The Army, Air force Navy and Marines were really only looking for a few good men and women. Problem is they were looking for those folks on the Gay, Lesbian & Everyone Else (GLEE.com) Web site. Gay men and women are barred from military service if they are open about their sexual orientation – the widely ridiculed don’t ask, don’t tell rule.
The USA Today called on the arms of the military to find out why or if they knew they were advertising on GLEE.com and surprised a few people as you might imagine. “This is the first I’ve heard about it,” said Maj. Michael Baptista, advertising branch chief for the Army National Guard, which will spend $6.5 million on Internet recruiting this year. “We didn’t knowingly advertise on that particular Web site,” which he said does not “meet the moral standards” of the military.
Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a Navy recruiting spokesman, said his service ordered more than 8,000 ads taken off GLEE, and by late Wednesday, most were gone.
Marine Corps ads on GLEE were only for two civilian jobs not covered by the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The ads were placed through GLEE’s parent company, New York-based Community Connect, as part of an alliance with jobs-listing giant Monster.com, USA Today said.
The US military has discharged over 11,000 personnel for being gay or lesbian since 1993. there has been talk of repealing the don’t ask, don’t tell rule but its contentiousness leaves it in political limbo.
