GlobalGayz.com
May 29, 2010
Why this absurd brouhaha about gays in the military? We are already there and serving well. Who are these worried troops and brass who are blowing this issue way bigger than it is?
There are thousands of gays and lesbians already IN the service. When the ‘don’t tell’ ban is shut down, what do they expect us to do, have a gay Pride parade at West Point or down the streets of Kandahar. (photo right: openly gay UK soldier)
Be realistic. Just because the ban is lifted, homophobia will still be alive an well in America and in the military. Homophobia can get a gay person bashed or killed—with or without the ban. We are not stupid or eager for strangers to know about our private lives. We will not come flying out with rainbow colors to announce our person sexual preferences.
We will continue to conduct ourselves the same as we already do—discretely, privately but without the threat of being unfairly discharged. We will experience it as no more and no less than a RELIEF. That’s it. Unseen and silently, gays will serve wholly legally in all the armed services.
This overflow of opinionating and the swollen demand for investigations into the effect of lifting DADT verge on the absurd and lack a close intimate understanding of what it’s like to be gay and lesbian or bi or trans. We only want equality of rights and equality of being protected from the dangers of irrational military homophobia, not a parade.
The New York Times today said, "Under an amendment moving through Congress, once that report is finished, the White House and senior Pentagon leadership must certify that repealing the ban will not be disruptive to the military. Once that certification is made, final repeal will occur within 60 days. "
Disruptive? How much analysis and how much empirical evidence does it take to crack the dense homophobic mindset that gays in the military pose some kind of risk? It makes NO difference. The evidence is already in. Take a look: Israel, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Holland, Denmark, Finland, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Argentina, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, England--even highly homophobic Russia, Estonia and Lithuania--all allow gays to serve without hiding. The actual evidence from all these countries is that gays in the military is a no-brainer issue.
Just because there is a difference in sexual orientation does not make people so different that they are somehow unqualified for worldly responsibilities or military service. We already raise families, perform surgery, deliver the mail, teach children in schools and universities, do research for NASA and are elected to public office and serve in the military. Do we have to re-invent the wheel to prove the point?
What’s the big deal if we are in uniform? We will continue to do it with all the respect and duty as we do now.
Stop the madness. Drop the ban. It makes no difference to the quality of our military might. (photo right, Israeli female soldiers--3 are lesbians?)
But it will make a difference for those who choose to stay stuck in 20th century homophobia that as irrational as the tooth fairy or Santa Claus—in the belief that something very unreal is very real. LGBT people are no different as human beings than anyone else. We can climb, shoot, run, follow orders and serve as top brass as well as anyone.
What will have to change, or be cured, is the mental disease of social homophobia that’s historically based on religious mythology and institutional distortions of portions of the Bible that were written by ancient men—humans as vain and ego-filled as we are today. Jesus said NOTHNG about sexuality. He did say to love one another as he loved us. That’s all. The rest is interpretation and mythology and church politics.
Once we expose this caustic mental disease of homophobia that kills thousands of people a year—from teens to elders—we will be a better society for it. Allowing ancient religious-based prejudice to govern modern-day conduct of military matters is like using medieval catapults to confront North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling.
Social homophobia is a totally curable disease and the sooner the better. On this the military can lead the assault. JFDI.
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