Soldier: Policy on gays may be shifting

[Saguaro]

WASHINGTON - Even if no one is asking, Army Sgt. Darren Manzella has been telling anyone who'll listen that he's gay — without serious retribution so far from the military. Manzella, a medic who served in Iraq and Kuwait, has acknowledged his sexual orientation in national media interviews and again on Tuesday in a Washington news conference.

"This is who I am. This is my life," said Manzella, who received a combat medical badge for his service in Iraq. "It has never affected my job performance before. I don't think it will make a difference now. And to be honest since then, I don't see a difference because of my homosexuality."

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said Manzella's case demonstrates the military is arbitrarily enforcing its "don't ask, don't tell" policy now that the country is at war.

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibits active-duty service members from openly acknowledging whether they are gay or lesbian.

Manzella still could be investigated now that he has left the battlefield. Every time he has said he is gay publicly can be counted as a violation of the policy, one of his attorneys said.

Manzella first told a military supervisor about his sexual orientation in August 2006 while he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, and working in division headquarters. Three weeks after Manzella made the revelation, his battalion commander told him an investigation had been closed without finding "proof of homosexuality."

A month later, Manzella was redeployed for the war in Iraq.

Paul Boyce Jr., an Army spokesman, said he was unaware of an investigation of Manzella being opened or closed. He said the investigation would have been done by Manzella's Fort Hood unit, and officials there are on leave and unavailable to discuss the case.

"This particular soldier's unit only recently returned from the war to Fort Hood, Texas, so it's premature to speculate on any future actions until the young man's situation can be considered by his chain of command," Boyce said in a statement.

Manzella, originally from Portland, N.Y., returned from the Middle East last month and went on leave shortly before Christmas. He will return to the 1st Cavalry Division at Ford Hood at the end of the month.

A bill to eliminate the military's sexual orientation policy, filed by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., is pending in Congress. Sarvis said the bill is unlikely to get out of committee during this election year, but hearings could be held.

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, said Manzella's commanders should have discharged him when they learned he was gay. Her group opposes allowing gays to join the military.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080109/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_gays;_ylt=AuQ0ixJwiVbX5LsBKLJ7TvCs0NUE

[Oceanbreeze]

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/gns_gaytroops_080108/


At least 500 troops openly gay, group says

By Andrea Stone - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Jan 9, 2008 6:09:37 EST

Army Sgt. Darren Manzella figured that stating he was gay on national television would surely get him booted from the military under the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. But Manzella has heard nothing in the three weeks since he told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that his fellow soldiers knew he was gay and the program aired a home video that showed him kissing a former boyfriend.

“I thought I would at least be asked about the segment or approached and told I shouldn’t speak to the media again,” said Manzella, 30, a medic who recently returned from Kuwait and plans to hold a news conference Tuesday in Washington to discuss the military’s silence.

He said he is among a growing number of service members who have told other troops and even commanders they are gay and have not been discharged.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay advocacy group, says it knows of about 500 gay troops who are serving openly without consequences.

“That’s the highest number we’ve ever been aware of,” said SLDN spokesman Steve Ralls. “Their experiences point to an undeniable shift in the armed forces.”

Manzella said he was invited to join more than 600 members of an invitation-only MySpace group, Guys and Gals Like Us, for gays who don’t hide their orientation from their units. The members use pseudonyms because some gay service members have been discharged for acknowledging their sexual orientation elsewhere online.
Nearly 12,000 troops have been dismissed under the policy approved by President Clinton in 1993. Discharges peaked at 1,273 in 2001 and have fallen sharply since the war began.

“A lot of service members are getting ‘wink-wink’ treatment from their commanders,” said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which studies the policy.

Elaine Donnelly, whose Center for Military Readiness favors a ban on gays, said “skepticism is in order” about reports that they are serving openly without sanctions. She said she has been “bothering” commanders at Manzella’s base, Fort Hood, Texas, to take action since the “60 Minutes” piece aired.

“We have yet to get an answer,” she said. “His commanders should be disciplined appropriately for failing to do their duty.”

Manzella, who earned a Combat Medical Badge for service in Baghdad, said he’s been open about his sexuality for 18 months, adding that he told his commander he was gay because he was getting anonymous e-mails threatening to expose him. The Army investigated in August 2006 and viewed the video that showed his boyfriend.

After all that, “They found ‘no evidence of homosexuality,’” Manzella said. “They recommended that I just go back and keep doing my job.”

He soon headed to Kuwait for his second Iraq war deployment.

Col. Diane Battaglia, a Fort Hood spokeswoman, said Manzella’s commanders were unavailable for comment because his unit was re-deploying from the Middle East. But, she said, “There’s always an investigation conducted” when a soldier declares he’s gay.

Army spokesman Paul Boyce said the “policy is public law, and it is being enforced.” It’s not illegal to be gay in the military, he points out, as long as a service member keeps quiet.
Eugene Fidell of the National Institute of Military Justice, a group of military legal experts, wonders whether the dwindling number of discharges suggests broader implications for the policy.

“Is it dying basically for lack of interest?” he asked. “Military managers may be turning a blind eye because it’s a nuisance, and we need these people.”

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[BartonX]

We need them??? I say round them up and drop them behind enemy lines. When I read the title I thought it concerned festive , decent people not a bunch of homos.:mw

[Semantics]

It’s not illegal to be gay in the military as long as you don't say, "I'm gay" :lol



It really makes no sense and I hope we see more progress with this issue.

[Saguaro]

Geezz.. what a dumb thing to say Barton

[Semantics]

We need them??? I say round them up and drop them behind enemy lines. When I read the title I thought it concerned festive , decent people not a bunch of homos.:mw

I'm sure they'd proudly go, Barton. Not because they are "homos", but because it's what they signed up to do.