Apologize!
Thursday night, during the Republican presidential debate in Florida, an American soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience simply for saying that he was gay, and for asking a question about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
And none of the GOP candidates on stage said a word in his defense.
Please sign on to the open letter by former Army Captains Tanya L. Domi, James E. Pietrangelo, II, Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton, Jonathan Hopkins, former Marine Sergeant Justin Elzie, and former West Point cadet Katherine Miller, each of whom had a lead role in bringing down "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The letter demands that all the Republican presidential candidates denounce the disrespect that was shown to soldier Stephen Hill during the Republican debate.
The more signatures we get, the more the media will pressure the candidates to explain themselves. The pressure was already too much for Rick Santorum, who has now joined Jon Huntsman in denouncing the audience members who booed. But where are Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul? Please help us keep the pressure up!
The open letter (sign-up box is below the letter):
To the Republican presidential candidates:
Each and every one of you owes our American service members an apology.
Thursday night, during the Republican presidential debate in Florida, an American soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience simply for saying that he was gay, and for asking a question about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Nine of you were on that stage, and none of you said a word.
After the debate, one lone candidate, Jon Huntsman, had the decency to speak out in defense of the soldier, saying: "You know, we’re all Americans, and the fact that he is an American who put on the uniform says something good about him."
This isn't about politics, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, and it has nothing to do with where you stand on the issue of gays in the military. This is about showing an American service member a basic level of respect for serving this country.
We urge each of you to speak out against the disrespectful way in which soldier Stephen Hill was treated during your debate.
Sincerely,
Tanya L. Domi, former Army Captain
James E. Pietrangelo, II, former Army Captain
Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton, former Army Captain
Jonathan Hopkins, former Army Captain
Justin Elzie, former Marine Sergeant
Katherine Miller, former West Point cadet
John Aravosis, AMERICAblog
Each and every one of you owes our American service members an apology.
Thursday night, during the Republican presidential debate in Florida, an American soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience simply for saying that he was gay, and for asking a question about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Nine of you were on that stage, and none of you said a word.
After the debate, one lone candidate, Jon Huntsman, had the decency to speak out in defense of the soldier, saying: "You know, we’re all Americans, and the fact that he is an American who put on the uniform says something good about him."
This isn't about politics, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, and it has nothing to do with where you stand on the issue of gays in the military. This is about showing an American service member a basic level of respect for serving this country.
We urge each of you to speak out against the disrespectful way in which soldier Stephen Hill was treated during your debate.
Sincerely,
Tanya L. Domi, former Army Captain
James E. Pietrangelo, II, former Army Captain
Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton, former Army Captain
Jonathan Hopkins, former Army Captain
Justin Elzie, former Marine Sergeant
Katherine Miller, former West Point cadet
John Aravosis, AMERICAblog
This petition has a goal of
10000 signatures
1-25
of 10513 signatures
Next ->
| Number | Date | Name | Add your comment to ... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10513 | Mon Mar 25 07:32:26 EDT 2013 | Josh Smith | I'm military and have been so for 10 years I know many openly gay soldiers to include myself. Our sexual orientation does not make us any less qualified to fight or die for our country |
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| 10511 | Wed Mar 28 12:49:49 EDT 2012 | John Aravosis | |
| 10510 | Sat Feb 11 02:48:58 EST 2012 | Leah Jordan Ross | |
| 10509 | Fri Jan 27 15:53:13 EST 2012 | Anonymous | |
| 10508 | Tue Jan 24 11:32:33 EST 2012 | Natalie Caro | Cowards that do not stand up for our service members and fellow Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation, do not deserve the honor of being called President. |
| 10507 | Thu Jan 19 13:10:03 EST 2012 | Steven Arnett | |
| 10506 | Mon Jan 02 22:18:51 EST 2012 | Anonymous | |
| 10505 | Sun Dec 04 16:22:27 EST 2011 | Amanda Christian | The republibagger stance on the rights of all people and the war on women and their reporductive rights is unfathomably shameful. Your unabashed disrespect to our men and women in uniform who have fought More....and died; which in essence gave you this right to behave in this ignorant and shameful manner (I am one of them) is not to be believed. I am 63, I grew up believing in the trite little phrase; "I may not agree with what you say, but Iwill fight to the death for your right to say it." How about I scrap that belief, and act like th Russians and eliminate you all...Nah...I'm better than you all. I have integrity. And I fought for that belief, It is ingrained in me. It is bloodied in me and those who served along side me. Ya'll take you money and our hate and shove up your okole. SMALL PEOPLE ALL!!!!! |
| 10504 | Sun Dec 04 16:21:57 EST 2011 | Amanda Christian | The republibagger stance on the rights of all people and the war on women and their reporductive rights is unfathomably shameful. Your unabashed disrespect to our men and women in uniform who have fought More....and died; which in essence gave you this right to behave in this ignorant and shameful manner (I am one of them) is not to be believed. I am 63, I grew up believing in the trite little phrase; "I may not agree with what you say, but Iwill fight to the death for your right to say it." How about I scrap that belief, and act like th Russians and eliminate you all...Nah...I'm better than you all. I have integrity. And I fought for that belief, It is ingrained in me. It is bloodied in me and those who served along side me. Ya'll take you money and our hate and shove up your okole. SMALL PEOPLE ALL!!!!! |
| 10503 | Sun Dec 04 16:20:58 EST 2011 | Amanda Christian | The republibagger stance on the rights of all people and the war on women and their reporductive rights is unfathomably shameful. Your unabashed disrespect to our men and women in uniform who have fought More....and died; which in essence gave you this right to behave in this ignorant and shameful manner (I am one of them) is not to be believed. I am 63, I grew up believing in the trite little phrase; "I may not agree with what you say, but Iwill fight to the death for your right to say it." How about I scrap that belief, and act like th Russians and eliminate you all...Nah...I'm better than you all. I have integrity. And I fought for that belief, It is ingrained in me. It is bloodied in me and those who served along side me. Ya'll take you money and our hate and shove up your okole. SMALL PEOPLE ALL!!!!! |
| 10502 | Sun Dec 04 16:05:13 EST 2011 | Amanda Christian | The republibagger stance on the rights of all people and the war on women and their reporductive rights is unfathomably shameful. Your unabashed disrespect to our men and women in uniform who have fought More....and died; which in essence gave you this right to behave in this ignorant and shameful manner (I am one of them) is not to be believed. I am 63, I grew up believing in the trite little phrase; "I may not agree with what you say, but Iwill fight to the death for your right to say it." How about I scrap that belief, and act like th Russians and eliminate you all...Nah...I'm better than you all. I have integrity. And I fought for that belief, It is ingrained in me. It is bloodied in me and those who served along side me. Ya'll take you money and our hate and shove up your okole. SMALL PEOPLE ALL!!!!! |
| 10501 | Sun Dec 04 15:50:24 EST 2011 | Amanda Christian | The republibagger stance on the rights of all people and the war on women and their reporductive rights is unfathomably shameful. Your unabashed disrespect to our men and women in uniform who have fought More....and died; which in essence gave you this right to behave in this ignorant and shameful manner (I am one of them) is not to be believed. I am 63, I grew up believing in the trite little phrase; "I may not agree with what you say, but Iwill fight to the death for your right to say it." How about I scrap that belief, and act like th Russians and eliminate you all...Nah...I'm better than you all. I have integrity. And I fought for that belief, It is ingrained in me. It is bloodied in me and those who served along side me. Ya'll take you money and our hate and shove up your okole. SMALL PEOPLE ALL!!!!! |
| 10500 | Sun Dec 04 15:49:52 EST 2011 | Amanda Christian | The republibagger stance on the rights of all people and the war on women and their reporductive rights is unfathomably shameful. Your unabashed disrespect to our men and women in uniform who have fought More....and died; which in essence gave you this right to behave in this ignorant and shameful manner (I am one of them) is not to be believed. I am 63, I grew up believing in the trite little phrase; "I may not agree with what you say, but Iwill fight to the death for your right to say it." How about I scrap that belief, and act like th Russians and eliminate you all...Nah...I'm better than you all. I have integrity. And I fought for that belief, It is ingrained in me. It is bloodied in me and those who served along side me. Ya'll take you money and our hate and shove up your okole. SMALL PEOPLE ALL!!!!! |
| 10499 | Sat Nov 19 21:28:18 EST 2011 | Anonymous | Disgusting that adults act this way. |
| 10498 | Wed Nov 16 12:50:58 EST 2011 | David Lev | |
| 10497 | Sat Nov 12 09:36:38 EST 2011 | Troy Saul | |
| 10496 | Sat Oct 22 10:25:26 EDT 2011 | Claudine Piechotta | |
| 10495 | Sat Oct 22 00:00:48 EDT 2011 | Hana Lilic | |
| 10494 | Fri Oct 21 10:01:13 EDT 2011 | Vincent Feconda | The hate, greed and lack of compassion comming from your party is very disturbing. The way you treated that soldier, who is serving on the front lines for the past year was shocking. And you call yourself More...."Christians"? |
| 10493 | Thu Oct 20 01:36:31 EDT 2011 | Anonymous | |
| 10492 | Wed Oct 19 17:41:25 EDT 2011 | Hunter Chenevert | |
| 10491 | Wed Oct 19 17:02:50 EDT 2011 | Debbie Sanders | As a republican I am ashamed of the remarks and know our party can do better than that to support our armed forces regardless of sexual orientation. |
| 10490 | Wed Oct 19 16:51:24 EDT 2011 | Toby Ashabranner | Every solider deserves respect regardless of sexual orientation |
| 10489 | Wed Oct 19 13:23:07 EDT 2011 | Bill Nelson |