A Republican lawmaker in Oklahoma wants to reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the state’s National Guard, because “nobody except a couple of radical activists found any harm in the policy.”
State Rep. Mike Reynolds (R) introduced House Bill 2195, which he says is a response to requests by the state’s National Guard. The bill would amend the current state law to include a provision that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, like the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that officially ended last year.
“The main thing it will do is greatly encourage the morale of troops,” Reynolds said. “They have certainly contacted me and said ‘Hey we need this policy back.’”
“It doesn’t say if you are gay you cant join the military, if you are gay you cant be in the military, what it says is don’t go out there and promote it,” Reynolds said.
“It was a policy that was in place for 16 years and nobody except a couple of radical activists found any harm in the policy and as a pay off for those radical activist for helping him become elected, President Barack Obama chose to reverse the policy,” he continued, according to KXII.com.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the Human Rights Campaign and the Equality Network comdemned the bill and argued that it would go farther than the federal DADT policy. “The bill goes beyond the discrimination contained in the now-repealed DADT statute, and allows government officials to directly question someone about their sexual orientation - essentially removing the ‘Don’t Ask’ component contained in DADT.”
“Mike Reynolds has a long-standing history of representing fringe views that rarely have the best interests of all Oklahomans at heart,” said Equality Network chair Laura Belmonte. “This legislation is demoralizing to Oklahoma’s LGBT community and our supporters, and it sends a message that it is acceptable to discriminate against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
Further proof that conservatives are evil, and wish only to take rights from those different.
@tomthereporter And you call them narrowminded...
First of all, not all conservatives support this legislations. Second of all, as a country that models diversity, accepting others views as well as orientation is simply respecting anothers right of choice and preference. However, I find it astonishing how much intolerance is professed by those screaming interlorence. We would serve the interests of the masses much better by being the example rather than the hypocrite.
wichita67211tomthereporter You do realize you didn't actually say anything in your post, right? What, exactly, was your point?
No, he did not call them "narrowminded," he called them evil, which is merely a statement of fact.
This isn't about "choice" or "preference," as you so obtusely dodge the issue. It's about f#cking someone else's life inside out because you can't accept who they were born to be. That is the very definition of evil, in this case based upon pure, distilled, batsh!t religious insanity. Being "intolerant" of this, as you denigrate it, is sort of like being intolerant of lynching .. which is exactly what thousands of American citizens have suffered through because of abominable monsters such as yourself.
You are incapable of distinguishing between the intolerance that destroys lives and the intolerance of evil and mentally ill people that inflict horror onto their fellow men, their fellow citizens. You are completely mentally ill and unable to grasp fundamental reality. wichita67211 tomthereporter
What a bunch of backward ass, fucks! Suppression is their middle name - from voting rights to sexual preference - time for these dweebs to find their own country!
Allan J Krueger There is already a country fit for them, complete with total control of the government by the church. That country is Iran.
Is it just my inference, or is the preponderance of stupid in this nation located in Oklahoma and Arizona (with Kansas close behind)?
Do these people who wrap themselves in the constitution even have the remotest idea of what is all about.
Please make sure the president gets four more years!!!!
raygillies550 No and yes.
WAaaaaaaaaaaaah we lost but I still think I should get EVERYTHING I want.... WAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh THAT is all I hear from the GOP. I just wonder how sore they'll be when they lose big in 2012......
Sore enough to require a 55 gal. barrel of Preparation H. andrewrbussiere
Does this dipwad not know that the National Guard falls under federal jurisidiction and the UCMJ since the Militia Act of 1903? The state of Oklahoma CANNOT legally place any strictures on membership like this.
If Oklahoma wants a militia that bars LGBT people from joining, they can create a completely state funded and operated militia, like the Texas State Guard which is not affiliated with any federal level military force, unlike the National Guard.
Xyxox You'd think the fact that the word "National" appears in their name might give the Oklahoma Legislature a clue.....
It IS Oklahoma ... sort of like Texas, but more cornfed stupid. Cyberduckie Xyxox
Nobody but a couple of radical activists thinks Republicans in general — Rep. Mike Reynolds in particular — have anything of real lasting value to offer society, except more of the same tired, divisive dog-whistle calls and thinly-veiled bigoted, prejudiced thought forms from the 20th century. Conservatives will soon become extinct like the ossified, regressive tools of yesteryear that they are.
I want to meet these activists. You realize that TWO of them got Obama elected President...? It took five activists to sElect Bush in 2000. kunda311
<blockquote>...nobody except a couple of radical activists found any harm in the policy...</blockquote>
Yeah, "radical activists" like Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, John Shalikashvili, and David Petraeus...
slb You DO realize this was a policy supported by the joint Cheifs of Staff..... and Patreaus...... and Powell.......
Patreaus "I believe the time has come to consider a change to Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Watch the video.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/david-pet...
andrewrbussiereslb Please, don't confuse slb with the facts!
Allan J Kruegerandrewrbussiereslb Please, don't confuse yourselves by reading what slb ACTUALLY said.
“It doesn’t say if you are gay you cant join the military, if you are gay you cant be in the military, what it says is don’t go out there and promote it,” Reynolds said.
Yes, because that has been the biggest problem in the military - gay soldiers wearing large rainbow signboard advertising "Get Your Gayness Here! Specials for New Recruits!"
There is a stubborn strain of stupidity that is running straight up the middle of the country, from Texas to North Dakota. I wonder why that is?
They have a Fabulous Gay Brigade Parade every Sunday afternoon on all military installations around the world to lure all the other soldiers out of their Baby Jeebuz services and indoctrinate them into t3h Geh. PearlyWhite
Perhaps Mike Reynolds is saying more than he intended to about himself.
The bill is dead on arrival. This type of homophobic gay baiting has no place in Oklahoma or elsewhere.
outmilitary ha! never been to dopelahoma I guess.
But I wish your words were true.
Conservatives should be focused on the real issue in the 2012 election - the deficit. It now exceeds the size of the entire economy! http://www.thinkingabout2012.com/?p=242
geocolumbus If the deficit is part of the economy, how can it be bigger than the economy?
geocolumbus No, total debt (accrued since 1836 when it was last paid off )is now equal to one year of GDP. The deficit on the other hand is about 7% of GDP.
mndemgeocolumbus It's actually a little more complicated than that. What the media refers to as the debt, about $15 trillion, actually includes some $6 trillion that we owe ourselves, like what is owed to SS and Medicare, which are each about $2.5 trillion, as I understand. Economists consider the US debt to be about $9 trillion, as best I can figure out. Japan's debt is 200% of their GDP, and Japan can still borrow money just about as cheaply as the US and slightly cheaper than Germany, which has no significant debt, but has the euro.
dick_datamndemgeocolumbus Even referring to the federal debt as "debt" is misleading. The fed "borrows" from you if you buy a T-security, and is now indebted to you. It's just turning money from one form to another. The US has no need to borrow in order to spend, since it can literally pull money from thin air. All this rabble about the debt being "unsustainable" is nonsense. It's a boogeyman.
Particularly ironic given that it is well-known to drill instructors everywhere that only two things come from Oklahoma.
heh huh .. you said "drill instructor." heh heh, heh huh! NCSteve 3.0
well, it's about darn time the gop stopped wasting time on all those jobs bills ...
doesn't the National Guard ultimately fall under the command of the President? i know they answer to the Governor, but the President is their ultimate commander...
how about Obama just goes ahead and says "OK ...OK, so you don't want any gays in the OK National Guard, how about we just deploy all the OK NG units to...a couple different states...there, now you don't have to worry about the gays, because you have no NG troops in your state...have fun with the flooding and tornadoes!"
NerdRage The question of ultimate line of command is immaterial.
The Constitution reserves exclusively to the Federal Congress the power "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia". States have only the power to appoint officers and train according to the standards set forth by Congress.
It's right there in the enumerated powers the halfwits otherwise love to blabber on about so.
NerdRage Yes. Not to mention we could just pull their funding till they follow Federal Law.
If he's so concerned about the morale of the "troops," perhaps their transfer out of state should be approved when they ask for one. Then their morale will improve greatly.
"nobody except a couple of radical activists found any harm in the policy and as a pay off for those radical activist for helping him become elected, President Barack Obama chose to reverse the policy,”
"A couple of radical activists" helped Obama become President? No wonder the Okies are so scared. Those must be some powerful activists.
was just going to post something similar myself.
can't hear enough about that super-powerful gay lobby that gets everything they want....
spas485
spas485 I prefer being called a tubular activist.
spas485
Especially since they only make up 10% of the population. So they say...
pshipkeyspas485 Please, please: it's about 5%! We're a very exclusive category (though still larger than the 1%)
Wow...This could really hurt Oklahoma's booming tourist industry. You know, the one where all the local come to look at the tall buildings?
fargo116 Building.
Why bother?
"President Barack Obama chose to reverse the policy."That was Congress who voted on it, you dipshit.
I wish these people would just shut up. They are so behind the times it is unbelievable. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure this wouldn't pass muster with any court. They are, after all, the NATIONAL Guard.
What part about NATIONAL Guard don't you understand State Rep. Mike Reynolds? It's not you own private State army that you can set whatever policy for that you like.
What happens when the National Guard unit gets "activated"?
I am so glad that I live in the golden state, and not some backward swamp like oklahoma
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