Homobigot military watchdog moans over West Point grad's anti-DADT thesis

I was waiting for Elaine Donnelly, head of the Center for Military Readiness, to surface on this one. She's the perennial bad penny that always turns up when you talk about gays openly serving in the military, the go-to person when you want to hear the "conservative" POV on matters like this:

Second Lieutenant Alexander Raggio describes himself as the straightest guy imaginable; but in his senior thesis at West Point Academy, he argued that the military's policy banning homosexuals from service is not only wrong but harmful to America's armed services. For his controversial paper, the then-senior cadet received an award from the Academy's English Department.

This incident has led Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, to wonder what officials at the Academy were thinking. "I do intend to bring this to the attention of some of the people in the leadership roles at West Point," she says. "I think it ought to be questioned."

Donnelly says this is the first she has heard of Raggio's commendation from the English department, but news of the faculty's conferral of honor on a graduating cadet for his pro-homosexual thesis has given rise to some grave concerns.

...Raggio is entitled to his First Amendment rights of free speech and expression, Donnelly says. "However," she adds, "I question the judgment of the leadership at West Point, who would recognize such an essay and give it an award that can be used for a purpose contrary to military policy."

Donnelly also multi-tasks, providing pithy quotes on why women's role in the military should be curtailed, or preferably eliminated.

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Speaking of DADT, Former Army Major Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic candidate for Illinois's 6th Congressional District (she seeks to fill the seat left by retiring Rethug Henry Hyde), said she strongly supported the repeal of the useless, harmful policy.

Duckworth, in service to her country lost both of legs during the Iraq conflict. (SLDN):

“When I was serving in Iraq, it made no difference to me what the sexual orientation of my comrades was,” Duckworth said in a statement to the Human Rights Campaign PAC. "It certainly did not matter to me what the sexual orientation was of the men or women who helped save my life after my Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Iraq. As a veteran of the U.S. armed forces, I can speak from personal experience that our military’s performance depends on the skill of the men and women who volunteer to serve in defense of our nation. Any qualified American who is willing to make that kind of sacrifice for our freedom should be free to do so."

You can read more about Duckworth here, in the Daily Herald.

Of course, when you read the Herald article, it becomes murkier, as commenter Laurel pointed out -- Duckworth is now retreating from her above statement calling for a lifting of the ban.

"I think she only supports a repeal [of the ban] if it was deemed appropriate by military commanders of the armed forces," Duckworth spokeswoman Christine Glunz tells the Daily Herald newspaper.

"Tammy has not expressed strong support for repealing don’t ask, don’t tell."

..."It seemed to be a very strong endorsement about sexual orientation," Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network told 365Gay.com on Thursday.

"We were pleased to learn we had an advocate in the race and we're now disappointed to hear that she is perhaps stepping back from the commitment."

Illinois Blenders out there, is her district so conservative on the issue that she'd actually risk losing the race over the initial, matter-of-fact support of her gay former colleagues, given the other issues out there?