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Bigotry in the Military by Any Means Necessary
From by Brian Leubitz at Prop Eight Trial Tracker:
Now that the end of DADT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) is just looking like a matter of timing, homophobia is coming out of the woodwork from top military brass. This is the latest on how they’re going to try to stigmatize gay and lesbian members of the military.
The Marine Corps’ top officer said he would not force straight Marines to share rooms with gay service members if Congress repeals the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law and allows gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces.
Gen. James T. Conway, the commandant of the Marine Corps, told the Web site military.com in an interview published Friday that an ‘overwhelming’ number of Marines would be opposed to bunking with someone of a different sexual orientation. As a result, he said, the Corps might have to ditch its double-bed rooms and offer single rooms to everyone. (Washington Post)
I get so sick of this, mostly because what these generals are saying is that somehow our soldiers are not only less professional than European militaries, but that they are also less professional than your average college freshman. Furthermore, in times of war, these Marines will be housed in barracks or tents in large groups. Are you going to segregate them there too? It’s simply a preposterous notion, and completely unfeasible.
And guess what, General Conway, there are straight soldiers sharing a room with gay soldiers right now. Yes, it’s true. There have been and will continue to be gay Marines, with or without DADT. It’s a useful fiction perhaps, but continuing to pretend that there aren’t any is laughable. And it simply reduces your own credibility.
But Conway has a reason to be pushing this:
Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow at the Palm Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara, said it was highly unlikely that Congress would permit separate rooms or other facilities based on sexual orientation if it votes to end the ban.
“If you have separate facilities, you end up breeding resentment,” Frank said. “I think [Conway] knows that, and I think he was shooting something across the bow to test the limits of how much opponents can do on this.”
This is exactly right. Conway and other ‘reasonable’ generals are gently bringing up logistical issues, pretending that the average marine has very little maturity or professionalism, in an attempt to undermine, stigmatize, and isolate gay and lesbian soldiers. It simply is not acceptable, and his superiors should let him know as much.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=23912
Posted by Yanira Farray on Mar 29 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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What is it with these straight men who think they are irresistable to gay men? In your dreams!
Ha! You are right. I am from Ireland and the only comments I hear here about the American military difficulty with gay people are exactly as you said. How weak a group, how un-cohesive and unprofessional must it be to not be able to handle something so mundane as a gay compatriot! Hardly a show of strength or force to be so precious.
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Could be projection by the commandant or just his own secret desires surfacing. Who knows what’s up with the homophobic comments other than an attempt to delay the repeal of DADT. I have to agree with Daniel that it just shows how weak particularly the military brass is in this country. It’s long past time to hold these old boys feet to the fire and order them to make way for meaningful change or get out of the way. No more studies, just do it!
You know what, if gays can’t serve openly in the miltary or get married and share in the same rights as any hetrosexual US citizen, then let them also be denied from paying taxes.
You got to the heart of the matter. What this is really about is a set up for gay marriage. Gay people want to be able to say, look we’re able to fight and die in the military openly for a country that denies us marriage. That’s the same thing young people said when they wanted the voting age lowered from 21 to 18. They were old enough to get killed in Viet Nam but not old enough to vote.
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If its not a big deal to share a bunk with someone with a differnet sexual orientation then why havent men and women been integrated in the military? Women have been serving for 50+ years and still have seperate bunk facilities in most if not all branches of the militry. Seems that some people are so pro that they ignore the logistic issues.
Because men are men and women are women.
Moron.
Been to second grade, bud?
Actually, it’s not so simple. It’s actually, shockingly *not* a matter of the second-grade — to use your term — notion that JUST because males and females are together, *then therefore they would* have sex.
It’s steeped a lot more in male images and ideas of machismo that *REQUIRE* males not only to have sex, but to see it as an achievement or goal and even to boast about it. The woman is their conquest, and they have “proven” their masculinity by penetrating her.
All of which has NO PLACE IN A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION like the United States military, period.
The separation of males and females hints much more strongly at the same lack of professionalism that is dogging the military now, accusation after accusation, because it doesn’t have the backbone to integrate gay people. The original poster doesn’t highlight the military’s lack of professionalism by bringing that issue up, however. YOU highlight it by arguing as if it’s perfectly sensible to separate males and females.
And it is … *because of* that childish, senseless male attitude that makes them forget they’re in a professional organization that demands their best, not indulgence in their childish, insecure whims.
The American military is still protecting women soldiers from the possibility of non-consensual sex. I don’t think that the straight male soldier needs to be protected. I would think that these soldiers would be able to ward off any advance by a gay soldier. And more than likely, any gay soldier wouldn’t want to be in a position of hitting on any and every male soldier because they could still be beaten up by the masses.
The general doesn’t know anything about gays, obviously, or the fact that they’re already in there. My God, is the American military so pussified that they crumble at knowing people are gay in there? Better watch out when the gay bomb is invented…
I agree with the Commandant and most Marines do. Thank god for the Commandant of the Marine Corps, at least he stands for what he believes! And there is no way I would want to share a tent, a foxhole, a barracks room with someone I know is gay!
Gee, I showered with a lesbian for five months and she never made a pass at me. Hmm, must have been something wrong with her.
I do not have a patent answer to the issues discussed but I do know this, I served (1st tour) in Nam with a man who was gay. He never make a pass and was one hell of a soldier. He received the Bronze star with V device and the Purple Heart. One also cannot compare what goes on in little Ireland’s army vrs. one of the world’s most powerful military machine in the world. It is a bit tiring to hear what Sweden does or what Norway does. The next thing I expect to hear is what Switzerland does who never fought a war in their history.
I think we should just make the military gender blind clear across!!! Men and women should be allowed to shower with each other, bunk with each other EVERYTHING!!.. I mean why not? Im in the marine corp and I sure as hell not attracted to 90% of females Marines I have come across….
Yeah, let’s be like France, the last time they won anything Napoleon was running the show over there. Another thing I’m sick and tired of all the homofacists who cry when those of us in the Armed Forces knows what is good for THOSE OF US THAT FIGHT and they can;t come up with a respectable argument to repeal DADT except because they said so. Show me how it will enhance our warfighting capabilities and then you might have something.