Gays in the Military

Recently, there are even more issues with the gays in the military thing. Seriously? Who cares. There are no other jobs that I can think of that would fire somebody just because of their sexual orientation. In fact, most jobs look at diversity as something they desire in an employee body. Customers are as diverse as the employees that work for companies and often can come up with different ideas because they have different views of the world at large. There are even openly gay House Representatives and Senators: these individuals are not ruining our society because of their preference of a partner.

I’ve heard arguments, mostly against, made by those already in the Army, but I wonder why that the gays that everybody knows are in our unit haven’t made the unit completely fall apart or as some retired officers "We believe that imposing this burden on our men and women in uniform would undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadership at all levels, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lend their sons and daughters to military service, and eventually break the all-volunteer force," the letter said (from http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/08/murphy.gay.military/index.html written by Emily Sherman) What? Do parents not allow kids to go to college where there are openly gay men and women there in full force? And NOTHING says that these individuals have to hide their status, in fact, I would think that many people “come out of the closet” during college because they’re in a more accepting environment than even at home. This argument doesn’t make any sense to me. Break the all-volunteer force? You can’t break what’s already broken. The wars that we have been in since 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a much more detrimental influence on the all-volunteer force. But you don’t hear the hawks mentioning that fact. But low and behold, the economy tanks and with it job security and then the military, even with its long deployments to places where people often at least initially hate us, starts to look a lot better. A pay check is a pay check even if it comes with a slew of plane tickets across the world to the most terrible places.

I understand that the Army is generally filled with people who are a lot less accepting of people of different faiths, such as Muslims, or different walks of life, either very rich or very poor, and those who choose to love those of the same sex. But is this a correct way of thinking? Should we condone this sort of behavior and allow people to think like this? Saying: it’s ok that you’re hateful and un-accepting of others. Shouldn’t the military be a representation of the society at large? What exists in society should be in the Army. I think the Army should be a direct reflection of our society. Granted yes, we don’t allow the sick or disabled normally, but in some cases we do: I know there is a one-legged paratrooper, out of all things, you’d think you’d need two legs to jump out of an airplane!

One issue that comes to mind is the military family. If we allow them in, then we would have to recognize their marriages that are legal in some states in the union. Thinking of, heaven forbid, a gay FRG (Family Readiness Group) leader running the wives gossip club. Men, husbands that is, already seem to feel out of place in these organizations, even if they’re what I like to refer to as “house husbands.” But a gay man or woman? It would be an interesting situation. But shouldn’t these parents teach their children to be accepting of others? Just 50 years ago we were arguing about the rights of blacks and “colored people.” I have mentioned before that I didn’t even know what black people were until I moved to the South. My young mind did not comprehend that there was anything different from them except that they had dark skin and I had lighter skin. I had blonde hair and some girls have brown or black or red hair. But did it make them any less human? Hell no. They had blue or brown or hazel eyes and I have green eyes. I don’t see that being any different than any other trait. Yes, there are different cultures, but are any really better than any others? My best friend from childhood was Thai, and I always thought that meant really good food when I was a kid. I thought different was better. Why would everybody want to be the same? Difference is the richness of life.

Still, Genevieve Chase, a straight veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and the founder of American Women's Veterans, said she believes that not much would change in the military if "don't ask, don't tell" were repealed. Chase appeared with Murphy at the event Wednesday in Washington.

Calling them service members of a "new era," Chase said, "Gays have been and are already serving openly. ... Allowing discrimination and bigotry to continue is what disrupts cohesion."

(Also from the article mentioned previously)

That’s right. Not much would change. What disrupts unit cohesion, which is a popular scape-goat of those in favor of expelling any person who is openly gay, is hate and discrimination in all forms, no matter who it’s committed by, against anybody, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, man, woman or homosexual. Discrimination in any form is not ok. These are the Armed Forces of the United States of America, and no American should face discrimination in our free, all volunteer force.