Top Marine: DADT Repeal Won't Lead to Exodus

One of the repeated claims of professional gay haters such as Elaine Donnelly (who has ZERO military experience herself and will I assume be unemployed once DADT repeal is final) is that the repeal of DADT will lead to a mass exodus of service members from the military. As is the norm with Ms. Donnelly, she has no real data to back up her claims or, to the extent that she claims does, she's dragged it out of elderly homophobes who left military service ages ago. Thus, it is a nice take down of Donnelly and those of her ilk to hear that Gen. James Amos, Marine Commandant, is disputing the lies of Ms. Donnelly and other professional homophobes and gay hating Christians like Tony Perkins. Amos was not a fan of DADT repeal - and I was very harsh on the man - but he now seems to have gotten fully on board with repeal and seems motivated to back the repeal policy as any good officer ought to follow orders from his/her superiors. Here are highlights of Amos' statements via AOL News:
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The Marine Corps commandant who once said openly gay service members would be a dangerous "distraction" and was among the most outspoken opponents of repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy said today he does not expect to lose troops over the change.
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"I haven't had any indication yet at all, not at all," Gen. James Amos told reporters when asked if he expected the mass exodus of troops that Sen. John McCain and other critics predicted if the ban was lifted. . . . . He said he addressed some 12,000 Marines about the change and "everyone said, 'Sir, we got it. We're going to do this thing.'"
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The about-face by the Marines' top general came before the ink was dried on the law and was underlined in a video Amos taped with the Corps' Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent last month. In it, he said the service "will step out smartly to faithfully implement this new law. It's important that we value the diversity of background, culture and skills that all Marines bring to the service of our nation."
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Amos told reporters, "I think there probably will be in probably all the services, but I don't think it's going to be of any magnitude that's going to cause much more than a blip. So I'm very optimistic."
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Amos said training of military lawyers, counselors and chaplains began Feb. 7. He said he and the service's three-star generals and their spouses underwent a training session recently in New Orleans, and he expects all leaders down to company commanders and platoon sergeants to have been briefed by the middle of next month.
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I'm sure that there will be bigoted Christianists who try to buck the repeal policy - these folks always want special rights to ignore the laws and policies that they want applied to others when it comes to non-discrimination against themselves. Yep, it's always a one way street with Christianists.