Gays in the military MERGED

good point
S

 

I am sorry for sounding ignorant but, why cant we have gays in the military.

 

Gays can be in the military as long as they dont tell they are Gay

 

There are thousands of gay and lesbian folks in the military. The military, which prefers to operate with its head up its own ass, says the policy of "don't ask and don't tell" is an answer to something. Thats bullshit of course but social conservatives thrive on bullshit. All through out history gays have been warriors and will continue to do so in the future...its just that the US would rather not deal with reality.

 

Im not sure theres even a reason...Though, no reason for excluding a person from the military based on sexuality could be...well, reasonable

The US army is highly discriminative, I guess >.<

 

in all honestly, I kind of don't care about them not allowing gays in the military, but that's only because I HATE the military (pacifist much??) and if they ever tried to draft me, I'd be the first to spill the beans that I was gay....just so they'd kick me out, and I wouldn't have to wear those horrid camo outfits they have....or shave my hair off....

 

gay people are allowed in the military. and they should be. i can understand the clinton stance of placing the burden on the gay member though. we definately do not live in a perfect world, nor will we ever, so you cant expect more that 90% of straight military personel to deal with it in a mature maner. so the burden is placed on the gay person to not make an issue of it. it makes sense to me.

 

Gays don't need to be openly serving in the military for the same reason women dont serve in combat. We need mMillitary effectiveness,not more liberal political correctness.:sunglasse

 

Well, with countries where national service is still in force, you kind of inadvertantly place a substantial numbers of gays in the military. I managed to escape mine as I went to university, but I have a friend who has stories about spooning people in winter combat excercises. Hmmm, interesting...

Anyway, many ancient warriors and societies didn't have a problem with gays in the military - the Spartans are a good example, with tutelage of adolescent warriors going beyond just, well, "tutalage". And they had a saying that gays fight better than others as they are fighting beside the people they love.

 

having been in the USAF, the word is "good order and disipline". if an openly gay person was serving with a group of homophobes it would/could cause a breakdown of the good order and disipline.

on the other hand, in combat the last thing on your mind would be "is this guy checking me out ?" no, you're more worried about staying alive.

keeping with the combat theme: if an openly gay soldier is shot, and if the medic is a homophobe will he give 110% to keep the gay solider alive as he would a straight soldier ?

would the gay soliders "brothers in arms" apply first aid or would they be worried about AIDS and not give him first aid ? "one less fag in the world" - guess where I heard this line ?

when I was in the shower I know a lot of the guys checked each other out, yanno "how do I compare in the size department" sorta thing. I mean they didn't oogle the other guy or anything but they did check each other out.

did I love some of my brothers ? yeah, in the sense that I would have given my life for them but I didn't love them in a sexual way. its weird, the bonding that come from serving in the militar is not something that can be explained it has to be experienced. you live, eat, sleep and work with these guys 24/7/365 so you can get very close.

Do I think openly gays should serve ? no, because I think it could, at this time and date, cause more problems than it cures. perhaps in 20-30 years attitudes will change and it won't be such a big deal and gays can freely serve.

 

I think with republicans running about everything, we will never see it. But if someone wants to serve openly gay in the military, let them, the only people in my opinion are neo conservitave republicans whose agenda is to give the rednecks only what they want. But for safety reasons, i dont think so, because people might try to commit an act of violence on you.

 

I think that if a straight soldier is incapable of focussing on his mission because he keeps wondering if the fag behind him is staring at his ass, then maybe he shouldn't be allowed to serve in the military because his insecurities are hindering his ability to do his job and putting the rest of his fellow soldiers' lives at risk because of it.

Of all the things to think about on the battlefield...

The shower thing and bunking with a gay man is a bit different but still.

txbarefooter brings up a good point about the medic thing.

I guess I'm not really affected by this because I live in Canada. If ever I decide to enlist in the military, being open about my sexual orientation will not be a problem.

 

OK, I am a strait male. But I have been hit on a couple of times by gay men, once at an alternative bookstore, and once at a gay bar where I was celebrating a lesbian friends birthday. Both times I politely informed the person that I was strait but thanks anyway. At no time did I feel offended, rather I took it as a compliment.
That being said, so what if some guy is checking you out? Who cares. Sexual harassment is the same for gay or strait. Unwanted and repeated advances. Gay men or women are no more likely to harass someone sexually than strait men and women. The only problem is with the reaction of the strait guy. They need to get over it. There are already gays in the military, they just have to hide it. Don't ask don't tell is a form of repression that needs to be stopped.