Milbloggers supporting the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
How times have changed. In 1993, DADT was a halting, imperfect (and ultimately frustrating) step forward for gays. They couldn’t serve openly, but at least they could serve.
We’ve come a long way in just 15 years. By and large the troops support repeal, and I’ve never met a better or smarter group of people (even if we were in Vegas at the time, and I’m even including Uncle Jimbo
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You know I’m with you on this and I do think it’s the right time.
But, damn, read some of those comments at BlackFive. This conversation isn’t over yet–not by a long shot. When we move past DADT, there is no doubt in my mind that the first wave of openly gay soldiers are going to face some pretty harsh reactions from some of their fellow soldiers. Five, maybe ten years down the road, no one but Fred Phelps will be giving it much of a second thought, but there will be some pain to go through.
While there certainly will be some unfortunate events, I’m optimistic that they’ll be held to a minimum. If this were a draftee army, made up of lots of people who didn’t want to be there — then suddenly being free to be as flamboyant as they like would be too much of a temptation to resist. (That freedom is one of the things I miss about living in San Francisco — some of the best people-watching in the world!)
But we have a professional military of men and women who made the hard choice and serious commitment to serve their nation. I’m sure that sense of duty is much stronger than any desire to Stick It To The Man (no pun intended) once DADT is repealed.
There already are very harsh intraservice penalties for being gay. Many men and women are basically blackmailed with the cost being rape by their fellow soldiers not to report them. I am not exaggerating.
Go to SLDN read some or all of the daily ‘Letters to the President’ from those who were and still ARE in the service.
The other heart-wrenching problem is that there are many good soldiers who wanted a career in the service, serving us and our country. The MREA bill contains a re-accession clause and many, many will re up instantly.
Please help all of them and be supportive.
I was also surprised at the comments section over there. I doubt there will be any increase in gay bashing in the military as it’s probably common knowledge around the base who’s gay. Very little will change in the day to day operations of a Unit.
Removing DADT will do little more than restore some respect to the relevant sections of the military code of honor as our soldiers, gay and straight, no longer have to live a lie (the gays that they are gay and the straights that they know of gay soldiers serving).
Will also leave this. Some of you may not realize that many DADT soldiers have loved ones and families at home. This is from blog. The New Civil Rights Movement, by David Badash.
Yes it is a Civil Rights Movement!
“Quote Of The Day
“Imagine your husband or wife being killed for serving your country, and your country not ever even knocking on your door.”
“Some Families Are More Equal Than Others.”
“
First, quite a few of those who oppose the repeal aren’t gay-bashers; they honestly think that allowing openly gay men & women to serve would degrade the services. They have something of a point; drop on by CDR Salamander’s blog and follow his posts on the Diversity Bullies. He even has “Diversity Thursday” post every week on the latest fatuous antics of the DoD. Right now the leaders (the Navy especially) are obsessing about race, sex, and ethnicity to the extent that flag-level officers think it’s more important to have a demographically-accurate force than a capable one. Add to this the …determination… of some of the gay rights groups, and it’s easy to predict the emergence of yet another special rights group shouldering forward to suck at the teat of government sponsorship. We already have special groups in the military for African-American officers, and Hispanic officers, so why not one for gay/lesbian officers? Given the DC mentality that “everything not prohibited is compulsory,” how long before activists start demanding trans-sexual operations be covered under Veterans benefits?
Note that the above is distinct to the upper levels of the Beltway, which should be no surprise. Those goobers think they can, and should, run everyone else’s lives for them in the first place.
From long observation since the start of milblogging, and other historical sources, a large number of service men & women reflect the opinions of B5, Jimbo, John Donovan, and others. I’m not worried about them, but their reaction to the enforced political correctness which has become evident in the military the past 15-20 years.
Case in point: women in combat or near-combat is still a hot-button topic, considering most of them aren’t expected to meet the same physical requirements as men. Do some research on concepts like “equivalent footsteps/miles.” Not to mention the, ahh, convenience of an unexpected pregnancy during an overseas assignment, resulting in a ticket back to a stateside desk job. Bottom line: most servicemen don’t object to women per se, but women who aren’t held to the same standards. From what I’ve seen, they have no problem with those who can pull their own weight.
Finally -and this is the important point- read the statement those folks published. They aren’t calling for the repeal of DADT; they’re asking Congress to move carefully, and listen to the advice of the military in implementation. Don’t rush, and (by implication) avoid all the PC crap I referred to above.
Big difference.
No doubt this will be spun by the “{something} NOW!!!” types as reactionary homophobia.