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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about serving under DADT/being LGBT in the US military
 
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Infamous Sphere
Nov 8, 2010
Blargh oh my god yes, I have read fanfiction, in a way it's a guilty pleasure/so bad it's good thing. I can't read trashy romance though. Fanfiction..oh god..some of the anatomical limitations are..well..let's just say these women don't very much und
Hello!
I am Infamous Sphere, and I have a review show where I review LGBT movies and tv shows (and period dramas, but less relevant for this section.)
I'm thinking of doing an episode on Dignity and Respect, a comic relating to Don't Ask, Don't Tell. As a consequence, I've been looking up a bit of information relating to DADT policy, seeing as I am a) Australian, and b) don't have anything to do with the military. I've been trying to find information about whether DADT affected reporting of sexual assault. I've found some stuff that supports that, but of course, when googling it, I found an absurd amount of conservative websites suggesting that the repeal of DADT caused an increase in sexual violence, something that....as far as I know is not supported by either common sense or any statistics out there.

Anyway. I figured it would be interesting to get some further background.
Were you in the military when DADT was in effect? How did it affect you/the people you knew? Are you LGBT? Do you serve in the military currently - how has the treatment of LGBT people and the amount of LGBT people in the service changed since DADT was repealed? Are you/were you in another country's military, and if so, how are LGBT people treated there/was there ever a DADT style policy? I've asked one guy who's bi and served once when DADT was in effect and once when it wasn't - he wasn't out either time as far as I know. I think even after DADT was repealed he didn't want to come out for various reasons.

There's a bit in the comic that suggests that harassment was very strictly punished (so insinuating that someone was gay would get you in trouble.) I have a sneaking suspicion that this kind of bullying wasn't as carefully policed as the comic suggests - and that the military wasn't magically devoid of gay jokes at the very least. Thoughts?

Pre-emptive thanks for any contributions :)

* # ? Jul 23, 2016 13:29
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Scudworth
Jan 1, 2005

When life gives you lemons, you clone those lemons, and make super lemons.

Dinosaur Gum
Consider posting or linking this in the military subforum, I can't link from my phone but it's currently called "Captain Napalms Thermonuclear League of Liberty"

* # ? Jul 24, 2016 14:23
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Infamous Sphere
Nov 8, 2010
Blargh oh my god yes, I have read fanfiction, in a way it's a guilty pleasure/so bad it's good thing. I can't read trashy romance though. Fanfiction..oh god..some of the anatomical limitations are..well..let's just say these women don't very much und
Cheers, will do.

* # ? Jul 24, 2016 22:36
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about serving under DADT/being LGBT in the US military