Marines Now Recruiting Gays

I am not making this up.  And in Tulsa, Oklafuckinghoma.  Believe it or not.  The NYT reports:

The Marines were the service most opposed to ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but they were the only one of five invited branches of the military to turn up with their recruiting table and chin-up bar at the center Tuesday morning. Although Marines pride themselves on being the most testosterone-fueled of the services, they also ferociously promote their view of themselves as the best. With the law now changed, the Marines appear determined to prove that they will be better than the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard in recruiting gay, lesbian and bisexual service members.

Still, judging by the traffic at the gay rights center on Tuesday, there will not be an immediate flood of gay and lesbian Marine applicants. By 3 p.m., more than four hours after the Marines had set up their booth opposite the center’s AIDS quilt, only three women had wandered in, none ideal recruits. The local television crews who had come to watch the action — or inaction, as it turned out — easily outnumbered them. . . .

By 5 p.m. the Marines had packed up their booth and chin-up bar and headed out, with plans to come back later to attend a panel discussion. It was all uncharted territory. As Sergeant Henry had said the day before of the new world the Marines now inhabit, “At first it’s going to be kind of shock and awe.”

But like a good Marine, he was with the program: “My take is, if they can make it through our boot camp, which is the toughest boot camp in the world, then they ought to have the opportunity to wear the uniform.”

Lord have mercy, sometimes it makes your Head Trucker's head spin with all these amazing changes going on in the world. But I admire the Marines. Every one of them I've, um, known has been a perfect gentleman, and that's a fact.

Click here for a map and list of countries that now admit gay troops to their militaries.

Rachel covers the end of DADT with some newly-out troops.  Keep a hanky handy while you watch.





And MSNBC interviewed several former and currrent gay servicemembers on their reactions to repeal:

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