One More Reason

As if we needed one more  reason to despise the "United Nations", here comes their latest atrocity. They've decided that it's just fine for governments to murder their citizens for the "crime" of being gay or lesbian.

The United Nations has removed a plea for lesbians, gays and bisexuals not to be executed in a narrow vote.

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But now sexual orientation has been taken out of the list. The amendment was supported by Benin in Africa on behalf of the African Group in the UN General Assembly. It passed on a narrow vote of 79 for, 70 against , 17 abstentions and 26 absent.


Some of those voting to remove sexual orientation were countries where gays are known to be or thought to be executed or summarily killed including Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iraq.


The UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and many European countries voted in favour of gays.

We didn't really need further proof that the UN was being overrun by savages and those who hate anything outside of their collectives, but we got it anyway. The time is long past when we should have torn that edifice to collectivism down and salted the earth it stood upon, as an example to everyone around the world. Sadly, the UN has decided to sign death warrants for thousands of people around the world. The inmates are running the asylum in New York. It's time we sent these slavers back to their own countries.

The Government Moves Fast

When it wishes to, that is. It looks as if Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Knight is going to be discharged again. In what appears to be a retaliatory move for speaking out about being gay and being recalled to service in the US Navy the US Navy has announced that they are now going to "fire" him for being gay.

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Navy has informed Petty Officer Second Class Jason Knight that it intends to fire him under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law just weeks prior to completing his one-year commitment. Knight, an openly gay sailor, was recalled to active duty in June 2006 and recently completed a tour of duty in Kuwait, where he was open about his sexual orientation with his command and fellow sailors. Knight told his story last weekend in the newspaper Stars & Stripes and was notified yesterday that he will be receiving an honorable discharge from the Navy based, in part, on his recent media interviews. Knight was scheduled to end his commitment on May 28, 2007, but will face early dismissal because he chose to go public about his experience.

This is a sad commentary on the US military and their stance towards gay and lesbian Americans, but shows without doubt the ability of the military to move quickly when they're being shown up. If FEMA had been able to respond even a fraction as quickly as the Pentagon did in this case, the the government response to the devastation of the Gulf Coast would be a distant memory by now.

Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, Iraq, Gay Rights

Don't Ask, Do Tell?

Well, it looks like the powers that be in the Pentagon are so desperate for warm bodies that they are recalling people to duty whom they have previously discharged for being gay.

On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had fought against for years: he was gay.

Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he’d married. And when it came time to explain his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.

But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.

How bad must things be in the military that this is occurring? Under normal circumstances I would applaud the decision the allow any gay member of the services to be allowed to serve, (if they wished), but given the current state of affairs in the military this should be cause for concern. Obviously things have deteriorated to the point where the Pentagon is blatantly violating their own regulations in order to meet manpower needs. There can be little doubt that this, combined with other recent events such as lowering standards for admission into the services is a strong indicator that things are much worse than we might have thought. Things are likely to become much worse.

Mr. Knight likes being in the Navy and hopes he can stay beyond his 365 day recall, but the spectre of a return to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" discharges hangs like the Sword of Damocles over his head. As a now openly gay member of the military he serves at the pleasure of those above him. While we may hope that this does signal a change to a more enlightened and liberty oriented policy, the reality is likely a symbol of the continuing degradation of the US military in Iraq. Hopefully, Mr. Knight will see his dream come true and he will be the first of many openly gay soldiers and sailors who will get to serve out their terms. My most fervent wish is that they get to do so in a new peacetime force, far from the fields of war.

Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, Gay Rights, Iraq, Iraq War