Retired and wounded Marine defends country but not the DADT policy

Jose Antonio Vargas has a story “Defending His Country, but Not Its ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy”, at this link, in The Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2007, Style Section, p. C1. The story concerns former Marine, now retired, Marine Sgt. Eric Alva, who lost a leg in Iraq after an encounter with a land mine in March 2003. He woke up in the hospital without the leg. He was visited by President Bush (according to ABC, below). The newspaper story includes a photograph. The story has a Q&A section, which indicates that the Marine Corps did “ask” his sexual orientation when he joined in 1990.

SLDN’s link about the likely 2007 reintroduction of Marty Meehan’s bill to repeal DADT is here. Alva is testifying before the House of Representatives today Feb 28, 2007, according to an ABC Good Morning America story aired at around 8:32 AM. The ABC story, by Jake Tipper, is "'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Revisited, Injured Iraqi Vet Joins Fight to End Ban on Openly Gay Service Members, here."

The SLDN link for Cook v. Rumsfeld is here. The organization's link for other pending litigation is here. This includes challenges to Article 125 in the UCMJ, the military “sodomy law.”

Update: Rep. Meehan reintroduced the bill today. Here is the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network press release: Link

Another posting claims that a debate on the ban would complicate the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is the link. Pentagon official David Chu claimed that even a "debate" or public battle would harm the defense of the country against terror. What kind of comment is this about free speech? Pretty scary. I guess I am one of the bad guys for keeping it alive. Bring it on!

Update: 3/11/2007

Issue with reservists: A Marine Corps reservist has issues for having appeared in public gay explicit photos before enlisting, and the Marine Corps admits that it is not sure how to apply the DADT policy here. Reference on blogger (external).