Should Gays Be Allowed to Serve Openly in the Military?

When Barack Obama came to power one thing he campaigned on was ending the practice of "Don't Ask Don't Tell". The policy was basically a compromise on gays in the military during the administration of President Bill Clinton. Initially President Clinton wanted an overall lift on the ban of gays in the military. Don't ask don't tell was drafted as a compromise. Prior to this recruits could be asked about their sexuality and discharged or denied entrance because of being gay. Armed service members were not supposed to disclose their sexuality or engage in homosexual activity.

With any article like this I think that I should provide the disclaimer of my opinion on part of the subject. I have never served in the military. I planed to enlist but would have needed a waiver for a visual problem. All the hoops I was going through finally seemed a bit much when a football scholarship came through, so I decided to go to college. I am a Christian and do believe that homosexuality is a sin. I do think it is wrong though to harm someone because they choose to be gay. I do not buy into the theory that being gay is genetic. That almost reminds me of saying that certain groups are too stupid to perform on their own merits and need quotas some people insist. I firmly believe it is a lifestyle choice. I do believe you hate the sin and not the sinner though.

There are various reasons that people feel people who are openly gay should not be allowed to serve in the military. Many believe that it can have morale issues because some people do not like to be around gay people and think that it is wrong. This is often called homophobia. I don't think that is a fair label as phobia means fear. I don't fear gays nor do most other people. I am still divided on my opinion of them serving openly in the military. The thought amongst many military leaders is that it will harm the "morale and good order" of the military. This is possible, but many countries do allow gays to serve in the military. Those countries also tend to be more accepting of homosexuality in general though. Statistics have shown that the public in general seem to support gays serving openly in the military by over 60% and that is a pretty good number. People in the military tend to have the opposite view by a large margin of like 70% are against it. This makes a great point in my opinion. If the majority of soldiers do not want gays serving with them that should not just be discounted and swept under the rug. I respect the men and women serving our country and letting someone like Barack Hussein Obama impose his will on them when he never spent a day in the military makes me sick. Also people like Barney fag (according to Dick Armey) really have no place telling the military how to run things. They have rules against hazing, but it still happens. There are several rules that are different in the military than in the civilian sector. If the military was ready to end it then fine, but I don't think this is a political issue. It is a military personnel issue.

Another thing that people don't think about are indirect problems gays in the military can cause. First of all it seems that many gay men tend to be very feminine. I am not sure how good of a soldier a woman in a man's body basically could be. Also people talk about hate crimes. Sometimes they happen when people will not leave well enough alone. Gays and people with their liberal agenda are really starting to rub people the wrong way. People give a blanket party, were you basically get the crap kicked out of you by your squad mates, over people making them run extra because they mess up. If people do not want gays in the military and there are relatively few gays. Several sources I checked put the percentages below 2%. With this few people do you really want to reinvent the wheel over an issue. In a platoon of 40 men there is a possibility that one might be gay. Now the likelihood of them being hassled by the rest of their platoon mates is very high. Many may not think the person being harassed over being gay is right, but they may not want trouble or be perceived to be a snitch and may not say anything. With this how do you protect the gays? Do you hire someone to watch over them 24/7 in boot camp to insure they do not get the crap kicked out of them? That would be a huge expense. Plus drill instructors tend to be very harsh on people. I can imagine lawsuits over making gay remarks like "You are from Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas". This causes more harm than good. Also if people don't want gays in and are really against gays there is a possibility that the person could almost be isolated and no one would want to help them or do recon with them or anything else. If I were gay, I sure as hell would not want to put my life in danger having to depend on people who do not want me around. There could be beatings murders and other things and then there are all the investigations and the like. Also what happens if a gay person hits on another solider or checks one out naked in the shower? If that soldier is not gay they might have issues with it and the squad mates might harass them. The pro-gay say the same thing happened when the military was intergraded with blacks and whites serving together. Now there are differences that people don't think about. First blacks were allowed to serve segregated and many distinguished themselves while segregates, so there was respect for the ability. There is no widespread knowledge of troops of gays and how they would perform. Also there would be more than 1 black in a squad or platoon so there would not be the isolation that gays will face. Blacks could watch out for each other. On top of that the racism against blacks was more regional at the time than the view people carry of gays. These views on homosexuality being wrong and not belonging certain places crosses religion, region, and various social lines throughout the country.

There are a variety of reasons that people pose as to why gays should be allowed to serve in the military. The first is that there is the likelihood of discrimination and hazing. That is not totally true. If you commit certain crimes you can't joint the military. You decide to commit the crime and pay the consequences. If someone chooses to be gay then they are aware that they can't join the military. It is as simple as that. Some say it would not be that hard since blacks were admitted to the military without too much incident. This is comparing apples and oranges as black and white people can find more common ground with each other than a gay man and a straight man under fire in a war zone. This is were the morale objection becomes in that many straight soldiers would not feel comfortable serving with gay people. I think there would be even more of an issue with people reporting to gay officers. From a total fairness perspective I can understand that it is not fair that people can't serve their country because they chose to be gay, but life is not fair at times. The military of the United States is old and traditional and you really need to consider that.

One argument that has been raised many times is the cost for recruitment and training replacements for people that are kicked out of the military under don't ask don't tell. First of all I believe there have been less than 800 people kicked out per year over "Don't Ask Don't Tell", so it really driving huge amounts of soldiers out. There is then the debate of the quality of the people being drummed out. One thing that has occurred is that several people who speak Arabic and other high need skills have been removed from the service for being gay. While I agree that is expensive to replace them there are other expense factors that I alluded to previously. Let's say there is a deviant in a platoon in a combat zone with 39 other straight guys. There are a few very traditional guys in the platoon that really do not think the gays belong there and the gay marriage stuff is disgusting. They feel the gays in the military are one of the things making the country go to hell. Everyone knows this type of person. They harass the gay gentleman and the officers did not want them in so they do not do anything and neither do most of the other soldiers. Eventually jokes go too far and the gay guy gets killed. Maybe he was checking one of the guys out in the shower or something. Anyway lets assume he does something like speaks Arabic. Four of his platoon mates kill him and they get caught and brought to justice. We now have one dead solider, four who will be out of the service or in jail, and whatever other issues occur from the press and the chain of command. Anyone intelligent should see that it causes more harm that good. Take the same situation without the gay guy and you just have one less Arabic expert, but you still have the other four capable soldiers. You only are replacing one instead of five. This is an extreme example, but I am sure many know it will happen. Maybe not murder but lots of hazing, blanket parties, and jokes and the like that may make the deviant uncomfortable.

Now there are lots of things facing this country right now like the 10% unemployment that Barack Hussein Obama said would not go above 8% (You Lie!). We also had a healthcare bill that no one wanted rammed past the American people. In the military they are fighting two wars and terrorists seem to be plotting more and more and attacks are imminent. I know that minority groups always want everything yesterday, but sometimes slow change is what is needed especially with all the issues the United States is dealing with. This is not the time to rock the boat. I know if I was a solider I would not feel comfortable with people like Barney fag (by Dick Armey) and Barack Hussein Obama telling me who should be next to me in the showers. I really think the military needs to handle this. If the leaders decided to do this then I would fully support it. While I personally am not deeply opposed to gays in the military I do strongly disagree with gay marriage on religious grounds and that might be one step closer to attacking the fabric of what makes this nation great. There are still good decent people who believe in God and try to live by his word. This includes not hating people, but not wanting to condone their sinful lifestyle either. When I was looking to get in the service I was asked if I ever smoked weed. If someone says yes to that or cocaine and other things the person would have to get a waiver to get in. This also might occur with certain arrests. My thought is that if gays were allowed in the military a similar waiver could be used. That way people with skills the military wants could be granted a waiver and join the service. Or maybe something could be agreed that Don't ask Don't tell only applies when you are living in a barracks situation and once you are a certain rank it does not apply. These are just ideas. The reality is that there are no real easy answers. You have to be fair and at the same time do what is right for the military. I think anyone would say the safety of America is more important than gays wanting to be in a sailor outfit. Also the majority of statistics you can find on AIDS show that gay men are much more likely to have it than straight men. Figure the insurance aspects and so forth since everyone wants to crunch numbers.

Sources.

http://www.adherents.com/adh_dem.html

http://www.gallup.com/poll/6961/what-percentage-population-gay.aspx

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020302990.html

http://themoderatevoice.com/61452/dadt-changes-of-mind-but-not-of-integrity/

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm