Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

Where is the thunderous applause?

This week, from 365 Gay, the Ig Nobel Prize, a paradoy of the Nobel Prize, is awarded each year in early October in ten different fields of study that "first make people laugh, and then make them think." Organized by scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research and presented by a group including genuine Noble Laureates at Harvard University. The United States Air Force won this year's Ig Nobel Prize for Peace for their 'Gay Bomb' proposal that came to light earlier this year. The Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Dayton Ohio drafted a $7.5m request to creat a non-lethal weapon that would release a chemical rendering enemy combatants irrisistable to eachother. The documents, which date back to 2004 were obtained through the Freedom of Information ACt by the Sunshine Project-an organization that exposes research into chemical and bilogical weapons-exposing the military's research into non-leathals weapons that would disrupt discipline among troops. Yes, some people laughed. But at who's expense? More than 11,704 lesbian, gay, and bisexual personnel have already been discharged from the military under DADT, more than 65,000 are currently serving, and there are more than a million lgbt veterans in the United States. Are they laughing? How do they feel knowing that the military has been awarded for thier continued discrimination that is not only legal, but mandated by current US statute? “The Air Force’s proposal is delusional, homophobic and offensive,” said C. Dixon Osburn in January of 2005, a past Executive Director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “Gays and lesbians serve in the United States armed forces and in the militaries of our closest allies. They do so as part of a formidable fighting force. The assertion that a gay opponent would be somehow less effective in combat is outrageous. No one questioned the battle prowess of Alexander the Great because of his sexual orientation.” A number of retired and active Air Force personnel were invited to accept the prize in person on behalf of the military. None would. "Who in their right mind would turn something like this down?" Cornell University professor Brian Wansink said. -Jason Knight

Labels: 2008, DADT, in the news, nobel

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10-05-07