Comments on: Santorum to gay soldier: ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal is ‘tragic’

By: Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Rick Santorum’s Views on Church and State Make My Brain Vomit

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:51:24 +0000

[...] no gays in the military —or anywhere, really… just go ahead and stop being gay altogether (and you probably shouldn’t even vote for me if you are); [...]

By: Sick of the hate

Sick of the hate — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:00:49 +0000

Screw Rick Santorum and the rest of those numb nuts self righteous GOP candidates. I don’t think mainstream America sees those attitudes as anything more than prejudice. Most of America knows someone that’s gay, lesbian, bi or trans. That translates into sympathy or empathy for them. So when they hear the GOP barfing up their anti-everything attitude it sounds really ugly and most voters just don’t want to vote for that.

By: Robert T.G.

Robert T.G. — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:40:14 +0000

So many gay people just don’t get it. To many straights, acting “natural” for them is perfectly normal, while allowing gays to “act gay” is seen as an entirely unnecessary special privilege. They will tell you that gays have the exact same rights as straights: for example, a gay man has just as much right to marry a woman as any straight man does. (Yes, this is a real argument that is often used.) A gay service-member has exactly the same right as a straight service-member to engage in casual small-talk about sex and/or potential partners, in that they are both free to speak openly about heteronormative relations. See? The gays want SPECIAL rights that no one else can have! How can you tolerate that kind of unfairness?

By: Vinny B

Vinny B — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:35:14 +0000

So many straight people just don’t get it. The issue has nothing to with sex ad everything to do with the ability to be honest. Santorum says that homosexuals and heterosexuals alike should “keep it to themselves” but anyone who has ever worked with other people knows that is comes up in the simplest of ways. Coworkers tend to make small talk with one another and ask and talk about husbands, wives girlfriends, and families. If a straight man is asked by a coworker “what did you do this weekend”, and responded “i saw a movie with my girlfriend” that would be no big deal. Can you imagine getting fired for such an answer? Well, under DADT, if that man gave the same harmless answer, but instead said “I saw a movie with my boy friend” he would be fired. So you are placed in a situation where you have to lie to your coworkers or lose your job, in a job where the ability to trust one another is a matter of life and death. But, heterosexuals can be open and honest with out any fear at all. That is special treatment. Allowing homosexuals the same freedom to be honest is not special treatment, it is simply giving them the same rights and privileges that their heterosexual counterparts have always had.

By: Ned Flaherty

Ned Flaherty — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:13:16 +0000

In this side-by-side comparison, 13 presidential candidates show their plans for DADT, equal pay for military personnel, DOMA, and related issues: [URL removed]

By: JC

JC — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:44:48 +0000

His argument isn’t even logical. If having gays serve openly is actually bad for the military, he should SUPPORT kicking out people (like me) who have come out since the repeal.

If he’s going to “waive” that for select people, then he’s effectively saying that gays in the military aren’t really *that* big of a deal.

Logic fail.

By: laurelboy2

laurelboy2 — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:47:49 +0000

Now that there is a Blade moderator of comments, would s/he please correct grammar and spelling before posting? Grammar/Spelling mistakes take me completely off track and ruin the romance of the writer’s/Blade’s words.

By: hhrn

hhrn — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:36:18 +0000

Oh, the backtracking of politicians. He and the other cronies up on that platform exercised cowardice and now claim selective deafness. Good grief. Find them a rock to climb under. Thank you all enlisted military. You do not deserve these idiots. I think this is the party that likes to send you to war, selectively only honor those they choose, want to short change you on post tramatic injuries related to war, cut your benefits, and so on. Oh yeah, they like to wave the flag, watch fireworks and eat ice cream on the 4th of July, just for you. Just don’t ask them to help you with injuries from warfare, mental health due to post traumatic stress syndrome, education, employment, or any of thos other nasty topics that government shouldn’t be involved in or fund.

By: Rick Mangus

Rick Mangus — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:31:12 +0000

Santorum opposes gays in the military, considering this clown never served one hour in the arm services of this country, so shut-up Ricky!

By: Michael Bedwell

Michael Bedwell — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:53:19 +0000

OF COURSE it was repulsive, and OF COURSE I hope it torpedoes the chances of ANY of them getting elected. BUT understandable anger or even another insincere apology from Santorum and the GOP statement that it was “unfortunate” doesn’t solve the REAL problem that the soldier got ridiculed for asking: SOMEONE being willing SOMEDAY to use the present legal void to reinstate a ban on gays in the military. THAT’s what we need a fix for—not imagining that righteous indignation will turn a sow’s ear like Santorum into a silk purse.

Their the disease—HERE’s the cure: OBAMA could easily and immediately prevent renewal of a ban FOREVER by doing exactly what he has re DOMA cases: stop fighting and instead ENDORSE to the court the LCR ruling. In fact, the reason the 9th reinstated the temporary ban on investigations and discharges in July was because they were aware of his having reversed himself on DOMA cases.

“The job of the gay community is not to deal with the extremist who would castrate us or put us on an island and drop an H-bomb on us. Our job is not to get those people who dislike us to love us. Nor was our aim in the civil rights movement to get prejudiced white people to love us. Our aim was to try to create the kind of America, legislatively, morally, and psychologically, such that even though some whites continued to hate us, they could not openly manifest that hate. That’s our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment.” – Bayard Rustin.