July 24, 2008

“Just Bonkers” Elaine Donnelly Star Nutjob at “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Hearing

So, the House Armed Services Committee has finally gotten around to reviewing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and yesterday, the Military Personnel Subcommittee heard testimony from Teh Gays (and Teh Allies) and Teh Anti-Gays. Most visible among the latter was Elaine Donnelly, founder and president of the Center for Military Readiness, whom we’ve referred to here in the past as One Nasty, Anti-Gay, Misogynistic Piece of Work.

Well, we take it back. Elaine Donnelly is not one nasty, anti-gay, misogynistic piece of work.

Elaine Donnelly is one nasty, crazy, anti-gay, misogynistic, living, breathing personification of hatred and stupidity — whom we appreciate, in the same way we appreciate Freddie “God Hates Fags” Phelps: Such outspoken representatives of the Anti-Gay Crusade do far more damage to their own twisted agenda of hate just by opening their mouths and letting the poison drip off their forked tongues, than any rational, reasoned argument from our side could ever accomplish.

You can read Donnelly’s prepared statement in a PDF file — but it’s much more fun to watch the craziness in action. You can watch a half-hour video from the House Armed Services Committee — or just four minutes’ worth of jaw-dropping lunacy, courtesy of the HRC:

“When did you decide you were heterosexual? Do you think you are just what you are?”

— Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) to Elaine Donnelly

Dana Milbank sums up yesterday’s freak show, starring Donnelly as the Head Freak:

Donnelly treated the panel to an extraordinary exhibition of rage. She warned of “transgenders in the military.” She warned that lesbians would take pictures of people in the shower. She spoke ominously of gays spreading “HIV positivity” through the ranks.

“We’re talking about real consequences for real people,” Donnelly proclaimed. Her written statement added warnings about “inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community,” the prospects of “forcible sodomy” and “exotic forms of sexual expression,” and the case of “a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault” a fellow soldier.

At the witness table with Donnelly, retired Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, a lesbian, rolled her eyes in disbelief. Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a gay man who was wounded in Iraq, looked as if he would explode.

Inadvertently, Donnelly achieved the opposite of her intended effect. Though there’s no expectation that Congress will repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” and allow gays to serve openly in the military, the display had the effect of increasing bipartisan sympathy for the cause.

Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) labeled her statement “just bonkers” and “dumb,” and he called her claims about an HIV menace “inappropriate.” Said Snyder: “By this analysis … we ought to recruit only lesbians for the military, because they have the lowest incidence of HIV in the country.” …

Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) pointed a finger at Darrah and glared at Donnelly. “Would you please tell me, Miss Donnelly, why I should give one twit about this woman’s sexual orientation, when it didn’t interfere one bit with her service?”

Donnelly said something about “forced intimacy.”

Shays cut her off. “You’re saying she has no right to serve her country because she happens to have a different sexual orientation than you.” …

It was tempting to think that Donnelly had been chosen by Democrats to sabotage the case against open military service for homosexuals. But Republicans had consented to the witness panel…

…Donnelly, severe in a black jacket with a flag pin on her lapel as she attacked the “San Francisco left who want to impose their agenda on the military.” She spoke of the “devastating” effect gay soldiers would have on the military and said “people who do have religious convictions” would be driven out of the military by the “sexualized atmosphere.” …

Snyder asked Darrah about Donnelly’s reference to “passive-aggressive actions common in the homosexual community,” saying, “I’m almost tempted to ask you to demonstrate.” …

“Like a woman who is stared at, her breasts are stared at,” Donnelly explained. She further explained the “absolutely devastating” effect of homosexuals “introducing erotic factors” and made a comparison to Sen. Larry Craig’s adventure at the Minneapolis airport. She said admitting gays to the military would be “forced cohabitation” and a policy of “relax and enjoy it.” …

Shays, his voice rising with Yankee indignation, continued to lecture Donnelly: “I think the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is unpatriotic. I think it’s counterproductive. In fact, I think it is absolutely cruel.”

Donnelly said something about her respect for the service of gay veterans. “How do you respect their service?” Shays demanded. “You want them out.”

Donnelly seemed to have unified the lawmakers — against her. …

More at the link (and well worth the full read).

Steve Ralls concludes:

In the end, even Donnelly — clad in her trademark bulging pearls, ankle-length skirt and unflappable hair — seemed flapped by the experience. The long-time opponent of both women and gays in the military was forced to acknowledge that, in fact, prejudice isn’t good for the military. And her co-witness, a retired Army Ranger from Florida, said that he, too, may come around to a different view given a little more time.

Indeed, it may have been Donnelly who changed more minds than anyone at the hearing … just not in the direction she would have preferred. But even she, at the end of the debate, seemed to have silently recognized something she would also have not preferred. Donnelly’s long, dark skirt seemed appropriate for her mourning; the law she had fought to defend was one giant leap closer to withering away.

Elaine Donnelly, today we salute you — for making our case for us, and for exposing the boil-infested ass of anti-gay hate (and putting a face on it: yours) to a much wider audience than you ever had in the past. Enjoy the publicity, toots — we’re lovin’ it.

And just who is Donnelly attempting to demonize?

Here, courtesy of Nancy Pelosi (who has her own YouTube channel), is the statement of USMC Staff Sergeant Eric Alva, the first soldier wounded in Iraq — in fact, as he explains, he lost a leg for his country, defending for others the rights that he himself does not have: