Marines get trained on accepting gay recruits

05-08-2011 • Yahoo News

(Obama signs 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

From: Jim P.

I fear that a draft will return. When they come the next time, I believe they will come for both the boys and the girls. Until this legislation, I was able to advise people that should the draft return, a way to avoid conscription would be to say that you are a homosexual. There was no test to prove it. You could keep living where you where, and still date your same boyfriend or girlfriend. Even if someone checked on you,
you could say you were trying to change, but weren't yet up to military standards.

It looks like that way out has been blocked.)

=============================

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Elliot Spagat, Associated Press – Thu Apr 28, 8:55 pm ET

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Marine instructor Maj. Daryl Desimone stood before an auditorium filled with fatigue-clad troops, carrying an unequivocal message: It's OK to disagree with letting gays serve openly in the military. It's not OK to disobey orders.

He explained that the impending repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" is an order, one heard by generals and rank-and-file alike as the military tries to change the culture of a traditionally conservative institution.

Only a few of the roughly 150 Marines stepped up to ask questions.

One stood up from a back row and demanded to know why his religious beliefs were being "put aside" in favor of gays, forcing him to "basically grit my teeth and bear it."

"It's not really open to discussion," Desimone said. "Nobody's trying to change your mind."

Sexual orientation will now be a private matter, just like religion or politics, he said.

Sgt. Jay Milinichik, of Tulsa, Okla., stood up to ask what would happen if a Marine refused gay roommates.