Gay Soldier Booed at Republican Debate

[Saya]

During the Republican debate Thursday night, host Megyn Kelly dropped a YouTube clip on Rick Santorum: a question from Stephen Hill, a soldier in Iraq who, up until this week, had to "lie about who [he] was" in order to serve in the army.

Santorum provided Hill no succor, saying that the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" injected "social engineering" into the military.

SANTORUM: I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military. The fact they are making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege to, and removing don't ask don’t tell. I think tries to inject social policy into the military. And the military's job is to do one thing: to defend our country...
KELLY: What would you do with soldiers like Stephen Hill?
SANTORUM: What we are doing is playing social experimentation with our military right now. That’s tragic. I would just say that going forward we would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be re-instituted as far as people in, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration. But we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past. Which was- sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself whether you are heterosexual or homosexual.

Of course, the big news of the exchange will once again be about an audience reaction. After Fox cut back from the clip of Hill, several members of the audience were heard, in a shocking demonstration of disrespect for one of our soldiers, lustily booing him. Very sad.

Sidenote: Fred Karger responded to that exchange by telling the Huffington Post, "Santorum is truly nuts. Just Google him. Congress repealed DADT. Federal court found it unconstitutional."

UPDATE: After the debate, Talking Points Memo reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro caught up with Jon Huntsman. When asked about the incident, Huntsman said the booing was "unfortunate." McMorris-Santoro also talked to a Perry representative, who used similar language, calling it "very unfortunate."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...comm_ref=false

I support the troops! At least the straight ones!

The line "keep it to yourself if you are heterosexual or homosexual" burns me. People didn't get kicked out because people figured out that they were straight. They'll even give you extra money if you marry someone of the opposite sex! So why is it that gay soldiers are the ones burdened with silence?

[Versus]

Originally Posted by Saya

So why is it that gay soldiers are the ones burdened with silence?

Because it's a convenient excuse and rationalization to hide blatantly obvious homophobia.

[Sir Canvas Corpsey]

Originally Posted by Versus

Because it's a convenient excuse and rationalization to hide blatantly obvious homophobia.

You make me smile.

What sexuality has to do with putting teeth in walls I don't know.

[Versus]

Originally Posted by Sir Canvas Corpsey

What sexuality has to do with putting teeth in walls I don't know.

I don't remember talking about that. I must have been drunk.

[Sir Canvas Corpsey]

Originally Posted by Versus

I don't remember talking about that. I must have been drunk.

I distinctly remember a rather fun conversation we once had where you described the difference between different weapons describing one as "Shit there's a hole in my head" and another as "Lol my teeth are stuck in the wall"

[Corpsey]

I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of munitions that the part of the Army Versus works for leave your teeth in the wall.

[Versus]

*cough*

The kind of naivete that Santorum expresses isn't realistic at all. Behind closed doors, the military has a very alpha male/dudebro atmosphere and is anything but professional when nobody is looking. To stand on the position of "Well, you shouldn't be talking about sex at all!" is asinine. The military shouldn't have more sexual assaults and suicides then the civilian sector, but money is still poured into programs to raise awareness and protect soldiers from them. There's no reason that homosexuals shouldn't be offered the same, especially considering that the bigotry in this country runs so deep that it's acceptable to openly disapprove of somebody specifically because they're gay at a political function.

Further, it's not social experimentation. The military doesn't try a shoe on to see if it fits like that. It's more like "This is the way it is, fucking deal with it." It'll be the same thing when women are allowed to enlist as combat arms.

But anyway, we got the "it's okay to be gay" brief the other day. It was very... brief. He just read the policy letter and we went back to work. DADT being repealed isn't very relevant in a combat zone, and nobody really cares about that stuff out here. I'm sure it's making a big fuss in the ranks back in the states, though.

[Versus]

I'm wondering if was being too quick to come to conclusions. I remembered when I heard about it, my first thought was "Well, what was Stephen Hill's question?" After I heard it, I couldn't find anything unreasonable about it so I assumed it was because he was gay, but I guess it's being reported that there is more to it then that. Some have scrutinized the incident and claim that the booing started after the question, not when he introduced himself as a gay soldier, and also that it was only from a few people and that they were apparently scolded for it.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gop-...extStoryFlyout

Now I can't help but wonder if it was a story that was spun to discredit republicans. In my mind, it's just as likely an occurrence as the initial report.

Santorum is still naive, but the republican party has something to save face with, at least.

[Versus]

Originally Posted by Corpsey

I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of munitions that the part of the Army Versus works for leave your teeth in the wall.

[Sir Canvas Corpsey]

Oh Versus, whenever I see pics of you I spray and pray.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Versus

I'm wondering if was being too quick to come to conclusions. I remembered when I heard about it, my first thought was "Well, what was Stephen Hill's question?" After I heard it, I couldn't find anything unreasonable about it so I assumed it was because he was gay, but I guess it's being reported that there is more to it then that. Some have scrutinized the incident and claim that the booing started after the question, not when he introduced himself as a gay soldier, and also that it was only from a few people and that they were apparently scolded for it.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gop-...extStoryFlyout

Now I can't help but wonder if it was a story that was spun to discredit republicans. In my mind, it's just as likely an occurrence as the initial report.

Santorum is still naive, but the republican party has something to save face with, at least.

I can't find any report that they were scolded, just Biden saying they should have been scolded. The Fox News moderator is taking the "they were booing the question" stance, but if it was anyone else, would they have booed? The question itself is neutral, but setting up the question as a gay man, who would be negatively affected by the reinstatement of DADT, they might have guessed that he was asking from the point that DADT wasn't a good thing, my good sir.

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