Don't Ask, Don't Tell is the military policy towards gays in service.  I explain why in a bit, but I think it will go away in my lifetime, and I support it as policy.  First I want to address some of the arguments favoring it.  Some of them, I think, are knee-jerk arguments, but they really irk me.

I'm going to snark a bit, but don't think for a moment that I have anything less than total respect for those who serve.  I have more to lose than most if America fails to defeat Islamic extremism.

1.  Don't drop the soap in the shower.

A.  Because gays are notorious for boinking unsuspecting men in the shower when given an opportunity?

B.  Because ogling is faggotry's primary transmission vector?

Please.  I don't think the military is very tolerant of rape.  And certainly, anybody who can complete basic training must have some degree of self-discipline.

As a side note, guys preen when a chick looks them over and are skeeved when a dude does it?  What the fuck?  How about being flattered that somebody thinks you're hot enough to check out in the first place?  It won't make you gay, I promise.  I'm pleased when a woman flirts with me; it suggests that I'm not a creepy fucking leper that ought to be locked in the basement.

2.  I'm not sure this argument isn't bit of satire, but the frequency with which I see it makes me think at least some people believe it (it has a corollary, but I'll get to that).  Flouncy girly-guys will join and spend their time flaunting their sexuality.

A.  Right, because the Perez Hiltons of the world are clamoring for a chance to join the military.

B.  How many of those types who actually do join will last through basic training?

A horde of queers wearing siren hats and sandwich boards reading "LOOK AT ME, I'M A FAG" are going to take over the military.  Yeah, I kind of doubt it.

You can argue that I'm out of my depth, since I haven't any military experience.  But, I can argue the same of you since those people you see at the Folsom Street Fair, and on Will and Grace are absolutelty not representative of all homos.

3.  This is the ugliest argument, and will have the ugliest response.  But, I recognize the reality of the argument.  I would not enlist/re-enlist if I had to serve with an openly gay service member.

A. I would rather forsake everything America has accomplished and for which she stands than serve in a unit with a queer.

My bitterness over this argument is probably personal and emotional, but the argument is a touch horrifying.  I suppose I'm guilty of having a Platonic pure form vision of selfless soldiers battling for American supremacy and freedom.

Now I've learned that as many as 80% of our soldiers have the following priorities, in order:  Not to serve alongside openly gay soldiers.  To protect and preserve everything America stands for. 

That's hurtful, and more to the point shameful.  This is perhaps the one argument that gay service members can win hands down.  I know from my reading of gay former soldiers that they hide and even abandon their personal lives in order to fight for something greater than themselves.

They not only fight a war of aggression against America's enemies, but a war of intelligence against their peers and superiors.  My understanding is that there is a powerful extra-military culture amongst service members that pushes for a normal, stable life with a wife/girlfriend/children.  The queers serving have to obfusticate/dissemble/lie in order to fit in.

Many of them have crappy private lives and abandon their own personal codes of ethics in order to serve something above their own petty existence.  I can guarantee that this hurts them, and their morale, and that they, still, are truly offering everything they have to serve American ideals.

Anyhow, there are arguments about unit cohesion and loyalty that I can't address since I have no military experience.  I will trust the military establishment on their assessment.

4.  Why do we segregate male and female service members?

A.  Because they chase after one another?  Duh.

I can only speculate about the whys and wherefores of military policy frowning on co-military relationships, but I do believe those reasons are valid (as opposed to similar civilian restrictions, with which I disagree.)

But, I can say that the fags will be chasing one another, rather than any straight people with whom they have no hope of building a relationship, or getting laid for that matter.

In spite of my ire against the arguments above, I have to be realistic.  Realistically, DADT is the best alternative for now.  I only have three reasons in support.

1.  The arguments I listed above are common, and most frequently come from members of the Armed Services.  I'm confident they know what they think.  And these thinkings are the majority for now.

2.  My biased response is that it protects the queers from harrassment and hazing that they would certainly suffer if they were out.  A small percentage of military personnel are actually gay, but they would certainly be mistreated if they were outed.  It's a fact of human nature.  (No, not because they're gay, but because they belong to another 'tribe.'  The same thing happens to blacks, women, red-heads, insert group.  Try not to lose any sleep, it's the same reason we invented Taxonomy.)

3.  There would be a percentage of enlistees who would be flamey-fags.  They would fuck up until they were booted and then turn around and sue for discrimination.  It's a leftist tactic, and it's as sure to come as the sun is to rise.  I don't want to pay the legal bills.

I think that DADT will go away in my lifetime, but I don't think that now is the right time.  Every generation seems to be less cautious towards homos and eventually these sorts of people will fill not only the ranks, but the command structures of our military.  I can be patient.

Besides, there are historical, literary, and modern examples to give encouragement.  The Sacred Band of Thebes was entirely gay.  Frank Herbert gave God, Emperor of Dune a lesbian army, and the IDF hasn't splintered because of the queers serving in Israel.

I say we keep DADT until soldiers and Americans stop giving a crap.  I give it a decade, maybe a decade and a half.

Posted by: roggowj at 12:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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