Saturday, July 23, 2011

An Army of One of Those

After 17 years, the military will officially end the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and allow gay men and women to serve openly in our armed forces. While this is a victory of sorts for both sexes I think, for gay men in particular, it's a blow against discrimination. And the only downside for gay men is that it occurred only after the army decided to stop requiring their soldiers to wear berets.

Historically, gay men have been serving in combat theaters since the First Messenian War, when Sparta rose to power as the Spartan Army came joined together after beating off fighting against a hard stubborn defensive thrust push stand by Messenain soldiers on Mount Mt. Ithome. The support for gays in the military, however, changed about the time of the Crusades, when the pope's holy warriors burned men at the stake for participating in sexual practices that were outside the church, er, church's doctrines.

I don't have a problem with the gay lifestyle or any other lifestyle that doesn't fit within my personal parameters. As long as a person or group of people don't assert their beliefs onto me or attempt to convert me, I say go about your business.You want to be gay, go for it. I'll support your right to be happy, you support my right to let you. And my support extends to any gay man who wants to be a part of the front line or rear guard of the military, too.

Of course, there are those hardline homophobes who'll go to their graves believing that an openly gay militia will cause harm to the morale of our fighting forces. Yeah, it'll undo all the hard work the government did to put smiley faces on all the men spending their summer backpacking across an Afghan desert. I mean, think about it. Does anyone really believe our military will suddenly start being overwhelmed by an influx of hairdressers or florists? People like that aren't going to enlist, which is one reason why I never understood the opposition to gays being in the service. The ones who volunteer are folks who sign up because they want to be there. They may be gay, but they'd rather be part of a troop movement in a military company than part of a troupe movement in a theater company. These aren't the folks who are intent on making khaki or cammo fashionable inside the military or outside of a trailer park. They're there to fight for our freedom. They're looking to blow things up, not blow each other.

Understand, there are standards in the military and, gay or straight, every soldier has to meet them. If they do meet the standards we should trust them implicitly to stand tall and defend us with integrity instead of wondering if they'll curl up like bitches under fire. We should, as a nation, embrace these brave people, at least figuratively, and stop worrying about them being gay or being in our military.

If you really want to start worrying about who's in the military, start a draft.

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