I can’t even sign off for the night without screwing things up.
One more story worth linking to this evening… Army Specialist Jeff Howe, 32 years old, served two tours of duty in Iraq. He’s not in the Army anymore, though. An investigation into Howe’s private life-launched after he posted a photo of a vehicle that had blown up by a rocket on a blog (a blog that the Army asked him to create)-uncovered an Internet personal ad that Howe had written. He did not come out willingly. He did not “tell.”
A bit from the story up now at PlanetOut.com (via Rex Wockner):
Howe, 32, enlisted in the Army after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, taking a leave of absence from his job in corporate marketing. He was already open with family and friends about his sexuality, but his desire to help his country exceeded his concern about the military’s gay ban.
“Going back in the closet was a trade-off I could make briefly,” Howe said in an interview with the PlanetOut Network.
Aren’t we having a manpower crisis? Don’t we need all the patriotic soldiers-gay or not, closeted or not-that we can lay our hands on? (Er, pardon the expression.) Howe will be fine; he can return to the job he left in marketing now that he’s been kicked out of the Army. I worry, however, about a nation that seems to hate its gay citizens so much more than it values its own security. Pathetic.
-posted by Dan
The Dish 