Gays in the Military
is a Military Defense centric issue
gay soldiers
The Onion, as always, has a great take on this issue. Watch the "news broadcast" here- http://www.theonion.com/content/video/gays_too_precious_to_risk_in
Personally, I'm undecided. I support gay rights, but maybe the best way to ensure you aren't discriminated against is to simply not have your commander know anyone's sexual preferences.
Given how many politicians are in the closet as too their “appetites” - I’d be surprised if we haven’t already had a gay president... err commander in chief... of the armed forces... all of them... top guy... big kahuna. Only white males? sure - but all straight as an arrow? no way. So yeah, time to get past this crap. 10% - always was, always will be, better get used to it.
Oh, and as to the OP’s odd statement, the best way is for it not to matter. The problem with Don’t ask Don’t Tell isn’t the not asking, not telling part... it’s the punitive repercussions for being outed, for whatever reason.
I disagree in the sense that I'm not undecided...
I read something semi-interesting on the issue lately (but I can't remember where). They had interviewed several gay service-men and women who had or had not been relieved of duty after being outed. One man was a medic serving in the gulf who had been 'out' to others in his company without issue but when he started getting aggressive anonymous emails about his orientation he was forced to come out to his superior in order to address the issue. His superior however, after being shown overwhelming evidence of the guy's 'gayness' refused to concede the guy was gay in order to keep him from being discharged. He went completely out of his way to avoid the issue since it wasn't an issue within the company and they couldn't afford to loose him, being a medic who might be needed to patch them up.
That highlights something troubling though... while the 'none of our business, so don't tell us' seems harmless, the fact is, if someone is being harassed for their orientation and needs their command to address the situation for their safety, they are risking discharge by coming forward, even though they may have no other choice. It imposes a position of risk... and just wait until something happens and there's a civil suit because the serviceman was unable to use the chain of command for protection because of a policy of reprisal and discharge.
Also, they were saying numerous gay troops decline to reenlist because of the hostile policies in the service. This means a loss of otherwise valuable troops... At a time when:
1 - We're paying ludicrous-cash (okay - credit at our 'youngin's' expense) - pushing out trained troops, inducing a cost recurrence just in the additional training required. 2 - We're offering significantly increased enlistment and reenlistment bonuses. 3 - We've lowered recruitment requirements for... physical fitness, criminal backgrounds, drug use, and intelligence minimums.
It's not fiscally responsible, it's not socially progressive in any form, and isn't there some big push for some fanciful notion of national security... I don't think dumping well-trained troops adds security.
In essence, I got the impression that it's a great time to fight the policy, since the military is so dependent right now.
As I recall, 32 countries currently have policies allowing homosexuals to openly serve in their armed forces: Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estnoia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. It's high-time that the U.S. gets on board.
As a former Marine, I 100% disagree with the idea of allowing openly homosexual individuals into our military. While it could be argued the we are turning away valuably skilled individuals strictly based on their sexual preference, I feel that it would cause much more harm than good if we were to allow them in. Open showers are common in many areas that you travel. How comfortable would you feel showering next to someone who is openly gay? How about the image that it would send around the world ... not very intimidating if you ask me. It would lower troop comradery and personally take away from the "brotherhood" that I came to know love. It is a bad idea to allow those open individuals in. There is no perfect "fair" plan, but I feel that don't ask, don't tell works.
Do you bunch of hypocrites not tell if you are married? single? have kids? We won't ask you, and you damn sure don't need to tell. Just because someone is gay does not mean they are going to stare, or hit on you in the shower. In fact, I would personally feel more at ease with them than you. At least I know where they stand, and for all I know you are plotting a way to cause harm to me because I may believe differntly than you.
stangerbm says:
" As a former Marine, I 100% disagree with the idea of allowing openly homosexual individuals into our military. While it could be argued the we are turning away valuably skilled individuals strictly based on their sexual preference, I feel that it would cause much more harm than good if we were to allow them in. Open showers are common in many areas that you travel. How comfortable would you feel showering next to someone who is openly gay? How about the image that it would send around the world ... not very intimidating if you ask me. It would lower troop comradery and personally take away from the "brotherhood" that I came to know love. It is a bad idea to allow those open individuals in. There is no perfect "fair" plan, but I feel that don't ask, don't tell works."
As a friend who served in the Army, let me share his story.
He entered bootcamp knowing very well not to expose his sexual preferences, He did not long for anyone he trained with and would at times talk about how hot various actresses were and make obscene gestures and remarks.. ya know, to play the part of a hetero. He graduated, and was promoted 3 or so times within the span of year until someone "found out" about him. Rumors flew left and right about him and made it to the ears of some of the higher ranking officers above him. All of this happened rather quickly and was while he was getting ready to go into Iraq in a few weeks. An officer above him confronted him about the issue, said that he would be given an honorable discharge and stripped of any veterans benefits when he returned from Iraq 3 months later. He felt abandoned and betrayed, and went over that officer's head to get his immediate dismisal before being deployed. No one during that time thought less of him because he was a homosexual, they trusted him, and felt betrayed by the army heirarchy by letting their brother in arms go out like that. He was a good soldier, and he is a good friend. Any person would be lucky to have him have their back, jarhead.
