I was relieved to hear the other day, that Congress repealed the policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. The policy allowed for gay recruits as long as they don’t reveal that they are gay. If the closet was opened, they would be discharged. 13,000 good soldiers were discharged over 17 years because they were outed.
Now what about those solid arguments for DADT?
“Having gays serve openly will be a distraction and will hurt cohesion”. If you are that distracted by something that petty, maybe the military isn’t for you. You can live in a warzone and have to deal with attacks everyday…but that one gay guy is your biggest concern. Many respondents to a survey believed some of their fellow soldiers were gay and had no problem with it.
The military will still maintain a level of discipline. Allowing gays will not mean all rules will be disregarded and chaos will ensue. Besides, if you don’t mind touching straight men/women and don’t mind showering naked with straight men/women, what difference does it make if there is a gay man/woman? Remember: Discipline! Gay men/women aren’t going to rape you or have sex near you!
Besides, where is the evidence that gays serving openly hurt cohesion and distract? In the other nations that allow openly gay soldiers, there have been next to no problems.
Maybe if this country wasn’t held hostage by the religious right, we could stop being so homophobic.
Speaking of which, what about those chaplains that are opposed to homosexuality? First of all, we are not banning Christianity with this repeal. Second, how many sermons in the military deal with anti-homosexual rhetoric? It seems like that wouldn’t come up a lot. Maybe it’s the church I grew up in, but the sermons I’ve heard didn’t revolve around political issues. I never knew the political beliefs of my pastor. The only thing I knew was his opposition to the Iraq war, and that wasn’t as controversial as homosexuality.
Anyway, if you have that much hate for a group of people, maybe you shouldn’t be in the ministry or the armed forces (you didn’t mind when they were there and you didn’t know it). But for those who aren’t necessarily hate-filled but still oppose homosexuality; you can still believe it. No one is forcing you to change your beliefs. Just don’t be so crazy about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment