07 February 2010

Seperate but Equal?

First, an explanation of what it is:

"Don't ask, don't tell (DADT) is the common term for the policy stopping openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals from serving in the United States military, as mandated by federal law Pub.L. 103-160 (10 U.S.C. § 654). Unless one of the exceptions from 10 U.S.C. § 654(b) applies, the policy prohibits anyone who "demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because "it would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability." The act prohibits any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing his or her sexual orientation or from speaking about any homosexual relationships, including marriages or other familial attributes, while serving in the United States armed forces. The "don't ask" part of the policy indicates that superiors should not initiate investigation of a service member's orientation in the absence of disallowed behaviors, though credible and articulable evidence of homosexual behavior may cause an investigation. Violations of this aspect through persecutions and harrassment of suspected servicemen and women resulted in the policy's current formulation as don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue, don't harass."
-From Wikipedia (more accurate than some encyclopedias, but that's another post for another day)

So basically, you can be gay and serve. You can not, however, be OPENLY gay and serve. C's big brother in his fraternity is gay, though not openly so anymore. He's serving out of Ft. Campbell, and has literally had to fight some of his fellow soldiers to prove his 'manliness'.

I've heard a lot of arguments on both sides of this policy. Those for it say it would hurt morale, compromise the mission. Those against it relate it back to letting women/African Americans serve.

I am 100% against this policy. While I have my own views on homosexuality(again, another post another time), I don't think it's right to make them live out lives in silence, and be prohibited from both serving their company and pursuing their happiness.

To begin, One of the arguments I hear is that an openly homosexual solider couldn't focus on the mission/ would be constantly hitting on the other male soldiers. How narcissistic can you get?! Sorry guys, not every gay man is after you. Nor will he hit on you if he knows you're straight. They're human beings-Not every straight guy hits on everything with two legs and a vagina, so why would you think it would suddenly change with different hardware?

I have also heard the argument towards the more effeminate men enlisting. I'm sorry, maybe you've never met a true 'flaming' gay man...but he will not be the type of guy who will enlist. You'll end up getting more Will's, and few (if ANY) Jacks.

I always think towards one of C's fraternity events when I think of Gay rights..

Every semester, they have a 'Victory'. It's a semi-formal dinner, followed by a party where pledges get their big brothers. Typical fraternity events are a testosterone fest--if you think different...I question if you've ever been to one. I went with C my freshman spring semester. All the guys bring dates-- and for once, an openly gay man, brought a guy as his date. It took courage, It got looks....but they all knew and loved this member, so they accepted it with open arms.

I'm not saying that the repeal of this is going to be easy on anyone. I'm not saying it won't have a dark patch. All I'm saying is love is love is love, no matter the color or gender. If C can talk about me, and bring me to Unit events, I want his BB to be able to talk about his hypothetical boyfriend(hopefully husband some day...) and bring him to Unit events.

-J.

2 comments:

  1. I love this post, mainly because I agree with you completely. Did you happen to read the article on CNN.com the other day about a woman who had served 20+ years for the Navy and had to essentially hide her partner. It was a really interesting article about how she feels about the "Dont ask dont tell" policy from her own experiences.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't, though now I'm going to. I remember seeing a news story awhile back about a gay man in the navy who's harrassment was ridiculous. Made to act like a dog, masturbate, etc. :(

    ReplyDelete

Like it? Hate it? Let me know! Keep it simple, civil, and PG-13. <3