Gays in Military deadhorseFollow

You have to wonder why Canada, Great Britain and all those other countries that allow people to be out in the military has had no problems with that policy change and the United States military still acts like open homosexuality would not work at all. It has nothing to do with the functioning of the military but more to do with appeasing the rightwing.

I had a friend that had a lesbian relationship while in the military. She was investigated and promptly discharged. Don't ask, don't tell isn't really a solution and given the numbers needed for our war on two fronts, I don't think we need to arbitrarily dismiss qualified people from the military.

I don't buy that for a second. Maybe 10% of the armed forces are that homophobic. I would think that it would hurt morale to find out your good pal is gay, and didn't tell you. Makes you worry about what else people are lying about, and causes unrest.



While, in all honesty, I can understand this one a little more, because I could see men wanting to "protect" the little woman who thinks she can shoot a gun, I imagine that would go away pretty quickly once they see what she can actually do.

No one asked you to "buy" it. Until you've been in the army (for example, taking from personal experience), and seen the fact that 90% are what psych majors would call Alpha Males, and see that they will attack anything that is weaker than them, you wouldn't understand.

There was some Harvard (only 85% certain it was Harvard) study a few years ago that asked men if they perceived homosexuality as a weakness, and 90% of the men surveyed said "yes" to that statement. Does that mean that homosexuality is a weakness? No. Perception is key here, and the Pentagon knows this. When you enlist in the army as part of an infantry division, you undergo some rather intense training, and you are injected with things that make you even more aggressive than normal. I personally watched guys fight over a washer/dryer. Just to wash clothes. Imagine if these same guys found out that one of their own was homosexual. They'd go off, and have done so.

I had to conduct the mental evaluation on a kid that was beaten for being homosexual, when I was handling in-processing at Ft. Benning. They beat the **** out of this kid. The recruits were disciplined and released from the army. The punishment should have gone further in my opinion, but the soldier that was beaten was still able to perform at his best within a few weeks of rest, and thus cadre felt that it was in the best interest of the army to just release these jackholes. It's also fact that events like this one don't happen often outside of IET/BCT.

It is also estimated that up to 8% of the current enlisted soldiers in the army are or have been homosexual (internal army research). Little is done in the regular army. No one really cares. It's only a problem when someone want's it to be a problem, usually someone who is homosexual, and trying to either be discharged, or is attempting to stir up trouble. I did personally know a guy who was in communications that was homosexual, and thought he was an o.k. guy. If you didn't actually know, you couldn't have guessed it about him.

As for women in combat...having seen the majority of them shut-down mentally, and ***** up, I'm going to veto your idea about it. I know there are women on the planet that can do it, and are just as good, if not better than many of the men, but I personally have yet to see an American woman that can hack it, and wants to. The wanting being the key on that one.

I spent 10 years in the US Army and can see only 1 reason that would make openly gay soldiers unacceptable in the Army. On many of the Bases I served the billiting for the single soldiers were 2-3 man rooms. If one of those 3 were openly gay it would create a uncomfortable liveing enviroment for the other two. If you give Gay soldiers seprate houseing then you will either have straight soldiers claiming to be gay to get a room to their selvs or claims of segration.

Note I said openly gay above. I knew several "non open" gays of both genders in the service and had no issues with them, but as a whole there is a snence of homophobia in the service.

I was openly a atheist throughout my service and never had a issue outside of an off color comment now and then.

I agree that I think gays should be allowed in the military. The sex thing is ridiculous, gays aren't sex crazed maniacs any more than straights are. Men and women working together could lead to sexual tension just as well as two gay men/women working together. People need to get over themselves. Just because someone is gay doesn't mean they are going to be sexually attracted to any tom, ****, sue, sally or harry that walks by.

It should be changed. It's the same arguments that people probably used for allowing blacks to serve. This is just stupid.

Why should the cost be in the equation of doing what is right? I know it's just ideals and to each their own, but why should we descriminate. Is there any non-biggoted reason for gays to not be allowed to be openly gay and in the military?

Again, I'm sure the same argument was made for women, minorities being in the military. Things change. This should change.

Again, I'm sure the same argument was made for women, minorities being in the military

Not really.

If it had been the case that blacks could serve with whites as long as they wore whiteface and women could serve with men as long as they had a strap on and bound their breasts, you'd have a case.

Oddly completely different things rarely end up using the same argument. For instance, the argument against elephants taking the place of tanks is completely different than the argument for camels taking the place of railroad cars.



Edited, Feb 28th 2007 1:19pm by Smasharoo

Because homosexuality was so closeted in the past, the service member who was gay was open to blackmailing and manipulation, which could effect large or small scale operations.

The military carries the same issues with service members cheating and being subject to the blackmailing etc.

Now that being gay isn't such an issue, and outing doesn't carry the same fear to a lot of gays, then the military doesn't have much of a case to continue with refusing entry or dishonorable discharging.

Basically they are being forced slowly to give credible justification and are falling short.