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Gays in the Military: Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell. Don’t Discriminate.
I’ve never understood what the big deal was about gays serving in the military. The GLBT community brings as much talent and patriotism to the table as any other. The idea that gays serving in the military would somehow disrupt military operations just didn’t seem logical to me.
Apparently, others agree.
Since the British military began allowing homosexuals to serve in the armed forces in 2000, none of its fears — about harassment, discord, blackmail, bullying or an erosion of unit cohesion or military effectiveness — have come to pass, according to the Ministry of Defense, current and former members of the services and academics specializing in the military. The biggest news about the policy, they say, is that there is no news. It has for the most part become a nonissue.
The Ministry of Defense does not compile figures on how many gay men and lesbians are openly serving, and it says that the number of people who have come out publicly in the past seven years is still relatively low. But it is clearly proud of how smoothly homosexuals have been integrated and is trying to make life easier for them.
“What we’re hoping to do is to, over a period of time, reinforce the message that people who are gay, lesbian and the like are welcomed in the armed forces and we don’t discriminate against them in any way,†a Defense Ministry official said in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the ministry’s practice.
If it happened there, it can happen anywhere.
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7 Responses to “Gays in the Military: Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell. Don’t Discriminate.”
Spain allows Gays to serve openly in the military. Hell, not so long ago the first member of the military had a sex change and then went right back in, with female ID. Non-issue, mostly. I don’t see what the big problem is. If you allow women in the military then you are allowing for the possibility that military personnel feels attraction to other military personnel, whether it’s a same sex or opposite sex attraction is totally secondary, unless you have issues with sexuality.
I can’t help but thinking that your average soldier has about a gazilion issues they find more pressing than whether their buddy is gay. Like when that body armor is arriving, whether their going to miss another birthday of their son or hoping against hope that they aren’t injured and if they are, that they aren’t sent to Walter Reed.
Just shoot straight.
The problem is you have to worry about the gay soldiers themselves. Having served, I can say that there is a strong, if still minority, element in the armed forces that is homophobic beyond belief. And that attitude crosses all services, all ranks (maybe even slightly worse in the officer classes, from my experience).
As for women in the military, ask them how it has been going. Ask them about the overt sexual harassment they still face, the military’s reaction to crimes of assault against them by other military members (the running ‘joke’, if you ant to call it that, is that you can get in more trouble for marrying out of ranks or consensual sex than rape).
Doesn’t make it right (it certainly isn’t), but it is a reality to deal with.
[...] to this article, hand-picked in part from MemeOrandum’s blogger roundup: Shakesville; The Moderate Voice; Think Progress AMERICAblog Technorati Tags:Â Current Events, DADT, discrimination, Gays, [...]
AR, despite your more reasoned opinion, I’m still voting for the DLS wisecrack as best post of the day.
AR the armed forces may be awash in those issues, hard as they may be, but just as the solution for rape in the military is not kicking women out of it, neither is the solution for homophobia in the military not letting Gays serve.
Strike another vote for DLS’s joke LOL.
Lynx – didn’t say it was (and wouldn’t). I just haven’t seen much said about the problem during various discussions of gay in the military.
I am also 4-square for women in the military as well (and lifting ALL restrictions, to boot). Doesn’t make my point any less valid though.
And DLS wisecrack is one the best this year!