What exactly is the military rule on homosexuality?

Factual Questions
1

I know they cannot ask and you do not have to tell, what would make someone ineligible to be in the military? Can you be bisexual? What if you identify as homosexual, but have never had sex and never plan to because you have decided to be celibate? What if you are a man who engages in a MMF threesomes with only minimal contact with the other man? What if is slightly more than minimal contact? IS there a black and white line?

2

Yes, I think there is. More knowledgeable folk will be along shortly, but in the meantime, I believe it is homosexual BEHAVIOR rather than gay identity, per se, that is against regulations. The problem with a celibate gay man is, how do you know he’s really celibate? Well, if you don’t ask and don’t tell, the illusion is safe. Likewise a married heterosexual man with seventeen children who has a one-off with another guy in a restroom in the Minneapolis airport, which will never happen again, is still violating the same policy.

3

One of the questions they used to ask is: Are you a homosexual?

Now, if you were a bisexual and comfortable with lying, I suppose that was your perogative. However the military has its own.

With the don’t ask, don’t tell, they don’t ask, and you don’t tell. So, how would they know if you had secret longings for other men? If you told a friend who told them? It’s a gray area, and they might let you go…

But if they find out?

Bisexual? Out
Homosexual leanings? Out
MMF threesomes? No, unless you were catching. (Ahem)

And all of this is contingent on you keeping your mouth shut (Ahem)

I’m done…

4

There are three components to the military policy.

  1. Don’t ask - the military is explicitly barred from asking servicemembers and potential servicemembers what their sexual orientation is.

  2. Don’t tell - servicemembers are explicitly barred from stating that they are non-heterosexual. Doing so creates a “rebuttable presumption” that the member will engage in homosexual conduct. They are also explicitly barred from marrying or attempting to marry someone of the same sex. If a member “tells,” the military is free to conduct an inquiry and may find that the member is non-heterosexual and has engaged in homosexual conduct (which will result in a discharge), that the member is homosexual but has not engaged and will not engage in homosexual conduct (in which case the member may be retained) or that the member is heterosexual (retained). In practice, very few people who have self-identified as homosexual have been retained following the inquiry.

  3. Don’t pursue - the military may not engage in the sort of witch hunts they used to in the pre-DADT days. They are, however, permitted to conduct investigations on the basis of credible information that they happen to get (a member is spotted by another member engaging in homosexual conduct and is reported, for instance).

There is no black and white line because the decision to initiate an investigation lies IIRC with the member’s commanding officer. If you tell your commander or whoever that you’re gay, he may start the process or he may ignore you completely, or he may back-burner it if there’s a war on but then investigate later. Historically, discharges for homosexuality have tended to drop during times of war but increase once the need for troops has diminished.

5

But if the investigation is initiated that have to reach a finding that will get you kicked out. What I am trying to find out is what finding will get you kicked out.

6

From what my young friend who’s stationed in Iraq right now says you can pretty much bone another guy up the ass in the middle of a parade ground and they still won’t let you go home. If sucking dick would get a guy home even with bad paper there’d be a storm of cocksucking the likes of which you could never imagine and the brass knows it. I have no idea how much of that is hyperbole, but I do know my young friend really, REALLY hates it there and it appeared as though he’d given the subject quite a bit more thought than seems strictly healthy for a hetero male.

7

Well, it seems like a less drastic approach to getting sent home than the old technique of shooting yourself in the foot…

8

**a storm of cocksucking the likes of which you could never imagine **

Thanks for that phrase. That’s a precious gem, that is. I’m going to have to work that into my party banter…

9

The finding that will get you discharged, as I mentioned, is that you’re a homosexual who has engeged in or has a propensity to engage in homosexual acts.

10

I’m curious. Does don’t ask, don’t tell apply to Med Students who are pledged to the military for a number of years in exchange for first paying for med school? As I understand it, the med student doesn’t actually become a member of the military until after Med-4 is over and done with. So how does that work exactly?

11

There is at least one case in which a doctor was discharged before he reported for active duty, but there are a number of other issues that cloud that particular case. I don’t recall the outcome of that case; it may still be in the courts for all I know.

12

My cite above was from 2000. This one is from 2003.

13

Interesting…guess I should hold off on committing to the Navy till HilObama and Congress reverse DADT…just to be on the safe side.

14

I have heard that if you get the military to pay for your education and then you tell them you gay you are on the hook to pay them back, but if someone outs you to the military you do not have to pay them back. Anybody know if this is true?

15

Depends. What fucking country are you talking about.

(Yeah, it’s my pet peeve.)

16

Isn’t the US the only NATO member that still bans (out) gays and lesbians from the military?

17

The official stance is SAM will get you kicked out.

S: Statements along the lines of “I am a homosexual.” “I will engage in homosexual acts”
A: Acts. If you have been reliably observed engaging in homosexual acts.
M: Marriage if you attempt to marry a person of the same sex as you.

FTR, if you received any incentives for enlistment, such as a cash bonus or loan repayment, you will forfeit that incentive if you are discharged with anything other than an honorable discharge.

SSG Schwartz

18

Is a MMF threesome a homosexual act?

19

And what the policy on engaging in sexual acts with a transgendered person?

20

FTR, I knew a couple of kids in boot camp who tried to get kicked out by making out publicly. It didn’t work. There’s a war on, you know.

That pings my UL-meter big time.

Depends. When will you find the question mark key. When will you apply a nanosecond of your brain’s computing time and figure out that anyone asking about a plan called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is probably from THE FUCKING COUNTRY WITH A POLICY IN PLACE BY THAT NAME.