Bush Bashes (Gays) Behind Backs

My Way News:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration last year quietly rewrote the rules for allowing gays and lesbians to receive national-security clearances, drawing complaints from civil rights activists.

The Bush administration said security clearances cannot be denied 'solely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the individual.' But it removed language saying sexual orientation 'may not be used as a basis for or a disqualifying factor in determining a person's eligibility for a security clearance.'

The White House sought to play down the changes, approved by President Bush in December, as an effort to ensure the security clearance rules are consistent with a 1995 executive order about access to classified information.

'The minor language change did not and was not intended to alter the way sexual orientation is treated,' National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said Tuesday. 'The U.S. government policy has not changed in any way.'

Jones said government lawyers made the changes for clarity.

(Sorry; I couldn't resist the near-aliteration in the title.) Made the changes for clarity? Yeah, as in it's clear this administration discriminates against GLBT citizens. Isn't this why the CIA was short of Arabic translators because they found out that some of the few they had were gay? These guys never miss a chance to stick it to the new internal "enemy" (just like the Nazis did for the Jews in the latter first half of the Twenty-First Century). It doesn't really matter to the fruehers, er, leadership who the OTHERS are, as long as they're perceived as different and are in the minority so that they make an easy target. Now it seems they are chipping away at what little protections the gays have under the law.

What's the opposite of "progress" anyway? Regress? So does that make the Repugs regressives? Yeah, I like that!

The regulation stated that sexual orientation "may not be used as a basis for or a disqualifying factor in determining a person's eligibility for a security clearance."

Bush removed that categorical protection, saying instead that security clearances cannot be denied "solely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the individual."

The new rules say behavior that is "strictly private, consensual and discreet" could "mitigate security concerns."

Meanwhile, people who have acted irresponsibly with classified material (Cheney, Libby, Rove to name a few) still have security clearances. Ain't that a pip?!