Military indoctrinated on gays kissing, behavior

Rowan Scarborough The Washington Times 03/22/2011 21:57

Joint Chief Vice Chairman Gen. James E. Cartwright, right, accompanied by Defense Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley, conduct a media briefing at the Pentagon to discuss the progress of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal implementation effort.

Four branches of the military have begun sending training material to 2.2 million active and reserve troops as a prelude to opening the ranks to gays, with instructions on, for example, what to do if an officer sees two male Marines kissing in a shopping mall.

Key themes are that sexual orientation will no longer be a bar to service, that all service members must respect each other, and that the partners of gay troops will not receive the benefits of heterosexual spouses.

“We are going to make [gay ban] repeal training expeditiously,” said Maj. Joel Harper, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon. “It’s great training.”

The briefings first target commanders, who will have to enforce the new law and deal with disputes, and then the entire force. The slides, vignettes and talking points by the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps are similar.

The Marine Corps, which a Pentagon survey found holds deep opposition to lifting the ban, plans to publicly release its training material April 1. A Marine source provided copies to The Washington Times.

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