Reply #9: This needs to be publicized widely. Policy also promotes blackmail

[Nothing Without Hope]

For another thread on this Boston Globe article, without the video clip and the direct link to the GAO report but with some good comments, see here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=221&topic_id=7944
Title: "Now there are numbers: Pentagon anti-gay policy forced out skilled troops"

See especially a comment about the actual experience of a gay soldier with valuable training. It will dismay you. I will now post a link to this current thread in that earlier one so that people can continue the discussion here.

Two additional points we should keep in mind:

1. This policy not only has undermined military readiness as expected and now documented in the GAO report, it directly increases probability of security breaches due to blackmail. The current Pentagon policy actually ENCOURAGES STAYING CLOSETED, and it is a thoroughly documented fact as well as common sense that it is the closeted people who are the security risk because of their vulnerability to blackmail.

2. This information needs to be part of a massive and well-planned reframing process to END the officially sanctioned persecution of gays in this country. This is a subject that truly needs serious discussion at DU. We have facts, they have hate- and fear-mongering. How can we counter them? We need psychologists, religious figures, sociologists, many other people to put together a campaign to counter the anti-gay fear that keeps getting whipped up by the demagogues. Again, I suggest reading the comments on this in the other thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=221&topic_id=7944#7947

Recommended for Greatest. The other thread was there for a while, now it's time for this one to take up the story. Let's keep it kicked.