The winner of nine air medals for distinguished service in flight, including one for heroism the night U.S. forces captured Baghdad International Airport in 2003, Fehrenbach is in the process of getting kicked out of the military a year after an acquaintance told his bosses he was gay. [...] Obama “was someone who had experienced discrimination firsthand and that’s why I had a lot of faith,” Fehrenbach said. “I thought, OK I can fight this, and maybe by January Obama could be inaugurated and this won’t matter. That hasn’t happened.”

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an advocacy group seeking equal treatment of gays in the military, estimates that more than 200 service members have been discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell” since Obama was sworn into office. [...] Most of the estimated 13,000 service members discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell” since the law was enacted in 1993 have opted to leave quietly and close the final chapter of their military careers in private. Groups calling for the repeal of the ban, however, say Fehrenbach is among a growing number who are going public with a newfound sense of urgency.

In September, Fehrenbach had decided to accept an honorable discharge and waive his right to a military hearing, where he would have to lie about being gay in order to stay in the Air Force. He refused. [...]

“I will fight this in uniform and I’ll fight it without,” Fehrenbach said. “I swore an oath to defend and support the Constitution, I’m going to speak out and fight this until the law is repealed because it is not constitutional.”

He said “don’t ask, don’t tell” denies American service members their constitutional right to privacy, due process and equal protection, and forces them to lie about who they are when honesty is part of the code they serve under. [...]

Obama’s top advisers want the president to move more slowly in overturning the policy than many gay-rights activists would like, citing other priorities including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We have a lot on our plate right now,” retired Marine Gen. James Jones, the White House’s national security adviser, said this month.

On the other side of the debate, the Michigan-based Center for Military Readiness gathered signatures earlier this year from more than 1,000 retired military officers urging the president and Congress to keep the ban. “It’s really not fair to the women and men of our armed forces to be part of this social experiment,” said center president Elaine Donnelly. “Military life is difficult enough without having this additional burden. This is harmful to good order and discipline and morale.”

Personally I couldn’t care less — the only interest I have in army related matters are certain movies I have, ahem, accidentally downloaded from torrent sites — but I applaud people like Lt. Col. Fehrenbach for no longer going away quietly. This is the only way to get DADT repelled, I believe — not voting for Obama, Clinton or McCain and hoping miracles will happen but actually showing America the people they lose. Translators from Arabic? Winners of medals for outstanding service? Who cares? They’re FAGS. What Ms. Donnelly doesn’t seem to realise is that — as the case of Victor Fehrenbach proves — gays ARE in the army. The fact that she can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. For 18 years Victor Fehrenbach kept his private life private; his straight colleagues didn’t have to do anything such. Now he is being fired — not for molesting anyone, for destroying the morals that Ms. Donnelly cares so much about, but for the simple fact of having been outed by someone. 18 years of service? Who gives a fuck. We have discipline and morale to protect! (And many more gay soldiers and officers to hurt by not allowing them to live in the open.)

I never expected Obama to do wonders. There are voices already saying “we shouldn’t have voted for him”, which strike me as idiotic — as if McCain would have done much more. Perhaps Clinton would have. We don’t know that. But while the wait continues and White House “has other things on its plate”, the White House spokesman continues to not ask and not tell much about the policy and plans regarding it, lives get ruined and careers wasted. If the measure gets repelled sometime, I will cheer Obama for that. If it doesn’t… I think it might not be a good idea to campaign for the second term saying “but really this time we will, like, totally bring the change, just give me five more years”.

Here are some pretty self-explanatory pictures. (But in case they are not self-explanatory enough… the people getting arrested are the parade members, not the disruptors.)

More here. (Click “Nastepne” for next pic or thumbnails on the bottom.)

Viva la straight Eurovision!