The Gay Army
A question that has been highly raised in recent years deals with whether or not homosexuals should be permitted to enlist and be active in the United States Military. As the policy stands, homosexual men and women are not welcome in our military and aren’t allowed to fight for our country. Under federal law, openly gay citizens are prohibited from serving in the United States Military. This is often referred to as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. (Time)
Many Democrats demand that the policy be lifted and that gays and lesbians be allowed to serve our great nation just as anyone else may. (lift the ban) They see homosexuals as people who deserve equal rights to do as they choose, whether it be to serve in the military, cook a burger at McDonald’s, or run for President of the United States. Many homosexuals exclaim that they aren’t attracted to every member of the same sex, just as all heterosexuals aren’t attracted to every person of the opposite sex.
A point that is often argued by these individuals is that a man or woman stuck in a foxhole without a shower for three to four days and no grooming isn’t exactly the most attractive of qualities. To say that men and women of homosexual origin are of a different mindset than heterosexuals is absurd, ignorant, and chauvinistic at times. Gays and lesbians have the same moral standards as their heterosexual counterparts and share the same standards of life like family, compassion, friendship, and a sense of need to accomplish a task at hand.
On the other hand, this country’s politicians and lawmakers are far from stupid and ignorant people. To say so would be to say that we are a stupid and ignorant people for having elected them. The laws these men and women provide for us, the citizens, are meant to be for the best of interest. Much thought and calculation is put into each and every law and policy before it is shoved through and passed by the house, the senate, and the president. No matter is too small a topic for open discussion amongst these panels and anything that may come up in the media or be presented by an individual or group is given great consideration.
One of the many points brought forward in keeping the policy the way that it stands is a furtherance of a pre-existing policy. No family member may serve in the same military unit and another family member. The reason for this is to keep each unit functioning with little to no predetermined emotional ties. This makes it easier to construct the unit to perform under rule of law and keep all practices strict, to the point, and concise. I know that if my mother, father, brother, or sister were serving by my side, being sidetracked by them would be inevitable because I’d feel more compassion for them if they weren’t succeeding and vice versa.
A unit that functions under rule of law would, ideally, always react in the perfect way to any given situation. There would be no outside emotion tied to an event such as a little brother taking harsh criticism, or a wife being punished for not keeping up with the pack.
To allow gays and lesbians into the military would surely create relationships at some point and thus would violate the policy on family in a given unit. (Wallace) A bond would be created between the two individuals and the aforementioned ties and situations would be imminent. To have this occur in the middle of a battlefield would be costly, not only to the two lovers, but to the entire unit. One man falling behind to mourn a loved one could cost the entire unit its lives.
After having read a very informative article online by Boeree, I have come to another conclusion on the matter in that being homosexual is most likely a genetic rendering of sexual orientation or preference. According to Boeree, it was discovered that “52% of the identical twins of male homosexuals were also homosexual, compared to only 22% of non-identical twins. Likewise, they found that if one identical twin is lesbian, in almost 50% of the cases studied, the other twin is lesbian as well, in comparison to 16% of the non-identical twins.” (Boeree)Many scientists believe that a gene as recessive as homosexuality, is recessive because it lacks a meaningful purpose. It’s not beneficial to its inhabitant and sometimes can be hurtful. Obviously, being homosexual is harmful to mankind as many gays and lesbians do not bear offspring and thus if everyone were homosexual, the world could not continue.
Because of this, homosexuality is seen as an impurity in the genetic system of those individuals who possess it. The military does not openly accept men and women with poor eyesight, bowed legs, or any other type of genetical handicap. Based on these findings, homosexuality is quite possibly a genetical handicap and should be placed on the list of red flags.
As much as the liberal media would like to say that the next issue does not or should not matter, I would like to point out that if the majority of the active duty soldiers are offended or feel uncomfortable about having a gay or a lesbian in their unit or squad, it will definitely disrupt normal, everyday activity between their squadron. The fact of the matter is that most men and women do feel uncomfortable around those of a homosexual preference and are often worried about whether he or she is thinking of them sexually, romantically, or at all.
While denouncing homophobia and acknowledging the work of lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans at the State Department, the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff noted that ". . . I think it's a different matter with respect to the military, because you're essentially told who you're going to live with, who you're going to sleep next to." (truthout)
Many say that thinking this way is a little too self-confident and a disgrace to the homosexual at hand and they may be right, but that does not stop it from happening. If even one of my squad members feels awkward around a gay or a lesbian, it can disrupt our entire mission, hinder our safety, or make us less functional as a whole. If cutting gays and lesbians out of our military makes it more functional, more connected, and more efficient, I am going to have to say that it’s for the better of the American people to leave them out of the military so that we may continue to have the best military in the world and keep our freedom. If we don’t take a stand on an issue like this and our military suffers because of it, homosexuals may never even have a right to stand up and speak in public or anywhere else.
With Barack Obama’s pledge to remove the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, having homosexuals in the military is just as likely to cause an uproar on a similar scale to that of the current healthcare reform bill. It is going to be delegated for months or years to come and to think that we are going to waste precious time arguing about this in congress instead of something that is actually important is absurd. Just stop to think about how ridiculous this is when we have so much poverty in America. We have many homeless and jobless Americans right here and that is a problem that needs to be solved before we start arguing who gets to serve in the military. Honestly, most everyone does not want to serve in the military; they’re just bored and want to be involved, so they come up with something as radical as this to generate attention so that they may serve, even though they probably will not anyway.
In conclusion, I feel that gays and lesbians should not be allowed to serve in our military for, quite simply, the reasons they are already not allowed. Any and all of the reasons mentioned by the military, the former President, and Congress are very well researched and looked into. I don’t think that making a judgment or a law such as this was taken in stride by our elected officials, but the conclusion was reached after numerous months, even years before the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was implemented. It is not safe for them to serve in the military when they could be better use for something else to help. I’m willing to offend them with my views if it means to save their freedoms in the process.
Works Cited
Boeree. < http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/sexualorientation.html>.
—. 17 November 2009 < http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/sexualorientation.html>.
lift the ban.
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Time. 19 November 2009 .
truthout. 30 November 2009 .
Wallace. 30 November 2009 .
