Top Brass Resist New Military Gay Policy

By Richard Ammon
GlobalGayz.com
January 26, 2011

So said President Obama in his State of the Union Speech last night:

"Our troops come from every corner of this country -– they’re black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American. They are Christian and Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. And, yes, we know that some of them are gay. Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love. (Applause.) And with that change, I call on all our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and ROTC. It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one nation." (Applause.)

During the two pauses for applause, the TV cameras zoomed in on two sets of military chiefs sitting with their hands folded on their laps in their richly decorated uniforms with faces looking like Mount Rushmore, unmoved and unhappy. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen, Air Force General Norton Schwartz, Marine Corps General James Amos, Navy Admiral Gary Roughhead, Army General George Casey--not one clapped.

They looked old and worn. They are old and worn just as their ideas about gays in the military are backward and irrational. Despite the overwhelming evidence from actual military forces in 41 countries that gay troops have no negative impact on troop cohesion or discipline; despite the fact that 26 countries that participate militarily in NATO (including UN Peacekeeping troops) more than 22 permit gay people to serve; despite the military's own internal study that "no research has ever shown that open homosexuality impairs military readiness."

These top brass commandos still deeply think "by policy, we would be condoning what we believe is immoral activity" (to quote Gen. Peter Pace, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) to allow gays to serve openly. The terrible irony in this comment -- that training troops to kill is not immoral but men (or women) loving other men (or women) is immoral -- is almost too painful to bear. It is a horrible prejudice against human nature in general and against the true nature of sexuality in particular. It shouts loudly of ignorance, and worse, of a refusal to enlighten that ignorance with modern insight and understanding about human sexual orientation.

So there they sat in front of their much more open-minded Commander in Chief as he expressed modern thought for his modern forces. "It is time to move forward as one nation," said Mr. Obama. But seen in the faces of these top brass, so encrusted with archaic irrational opinions, was their resistance to moving on. They will move on, of course, by command, and issue orders to accept gays in the service.

What they don't see is that their private commitment to bigotry and close-mindedness is the real impairment to military readiness. Lower-rank officers and enlisted troops take their orders and cues from the top where these brass sit. If they don't 'like' something, despite obeying orders, it is well known down the ranks and it's this unspoken prejudice against gays that will continue to feed homophobic behavior in the ranks. Just as it is with some religious leaders who spew anti-gay venom in sermons, speeches and writings that sanction violence and hatred among less educated followers.

These decorated veterans of too many combats don't realize how their unmoving arms and hands--seen by millions in two 5-second TV shots--perpetuates division and weakens cohesion among countless troops looking to deal with the new policy of gays in the military. This is poor leadership and, yes, smacks of disobedience toward their superior. Minimal applause on their part would have spoken far better for this country than their stone-faced denial of what the President said.

Times change, policies change, people change. If these well-paid generals can't accept that, then resign now before they perpetuate more discrimination and injustice.