I really, really hope this doesn't just drop off the radar and that they actually keep it moving and DO something while there's a regime that's supportive of it.
Listen, having served and being a Fairly Liberal person on such things, I'm of 2 minds. Sure,lifting the ban is the moral thing to do. Asking someone to lay their life on the line for their country is hard enough but to ask them to adhere to a way of thinking and being the is contradictory to their nature is something else. I canonly imagine what it would have been like if , when I was in , I was the only straight guy in an Aggressively Gay group and had to hide my Preference.
And lets not kid our selves. The Guys that I served with, in an Infantry unit, were Aggressively Hetro and not very opened minded to ways other that their own. Talking about sex and the things that were done on weekends that Involved sex were very common place.If you didn't have a story to tell or trying to be a "NewAge Guy" got you labeled "FAG" or worse. And that's just for sticking up for the Women that were being Objectified.The sacrifie that the Gay and Lesbian Troops that we have serving today, in the "footlocker", are just as brave and self scarificing as their Hetro fellows. Who you love and how you love doesn't matter to the enemya bullett fired by a Gay soldier and a straight soldier kills a terrorist just as dead , and a bullet from a terrorist AK kills Gay as well as the Hetro troops . Bulletts don't descriminate.
The flip side is that Behavior Patterns and way of thinking are so ingrained from day one of Basic Training, that changing it with a mere waving of a congressional wand will not change it one Iota. All of the Naysayers and Far right weirdos are correct when they say that it will affect "Morale and Combat Readiness". You will begin to hear of beatings and "fraggings" ( Fratricide attacks) of openly gay troops. What happened to Matt Shepard in Texas when a few rednecks felt Threatened buy him? Imagine a Group of Soldiers or Marines who feel Threatened are gonna do. It's not right or moral, but it happens.
I offer no fix or solution except the teaching of tolerance.
The situation sucks any way you slice it. I can just hope that newer soldiers,those of the "Internet Generation and after have learned that who you love and how you love doesn't make you incapable if loving and defending your country as well.
Yes, I imagine it's going to be a very difficult transition, and I have no idea how they're going to accomplish it. But it is a change that needs to happen, as much as integrating troops along racial lines needed to happen after WWII. There will no doubt be violence towards those who are out -- but keep in mind that there's *already* violence -- I'm sure a lot of it is hushed up. Giving official and legal protection to openly gay troops can only help, in the same way that legalizing prostitution will help sex workers defend themselves: How can you call the cops when your john beats you if you're only going to be arrested for having him there in the first place?
I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW!
I really, really hope this doesn't just drop off the radar and that they actually keep it moving and DO something while there's a regime that's supportive of it.
Listen, having served and being a Fairly Liberal person on such things, I'm of 2 minds. Sure,lifting the ban is the moral thing to do. Asking someone to lay their life on the line for their country is hard enough but to ask them to adhere to a way of thinking and being the is contradictory to their nature is something else. I canonly imagine what it would have been like if , when I was in , I was the only straight guy in an Aggressively Gay group and had to hide my Preference.
And lets not kid our selves. The Guys that I served with, in an Infantry unit, were Aggressively Hetro and not very opened minded to ways other that their own. Talking about sex and the things that were done on weekends that Involved sex were very common place.If you didn't have a story to tell or trying to be a "NewAge Guy" got you labeled "FAG" or worse. And that's just for sticking up for the Women that were being Objectified.The sacrifie that the Gay and Lesbian Troops that we have serving today, in the "footlocker", are just as brave and self scarificing as their Hetro fellows. Who you love and how you love doesn't matter to the enemya bullett fired by a Gay soldier and a straight soldier kills a terrorist just as dead , and a bullet from a terrorist AK kills Gay as well as the Hetro troops . Bulletts don't descriminate.
The flip side is that Behavior Patterns and way of thinking are so ingrained from day one of Basic Training, that changing it with a mere waving of a congressional wand will not change it one Iota. All of the Naysayers and Far right weirdos are correct when they say that it will affect "Morale and Combat Readiness". You will begin to hear of beatings and "fraggings" ( Fratricide attacks) of openly gay troops. What happened to Matt Shepard in Texas when a few rednecks felt Threatened buy him? Imagine a Group of Soldiers or Marines who feel Threatened are gonna do. It's not right or moral, but it happens.
I offer no fix or solution except the teaching of tolerance.
The situation sucks any way you slice it. I can just hope that newer soldiers,those of the "Internet Generation and after have learned that who you love and how you love doesn't make you incapable if loving and defending your country as well.
Yes, I imagine it's going to be a very difficult transition, and I have no idea how they're going to accomplish it. But it is a change that needs to happen, as much as integrating troops along racial lines needed to happen after WWII. There will no doubt be violence towards those who are out -- but keep in mind that there's *already* violence -- I'm sure a lot of it is hushed up. Giving official and legal protection to openly gay troops can only help, in the same way that legalizing prostitution will help sex workers defend themselves: How can you call the cops when your john beats you if you're only going to be arrested for having him there in the first place?