bigoted and phobic being. It doesn’t matter if the point, about the potential distraction it presents, has any substance. The Neanderthals on this site will attempt to silence any and all opinion contrary to their own.
I approach this as I do women’s rights, which is that a meritocracy is the best paradigm. If you CAN do a job, you should be allowed to do a job.
Someone’s sexual orientation should be a non-issue at work. In my opinion, the only logistical complication is that there needs to be a separate restroom/shower. Gay/straight should not be combined in a shower any more than men and women should be. Other than that, sexual orientation doesn’t matter. You are either a good soldier, or you are not.
Randy’s Army Bio:
Brig. Gen. Randy S. Taylor, USA, has been assigned as director of architecture, operations, networks and space, Office of the Chief Information Officer/G-6, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.
He previously commanded the 112th Signal Battalion, part of U.S. Army Special Operations Command and deployed with the unit to Afghanistan and Iraq.
when I was in basic at lackland air force base, we had a gay airman in my flight who left during the night…he was discharged, everyone thought he was gay and he couldn’t handle the T.I., who ripped him a new one, on a daily basis, I got my rear end chewed out as well, we all did, this guy couldn’t handle the verbal abuse and lost it…he was given a section 8, a nut-job discharge for liking “the guys”…he was a redheaded guy from Maryland, who used to ogle the other guys privates in the showers…he really was revolting, we all jumped for joy when they shipped him home…probably moved to west hollywood
sometimes I almost wonder what has happened to my nation…it makes an old airman wanna put down his bottle of miller and cry…
AIDS came onto the scene in the early 80’s, no? Gays have been serving in the military long before then and after, yet the medics and Corpsmen have never refused to treat any service member in need of medical care. BamBam’s premise doesn’t account for that. No one in the military ever thought there were no gays serving with them and it was often common knowlege who was gay. In the last ten years especially, the stigma has lessened and my daughter reports that no one gives a damn about who is gay and serving alongside them is not an issue. The cohesiveness argument fails.
Inga – there were gays in the military long before that. They would show up in gay porno mags. They were easy to pick out because they had the regulation haircut. There were a couple of major and a few minor scandals at San Diego Marine Training Depot.
A bent guy here at the marina explained the “husband”/”wife” distinctions in a gay relationship between two males. If one is the “bottom” partner when they have sex then he is the “wife” and the guy on top is the “husband”. Remember folks that if you need guidance you can always turn to a dog. Speaking of which. If there are two bent male dogs having sex then the one humping the rear of the other is called “Top Dog”. If anyone calls me that I will bite their ear off.
When I was in the Air Force, years ago, they through you out for being a “cupcake”…with a section 8 discharge…now they pin medals on these guys and turn em’ into Brigadier general’s…priceless…
Congratulations to Brig. Gen. Randy S. Taylor and his husband and to other homosexual partnerships/marriages who no longer have to keep a major part of their lives secret.
Bambam, while HIV/AIDS is more prevalent among gay men, it also affects heterosexuals as well, both men and women. So maybe we should remove all of our military men and women from all war zones.
Previous statement was intended as sarcasm but, actually, I think it’s a pretty good idea.
Wade Williams and JunkChuck
Thanks, that explains it a little but, for me, it would be nice to see them simply be partners. The husband and wife thing is heterosexual and as one I don’t care; it doesn’t reflect at all on my relationship with my wife. However, in my view, it does demean the homosexual relationship in that the gay couple term themselves as something they are not, attempting to fall under another category. While this is important in the legal sense it isn’t necessary to label one’s self using another condition. A man and a woman living together and not being married are not termed husband and wife. If you’re going to demand your rights perhaps you should come up with labels peculiar to your condition. ‘My partner’ sounds the most appropriate.
These are just thoughts that come to mind. My hat’s off to the General and all the other gays who have suffered in a society with these phobias for so long. Unfortunately they will have to endure the residue left behind.
Perhaps it’s just my darker side but imagine a brigade lead by a gay general waxing as many ISIS and Islamic extremists as it could.
DriveBye
The uniform and symbolism is so strong on here, people could very well worship, adore, and get on their knees for a non-human species if it was wearing a particular uniform or held a particular opinion.
Kind of feel bad for conservatives here.
All they want to do is hero worship men in uniform, whether they be cops or military.
And now this.
DriveBye – I am very conservative and I have no problem with the General and his husband/wife or Caitlyn Jenner.
OK, need coffee. However,there were some innocuous comments deleted in the early AM, not sure why.
I’m wondering why BamBam’s comment about religion and gay issues in the military was deleted? It makes my reply to her @1:43AM appear to be out of context.
Issac, I think unless someone identifies trans that they’re both husbands–my male gay friends use “partner,” but the female couples both say “wife”.
As for the rest of it: my hat is off to anyone who puts on that uniform and stands to serve our nation, because that person is standing to serve me. The rest is static–the uniform and the job behind it is the great equalizer–male, female, trans, married, single, gay, straight. It doesn’t matter.These are people who say, “when they come to hurt you, I’ll be in the way,” and that’s a very big deal.
Now, if we can just get the VA straightened out, and living wages for enlisted personnel, things will be looking good.
Issac
Both men in a same sex marriage are ‘husbands’.
Both women in a same sex marriage are ‘wives’.
Nice news about the general.
I’m sorry about bam bam’s views but I hope she continues to comment. She and Simon Squeeky Legree perfectly illustrate the hatefulness of their phobic views.
Shrouding human rights in militarism and meritocracy is rather ignorant and sleazy.
I never thought I’d see the day when there was an openly gay general in our army. Will I see the day when this is not considered news?