WARNING: This post is full of sarcasm and bloviation. It reflects my own personal opinions and does necessarily reflect those of this site or any branch of government. If you are prone to calling people who disagree with homosexual conduct “bigots” you may not want to read any further. Otherwise, I’ll call you a bigot for not respecting my beliefs. Bigot! Stick and stones may break my bones…yadda yadda.
Yippee! I feel like frolicking through the corn rows in those sexy Marine PT shorts and big, pink sash in celebration. I’m so excited that the military and our federal government is so focused on the sex lives of gays while we are falling apart at the seams. It makes me proud (no pun intended) to be a part of such a monumental social engineering and experimentation project gone wrong.
Yes, folks. September 20th marked the one year anniversary of President Obama signing the repeal of the so-called “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law. The president was so overjoyed, he even sent out a press release to ensure that Americans were made aware of the sex lives of a super-small percentage of US troops:
A year ago today, we upheld the fundamental American values of fairness and equality by finally and formally repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Gay and lesbian Americans now no longer need to hide who they love in order to serve the country they love. It is a testament to the professionalism of our men and women in uniform that this change was implemented in an orderly manner, preserving unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness. As Commander in Chief, I’ve seen that our national security has been strengthened because we are no longer denied the skills and talents of those patriotic Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian. The ability of service members to be open and honest about their families and the people they love honors the integrity of the individuals who serve, strengthens the institutions they serve, and is one of the many reasons why our military remains the finest in the world.
Isn’t that sweet? I just can’t wait until we’re allowed to celebrate the one-year anniversary of allowing fraternization, incest, and polygamy within the ranks and truly celebrate sexual deviancy in ALL its forms. After all, it’s okay for two men or women to get it on, but not an officer and NCO or me and my cousin. Odd. I wonder if it’s fraternization if it’s a gay officer and gay NCO? Then they could just claim they were targeted for being gay and not fraternization.
But, seriously, I take offense to this statement – “It is a testament to the professionalism of our men and women in uniform that this change was implemented in an orderly manner, preserving unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness.” Here’s the thing – I haven’t seen, heard of or met a single openly gay Soldier in the past year. I don’t see same-sex couples shopping at the commissary or PX. I don’t see them holding hands walking around the common areas or barracks. There is nothing “orderly” about forcing troops to accept deviant sexual behaviors (my opinion) or else face punishment.
In the past year, I have a seen a few stories about how “successful” the repeal has been. The Army Times recently quoted an independent report that said “the military has reported no substantial problems as a result of allowing gays to serve openly in uniform.” But, what it doesn’t tell you is that either gays are still staying in the proverbial closet or there really aren’t as many as we were led to believe that are hanging up their rainbows in exchange for camouflage.
While our media – including the tabloid-prone Military Times magazines – has gone through great strains to highlight people like Brigadier General Tammy Smith’s recent (legally unrecognized) marriage to her girlfriend, the fact is that most troops still are opposed to such relationships.
“As Commander in Chief, I’ve seen that our national security has been strengthened because we are no longer denied the skills and talents of those patriotic Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian.” I continue to fail to see how someone’s sexual orientation strengthens (or weakens) national security at any level. For over 230 years, our military has opposed homosexual relationships and we’ve never lost a single war due to lack of homosexuals serving. All the realities paint a much different picture.
In a study by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association titled “LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER HEALTH: FINDINGS AND CONCERNS,” we find that homosexual activity is actually MORE detrimental to national security since the health of our troops directly influences our ability to wage the nation’s wars. We call that “military readiness.”
The study points out that gay men and lesbians (why don’t gay men have a cool name like gay women get? Seems a bit sexist to me.) are at increased risk of getting certain cancers. Gay and bisexual men are at excess risk for anal cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Hodgkin’s disease compared with heterosexual men. Nearly 10% of all males aged 15-22 that have sex with other men have HIV. While this is a disqualifier for military service, as well as a reason for discharge, we must assume that gay troops are not going to solely “date” other gay troops that are nearly guaranteed to be free of the disease, but will, in fact, mingle with the general, non-military gay population. This puts the military at increased risk of losing manpower due to HIV, AIDS or some other disease or ailment. With 10% of homosexual young men found to have the disease this isn’t a flawed argument. Read the studies. I don’t make this up, I relay what’s out there.
In addition to the physical risks of homosexual activity, the report cites numerous studies that point to increased rates of mental and bipolar disorders among gay men. Depression is also a common factor. The study lists several potential reasons for this, including stigma and social introversion. But, it could also just be that since homosexual behavior goes against normal human nature, the minds of gay men are still at odds with themselves. I’m sure vegans also have the same problems since humans are carnivores! Someone should make a movie about a vegan caveman. I can see it now… But, I digress. Just because it happens in the wild, doesn’t make it normal. Animals with homosexual tendencies also eat their young and others’ feces. I hardly think society would find that acceptable in humans.
Right now the military is in the throes of a terrible epidemic of suicides among its troops. No matter how we try to attack the problem, we seem to be engaged in a losing battle. We have already lost more troops to suicide this year than all of last year and we still have three months to go. While we won’t give up, we can’t ignore the fact that suicides are a major factor in military readiness and national security. This week, the Army is setting aside an entire day to focus on suicide prevention to address the problem. The federal government at large is also trying to stem the tide.
So, I fail to see how allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military helps national security when that population of society is at INCREASED risk of committing suicide, according to the study quoted above and others. The homosexual population is also at increased risk of chemical dependency and alcohol abuse.
All that aside, being proud (again, no pun intended) of allowing homosexuals to serve openly really presents more problems than it solves. Troops are REQUIRED to share rooms with homosexuals whether they are, themselves, homosexuals or not. Troops are not allowed to request room changes based on sexual orientation. And what about the transgendered population? Right now, I don’t think the military will accept transgendered recruits. If that is the case, I’m sure that there will be a hefty lobby to allow it. If they are allowed, how are they to be classified for physical training or housing? Will the military (re: taxpayers) be responsible for paying for transgender surgical procedures? Which uniforms do they wear? The see where this is going.
This all boils down to the fact that I think the general population has been mislead into believing that troops have overwhelming accepted the repeal. The Army Times story noted in an unscientific poll that only “4.5 percent of troops said their unit was harmed when a fellow service member came out as gay.” What the poll fails to inform units of is what percent of units even reported having a fellow service member come out as gay to begin with!
In the past year, I have not met A SINGLE Soldier that has met or witnessed a Soldier that came out after the repeal. But, let’s keep spreading the “good news” that everything is peachy and national security is somehow “strengthened.”
To be fair, I will say that regardless of personal opinions in the military (including my own), there is something the President stated that I completely agree with. Our troops are professionals and are capable of separating personal opinion from the mission and responsibilities as Soldiers. There is no doubt in my mind that it makes no difference in the mind of the grunt sitting in a foxhole during a firefight whether or not the person protecting his flank is gay or straight. As long as his aim is straight, that is all that matters. But, this was never about the man in the foxhole. This is about the 95% of the time that a troop is NOT in combat and working in a garrison environment. Even still, our troops know how to be professionals and respect the private sex lives of everyone. This, however, does not mitigate my previous statements.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Army, the Department of Defense, or any branch of government or military unit.