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Gays in the military

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by boots, Jun 5, 2007.

  1. Pastor

    Pastor Active Member


    Thanks for the reply. Diseases and such would certainly be a problem for those that have them. I guess I'm wondering about the treatment of those soldiers by other soldiers in their unit.

    I'm sure some ribbing would exist, but would it be over the top? Would there be issues of moral? Did anyone question those soldiers' ability to perform their duties?
     
  2. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    I don't know if she ever took any criticism over it. I wasn't on the deployment, and she was gone when I got back. Although I did see her on stage once, later. She was a shitbag, but I don't think it had to do with her sexuality.

    I think some of the ribbing would be over the top. I could see some serious issues from a person IDing himself as gay in an infantry/armor/artillery unit.
     
  3. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    This is the part of the article that made the most sense to me:

    "During World War II, guys used to claim they were homosexuals to get out of going into the military. Presumably both heterosexuals and homosexuals did that. The military said no dice and drafted openly-gay men anyway. Note that word, “draft.” They didn’t just let them enlist, they forced openly-gay men to join. These are the same people the military now says cannot come in even if they want to.

    They accepted openly-gay men then because they needed more men than just the apparently straight men they could draft. Furthermore, they did not discharge them if and when they later discovered they were homosexual. They needed the manpower.

    So the military has never had any qualms about using gays when they needed them. When drafting only men who claimed to be straight was not enough, the Army tacitly admitted that that gays had been fit for service all along and took them. Claiming that gays are unfit is apparently a bit of hypocrisy in which the military indulges themselves only when their personnel needs are relatively small. If openly gay men were ever acceptable to the military, they should always be acceptable. The military cannot have it both ways."

    Another thing I noticed when this issue moved into mainstream discussion during the beginning of Clinton's first term: In the most publicized cases of people being discharged for homosexuality, the people being discharged were very good at their jobs. While I'm sure not everyone who was discharged for this reason was very good at their job, it's always seemed a little self-defeating to me to kick a competent person out for this kind of reason, especially at a time when the military needs all the good people it can get.
     
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