"What other rational reason could there be for firing the ~50th Arabic linguist for nothing more than being gay?"

Because homosexual conduct is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the military is therefore legally obligated to discharge or relieve any soldier that is openly gay. The UCMJ can only be revised by Congress; the "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" Policy is often characterized as the military being retarded, but the military does not have the power to change it.

50 arabic lingusts were gay, and found out..?! Wow. No wonder he enjoyed his work...

That aside, I must say - the whole gay-ban in the US military seems to be really, really wrong, dumb and close-minded... I mean, foreigners are supposed to be able to serve in order to earn "points" towards immigration, women are (as of course they should be) allowed to serve, but homosexuals are suddenly dangerous?! What exactly is the threat, there? Anyone knows how old that clause is?

"What exactly is the threat, there? Anyone knows how old that clause is?"

The UCMJ dates back to the '50s but I'm sure provisions against homosexuals in the military date back even further. The UCMJ is stricter and harsher legal code than that applied to the civilian populace; the idea is that lawful bearers of arms must adhere to a higher standard of moral and ethical behavior if they are to be entrusted with a military responsibility. As such, behavior that is perfectly legal in the civilian world (such as adultery) can result in prison time for military personnel. The provisions in the UCMJ against homosexual conduct are a throw back to a time when homosexuality and sodomy were widely considered morally degenerate. These days I think the general US populace is still uncomfortable with seeing two men kissing, for example, but the only people who seem to believe that homosexuality is truly degenerate and immoral is the Christian Right.

Bottom Line: the UCMJ is meant to enforce good moral and ethical conduct on US military personnel. The provisions against homosexuality date back to when society considered homosexuality immoral, but society has since moved on. The UCMJ however has not been revised by Congress to reflect the new moral standard of society.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

That's really messed up.

The second she said patriotic she lost all credibility as well.

Didn't private Benjamin get seduced by Stephen Colbert a while back on the sift? Oh well, viacom probably removed the vid.

It wasn't Stephen Colbert... it was another reporter whose name escapes me, but it was a hella funny segment, I believe he used a thumping techno track and his own manly back-fat to distract the young private during a routine arabic translation, thus 'proving' that homosexuals were incapable of fulfilling their duties in combat! Ah Daily Show

The clip you're referring to was from The Daily Show. It was definitely on the Sift, though I can't remember the name of the correspondent who did the clip. It's not Arash and it's one of the newer reporters.

According to presidential hopeful John "Fluffy" Edwards, evil Republicans invented the war on terror to seize oil.

There's no such thing as islamonazis. Go back to sleep.

Ho-mo-sek-shuls are sapping our national Vital Bodily Fluids!

And besides, God says they're eeevil.
So there.

aka the cut off your nose to spite your face policy

"this video is private"

anyone else getting that?

same here - YT user must have made it private since it was posted here.


*dead

This published video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by jonny.

Awarding rasch187 with one Power Point for fixing this video's dead embed code.

*dead again

This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by Sagemind.