Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

A gay Catch-22

Stars & Stripes reports that an Air Force officer who outed herself as a lesbian was told she has to stay in the military because you can’t out yourself just because you want to get a discharge. As the military newspaper notes, “if you admit to being homosexual you can be discharged from the military, ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
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570233_100408_catch22b2.jpg

Stars & Stripes reports that an Air Force officer who outed herself as a lesbian was told she has to stay in the military because you can't out yourself just because you want to get a discharge.

Stars & Stripes reports that an Air Force officer who outed herself as a lesbian was told she has to stay in the military because you can’t out yourself just because you want to get a discharge.

As the military newspaper notes, “if you admit to being homosexual you can be discharged from the military, but if you admit it for the purposes of being discharged you won’t be.”

This is wonderful how the  rules can be used against you, but not to your own advantage. One thing the military never leaves in doubt is who the institution is being run for: Not for you.

Update: Stars & Stripes kindly points out that they didn’t originate the story, but rather reprinted an item that first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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