
Washington (CNN)-- The Department of Defense announced Thursday that it will be commemorating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride later this month. The event will be the first of its kind for the Pentagon.
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"The Defense Department is planning an LGBT Pride Month event for later this month," Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Laniez said in a statement issued Thursday.
Press Secretary George Little said senior Defense Department officials will take part in the event, but had no other details.
Just a year ago, a member of the military faced punishment or discharge if he or she admitted being homosexual, but last September the administration scrapped the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell."
Opinion: LGBT community more accepted than before, but work needs t...
Tags: LGBT, Pentagon, bows, feminazi, feminazism, feminazist, forced-abortions, haters, man, parenthood, More…planned
Permalink Reply by Richard Charles Wagener on June 17, 2012 at 2:40pm We are going down the tubes faster than I ever imagined. God will not be mocked!
Permalink Reply by Jo Dermody, independent citizen, patriot, widow of a deceased Marine on June 17, 2012 at 6:44pm I called Panetta's comment line and asked him when we will have a day set aside for
those who are straight?
Jo Dermody
Permalink Reply by Ronald King on June 17, 2012 at 7:54pm Jo, Sempre Fi." God Bless you, I'll do the same..!!!
Permalink Reply by Cathy Gardino on June 17, 2012 at 9:26pm Amen Jo...Amen...We are tired of being overshadowed by the special "freaks"and placating the PC crowd...How about some appreciation for being a decent, god fearing, law abiding citizen that is doing right? NO MORE! We are rewarding horrible things and ignoring good!
Permalink Reply by Stephen Hunter on June 18, 2012 at 6:28am This is tantamount to treason. It is past time to put a stop to this crap. If we do not do something now, the country is gone. The loyalty of what stays in the military will be to a godless completly immoral military. If this is what our service is going to be associated with, we need stop thinking we have anything to be proud of. The idiots in the militarty need to hear from us that they are disgracing us and our service and we will begin a campaign to stop people from supporting this military and start increasing the strength of our miitias until we can correct the problem. Who do you think the miltary will loyal too, the immoral government that glorifies sexuality or to we the people that value our families and God.
Permalink Reply by Twana Blevins on June 18, 2012 at 8:34am I'm completely heart broken and so discouraged because I know you are right.
How the hell does gay pride contribute to national defense? Any senior official who is present should be arrested and tried for stupidity.
Permalink Reply by Twana Blevins on June 18, 2012 at 10:49am WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday thanked gay and lesbian military members for their service, as the Pentagon prepares to mark June as gay pride month with an official salute.
In a remarkable sign of a cultural change in the U.S. military, Panetta said that with the repeal last year of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that prohibited gays from serving openly in the military, gays and lesbians can now be proud to be in uniform.
“Now you can be proud of serving your country, and be proud of who you are,” Panetta said.
The defense chief also said he’s committed to removing as many barriers as possible to making the military a model of equal opportunity.
Panetta’s video message was part of a Pentagon salute to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender troops as the Pentagon joined the rest of the U.S. government for the first time in marking June as gay pride month..
It comes nine months after repeal of the policy that had prohibited gay troops from serving openly and forced more than 13,500 service members out of the armed forces.
On Friday the Pentagon announced that its gay pride event — the first of its kind — will be held June 26 in the Pentagon. It will feature remarks by Jeh Johnson, the top Pentagon lawyer, as well as a panel discussion of the value of gay service and diversity, with gay and lesbian service members participating.
This month’s event will follow a long tradition at the Pentagon of recognizing diversity in America’s armed forces. Hallway displays and activities, for example, have marked Black History Month and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.
Before the repeal, gay troops could serve but couldn’t reveal their orientation. If they did, they would be discharged. At the same time, a commanding officer was prohibited from asking a service member whether he or she was gay.
Although some feared repeal of the ban on serving openly would cause problems in the ranks, officials and gay advocacy groups say no big issues have materialized — aside from what advocacy groups criticize as slow implementation of some changes, such as benefit entitlements to troops in same-sex marriages.
Basic changes have come rapidly since repeal; the biggest is that gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines no longer have to hide their sexuality in order to serve. They can put photos on their office desk without fear of being outed, attend social events with their partners and openly join advocacy groups looking out for their interests.
OutServe, a once-clandestine professional association for gay service members, has nearly doubled in size to more than 5,500 members. It held its first national convention of gay service members in Las Vegas last fall, then a conference on family issues this year in Washington.
At West Point, the alumni gay advocacy group Knights Out was able to hold the first installment in March of what is intended to be an annual dinner in recognition of gay and lesbian graduates and Army cadets. Gay students at the U.S. Naval Academy were able to take same-sex dates to the academy’s Ring Dance for third-year midshipmen.
Panetta said last month that military leaders had concluded that repeal had not affected morale or readiness. A report to Panetta with assessments from the individual military service branches said that as of May 1 they had seen no ill effects.
“I don’t think it’s just moving along smoothly, I think it’s accelerating faster than we even thought the military would as far as progress goes,” said Air Force 1st Lt. Josh Seefried, a finance officer and co-director of OutServe.
He said acceptance has been broad among straight service members and has put a spotlight on unequal treatment that gays continue to receive in some areas. “We are seeing such tremendous progress in how much the military is accepting us, but not only that — in how much the rank and file is now understanding the inequality that’s existing right now,” he said.
That’s a reference to the fact that same-sex couples aren’t afforded spousal health care, assignments to the same location when they transfer to another job, and other benefits. There was no immediate change to eligibility standards for military benefits in September. All service members already were entitled to certain things, such as designating a partner as one’s life insurance beneficiary or as designated caregiver in the Wounded Warrior program.
As for other benefits still not approved, the department began a review after repeal with an eye toward possibly extending eligibility, consistent with the federal Defense of Marriage Act and other applicable laws, to the same-sex partners of military personnel.
“The department is carefully and deliberately reviewing the benefits from a policy, fiscal, legal and feasibility perspective,” Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Thursday.
Gay marriage has been perhaps the most difficult issue.
Though chaplains on bases in some states are allowed to hold what the Pentagon officials call “private services” — they don’t use the words wedding or marriage — such unions do not garner marriage benefits because the Defense of Marriage Act says marriage is between a man and a woman.
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was in force for 18 years, and its repeal was a slow and deliberate process.
President Obama on Dec. 22, 2010, signed legislation repealing it. Framing the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied, Obama said, “We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot ... a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal.”
The military then did an assessment for several months to certify that the forces were prepared to implement it in a way that would not hurt military readiness. And it held training for its 2.25 million-person force to inform everyone of the coming change and what was expected.
Wonder how many millions of our defense dollars will be taken away from what our troops need out in the field so that we can develop and deliver this new sensitivity training. I'm feeling sick to my stomach.
Permalink Reply by Harry Riley on June 18, 2012 at 11:50am The defense chief also said he’s committed to removing as many barriers as possible to making the military a model of equal opportunity. I can assure the defense chief that patriots are more committed to removing him as defense chief than he is pandering to the immoral abyss...the defense chief is a barrier to a military model of national defense........what a disgusting reflection leadership...
Harry, didn't Obama install Panetta himself just a few months ago? What do you think was Obama's impetus for doing this and removing Gates? My view, he knew he could manipulate the military more easily with Panetta than through Gates. So, if my view is correct, we have our target...Panetta. He MUST be removed form his position immediately, as he is partisan and NOT an independent post answerable to neither political party. It is absolutely imperative that OUR military stays OURS! We cannot allow the people who are destroying our country to now destroy and pervert OUR military. Not only for the institution that it is, but also because these people are in control of the most powerful assembly of weapons the world has ever known! WE, REAL-AMERICANS, must stay in control of OUR military and be proud of who, what, and why they are.
Permalink Reply by Harry Riley on June 19, 2012 at 8:43am Steve.....Yes, Obama pulled Panetta from CIA and installed him in DOD......my concern is not so much with the political operative Panetta as it is with the "weak-kneed" flag officers......Chairman of Joint Chiefs, Army Chief of Staff, et al. They are the ones that should be falling on their swords, resigning in mass.....or getting in Panetta's and Obama's face and demanding of them "cease and desist" on your destructive policies or we will forcibly remove you. In short, a coup. This is the only short term fix for the mess we're in.....and it's my opinion. But, I would support a coup until we could have free elections.
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