Keeping the blogosphere posted on the goings on of the world of submarines since late 2004... and mocking and belittling general foolishness wherever it may be found. Idaho's first and foremost submarine blog. (If you don't like something on this blog, please E-mail me; don't call me at home.)

Friday, May 28, 2010

Rum, Sodomy, And The Lash

Now that the House has approved an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act that would lead to the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (I don't think it will get through a Senate filibuster, and the only reason it's being pushed now is to make Senate Republicans filibuster a Defense bill during wartime for use as election fodder), I'm wondering if they're going to take the next step and change the UCMJ. As all servicepeople know, the UCMJ has a prohibition on sodomy (Article 125) that pretty much criminalizes any sexual acts male homosexuals could do with each other beyond kissing (lesbians pretty much get off scot free, unless they have a long tongue -- it all depends on how the Court Martial would interpret the "penetration, however slight" requirement to complete the offense). The upshot of Article 125, of course, if that it actually criminalizes a substantial segment of the heterosexual population of the military as well -- the prohibition on oral sex doesn't apply only to same sex behavior.

We've already discussed in detail the controversy surrounding the potential repeal of DADT. Are there any other punitive UCMJ Articles that you think should be repealed as being out of date? And would you pay to watch a PPV channel that has Congress debating a repeal of Article 125 and seeing how many euphemisms they can come up with?

12 Comments:

Anonymous Squidward said...

Anyone doing enough intrusive leadership to find out if ET3 Scramsalot is getting birthday BJs from his wife? And if so, where is that report chit, Chief Khakipants?!

125 was always stupid, even in a vast universe of stupid Navy disciplinary mickey mouse.

The easy way to fix this is to insert one little word into 125 - "forcible".

5/28/2010 11:04 AM

 
Anonymous Former 755/742 E div. said...

I always thought the definition of rape needed updating - wives can be raped. Just because you're married doesn't mean you can't say no.

5/28/2010 11:07 AM

 
Anonymous Former 755/742 E div. said...

Nevermind, I guess they changed it in 2007. Or am I reading it wrong?

5/28/2010 11:16 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There won't be a republican filibuster in the Senate since they don't have the votes. Two republicans voted the bill out of committee so that gets over the 60 vote threshold unless you think a democrat is going to join a republican filibuster of the defense bill over DADT repeal - unlikely. What's more likely is the more moderate republicans like Snowe and Voinovich joining Collins and Brown voting for cloture.

5/28/2010 12:53 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

89, 114, 133.

5/28/2010 1:08 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I support lesbians. Now dudes on dudes is just not normal.

5/28/2010 1:09 PM

 
Blogger Jarrod said...

Webb (D-VA) has stated his opposition.

5/28/2010 4:33 PM

 
Blogger Old Salt said...

@Former 755, You are reading correctly. The "not your wife" part was deleted. The internet doesn't get updated well, so there are many places with the wrong rev.
I've always thought if we held the strict line on Sodomy, giving OR getting, we wouldn't be able to man a single ship, especially back when we pulled into some interesting ports like Subic Bay.

5/29/2010 6:22 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I kinda miss reading the UCMJ when dropping a duce.

I have a homebrewed IPA about to go on tap. I shall deem it "article 125". Can't wait to explain the name.

5/30/2010 12:43 AM

 
Blogger T said...

haha, I forgot about the UCMJ posted on the inside of some of the stalls. Thanks for the memories

5/30/2010 10:55 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We had Article 125 posted on the door to sonar for a while, but the command made us take it down. It might have had to do with a few slight alterations of the words, and the visual aids to help officers, A-gangers and FT's understand.

5/30/2010 9:04 PM

 
Anonymous NHSparky said...

I always missed the ones in Forward Crew's head on my first boat where someone highlighted every mention of, "Penetration, however slight..."

6/18/2010 7:22 AM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home