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January 28, 2009
'Don't Ask' Sanchez, he has no clue
Posted by: Chris
You know that when Fox News publishes commentary opposing repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell by a Marine reservist who has a history in gay porn and prostitution that the result is going to be a fun read.
Matt Sanchez made headlines back in 2007 when his queer past surfaced after he had been feted by conservatives for whining about derogatory language he claims a couple of socialist students used against him at Columbia University. He later admitted to performing in a handful of XXX gay films in the early '90s under the names "Rod Majors" and "Pierre LeBranche."
Sanchez claims he was strictly gay-for-pay, though gay blogger Andy Towle has written about meeting Sanchez in a San Jose gay bar back in 1989, and the two subsequently went on several dates. Sanchez also acknowledged (after initial denials) that he was running gay adult massage ads in the New York Blade as late as 2004, the year after he joined the Marine reserves.
With that background in mind, here are a few snippets of what Sanchez the Fox News "war correspondent" has to say about Don't Ask Don't Tell, the very policy he violated back in 2004:
Although “the primary purpose of the armed forces is to prepare for and to prevail in combat should the need arise”, forcing the military to legitimize same-sex relationships will be a Trojan Horse for imposing gay marriage nationwide and all in the name of “change.”
The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) would force the United States military to accept the future same-sex marriages of those serving. Activists would use this federal recognition of gay marriage in the military to challenge and force a repeal of state constitutional amendments, but wedding bells are not the only reason why gay advocates and military officials should not be heading to the altar.
I've been in and around the gay rights movement for more than a decade, and this is the first I've ever heard of this alleged strategy -- for which Sanchez provides absolutely no citation, of course.
Many pro-gay groups hold up the example of international armed forces throughout the world that have lifted bans on homosexuality. It is true: France, Germany, Italy and Spain all permit openly gay service members. But in Afghanistan, neither France, Spain, Italy or Germany will confront the Taliban.
Sanchez conveniently leaves out the U.K. military, which has joined the U.S. in battling the Taliban, and which not just allows gays to serve but aggressively recruits them.
Will gay service members have to be separated from their non-gay service members? Will separate showers and living quarters be required? Or will there be all-gay military units? Will gays who don’t wish to self-identify be forced to do so?
Ahh yes, the old personal privacy canard, one that clearly poses no personal problem for Sanchez, the exhibitionist. As Sanchez himself proves, gays have been able to lawfully serve in the military since 2003 1993, when DADT replaced the outright ban on gays in the military, so whatever privacy issues exist are already dealt with.
What's more, allowing gays to serve openly would actually improve the privacy of heterosexual soldiers and sailors, who currently have no idea who among their compatriots is gay. Once a service member comes out, those with want to hide their naughty bits can do so much more effectively, and the openly gay soldier will no doubt make much more of an effort to avoid anyone thinking he might be leering.
The new commander-in-chief can unilaterally repeal Don’t ask Don’t Tell with a stroke of a pen, but [President Obama] has held back.
Wrong again, Matt. Congress passed DADT, and President Clinton signed it into law. Only a new act of Congress can repeal the ban and allow gays to serve openly.
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Comments
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I've been consistently disappointed every time I've read something from Matt. When he's not plain wrong, he's at least guilty of blatant cherry picking.
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Great post, but didn't DADT become law in 1993, not 2003?
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Chris, as usual you are thinking like a typical liberal militant. Cpl Matt Sanchez served honorably overseas and risked his life for our freedoms. The fact that he had sex with men in no way means he's gay. He's a 100% straight man who was down on his luck and short on cash.
As a courageous Marine, Matt knows a lot more about heroic service, combat dynamics, and living in a foxhole than most gays will ever know. Let's take him at his word that it would damage unit cohesion. Do you really think the clean cut Marines from Nebraska want to see to men performing 69 on the cot next to them? I think not!
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The Netherlands has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001. Gays have been able to serve openly for decades.
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During Hillary Clinton campaign she said she'd repeal DADT on day 1 by simply signing an executive order.
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How about a Matt Sanchez aka Rod Majors travling film festival? Does he own the rights to his films so that he could stop something like this?
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Sanchez is one of those guys who -- when he finds the love of his life and wants to marry him -- will loudly proclaim that he's "been involved in the gay rights struggle for decades" while conveniently failing to mention that he was on the nay side...
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Sanchez is an ignorant, there are Spain's troops in Afghanistan.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOm3LXGw1pf4bUKr2VC-Z_LiZA-g
And French troops too:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/20/afghanistan.france
Sorry for my bad English.
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I have never been able to understand why a supposed Dept of Defense "regulation" had Congress involved. As the commander in Chief, why can't the President make any change to a regulation he so wishes?
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Here's a tip. Something to keep in mind the next time you want to respond to Matt Sanchez's anti-gay crusading.
He allowed the excellent-top.com domain to expire. That means the script that prevented Internet Archive from showing his old escort pages is no longer online. You can see them here...
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://excellent-top.com
These archived pages prove Matt Sanchez worked as a prostitute from 2000 to 2002 -- less than five years ago. Less than one year before he joined the reserves he was soliciting sex from male clients.
He now denies having anything to do with this gay escort site, but if you check the source code for the pages he posted in 2002, you'll find his full legal name, Matthew Sanchez, in the meta tags.
The military investigated these allegations but chose not to throw him out. Why is that?
A correction to Damian. Matt Sanchez has no combat experience. In fact, two different veterans groups accused him of fraud because he made false claims about a non-existent deployment to Iraq.
The comments to this entry are closed.
Tom Carpenter on Jan 28, 2009 5:01:24 PM:
I would add that not only have the Brits been fighting along side the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the Canadians and Australians. All of these countries, as well as the vast majority of our NATO allies, allow honest service. US troops have even been under the command of openly gay allied officers in the Balkans and elsewhere around the world with no problems. DADT has been around since 1993 and is soon to be relegated to where it belongs, the dustbin of history.