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A ‘desperate’ Huckabee blasted by military group for dissing Obama’s Secretary of the Army nominee
A network of LGBTI military personnel is demanding that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee apologize for hos comments about President Barack Obama nominating an openly gay man to be the next US Secretary of the Navy.
‘This is a new and disgusting low,’ aid Matt Thorn, interim executive director of OutServe-SLDN. ‘It doesn’t make Mr. Huckabee presidential, it makes him desperate.’
Obama announced last Friday (18 September) the appointment of Eric Fanning who is already the highest ranking openly gay member of the Department of Defense. He would be the first openly gay head of any service in the military if he is confirmed by the US Senate.
Huckabee responded with the following statement on his campaign website: ‘It’s clear President Obama is more interested in appeasing America’s homosexuals than honoring America’s heroes. Veterans suicide is out-of-control and military readiness is dangerously low, yet Obama is so obsessed with pandering to liberal interest groups he’s nominated an openly gay civilian to run the Army. Homosexuality is not a job qualification. The U.S. military is designed to keep Americans safe and complete combat missions, not conduct social experiments.’
Thorn said ‘it is disgraceful and hypocritical of Mr. Huckabee to engage in this behavior … It is unbecoming of a presidential candidate to attack someone on a personal basis like this.’
‘If Mr. Huckabee cares so deeply about the issues that he claims then he would applaud Eric’s appointment and his history of serving the United States armed services in each of his positions and not tear him down because he doesn’t agree with his sexual orientation,’ he added.
Thorn also defended Fanning’s qualifications.
‘Eric’s sexual orientation has absolutely no foundation in his ability to do this job,’ he said. ‘He is fundamentally respected by both uniformed and civilian Department of Defense personnel and will undoubtedly serve this post with honor and respect, as he has done in all of his previous positions.
Fanning’s appointment comes four years after the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the policy that prevented gay and lesbian service members from being open about their sexual orientation. But because he is a civilian, Fanning was never subject to the policy.
The post A ‘desperate’ Huckabee blasted by military group for dissing Obama’s Secretary of the Army nominee appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
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