Thursday, December 23, 2010
From Don't Ask/Don't Tell to TMI
President Obama is gonna sign the thing and allow gays to serve openly in the military. I really got no problem here and nondiscrimination means they should have the same opportunity to serve in stupid wars as the rest of us but for me it's always been a matter of TMI. You enroll in the military, WHY would you tell anyone you're gay?? You enroll in the military, WHY would you tell anyone you're straight?? So you like to have a schnitzel shoved down your throat, the issue wouldn't seem germane just like that Jets coach foot fetish. To serve "openly" in the military for me anyway conjures up images of hardons in the male showers, spreading your ass cheeks, whatever. There's just something wrong with the issue or how it's framed:)
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I hear ya loud and clear. You're a soldier. An active US military person. What the hell difference does it make if you're a gay soldier as opposed to a straight one?
ReplyDeleteGermaine, that's exactly it. If a straight person goes to a gay bar (and they do) then yeah, pointing out that one is gay or straight seems like a perfectly sensible part of the equation.
I realize many people join the military in the hopes that they see some action. This whole gay/straight thing of course puts another spin on that whole concept.
No more Corporal Klingers
ReplyDelete(MASH) dressing for a Section 8....
"No more Corporal Klingers
ReplyDelete(MASH) dressing for a Section 8...."
And as Fort Hood shows, they can't even get kicked out for supporting the enemy.
My whole thing is why should the subject even come up? I'm an army recruitment officer and a guy enlisting says to me "I'm gay" my first reaction would be "why are you telling me this?"
ReplyDeleteWhy did the military ever make a big deal out of it?
ReplyDeleteIt's their own homophobia. 'Gay' doesn't fit the rugged, macho image. Same reason they've only recently let women in the USMC.
Personally, if I'm looking for people who are willing to go out and fight/die for my cause I really don't care who they prefer in bed. I'm just wanting someone who's willing to do the job I'm hiring for.
I look at it another way, why are the gays making such a big deal of the issue? Again why should the subject even come up and it's like the gays in order to proudly serve openly seem to be saying as soon as you're in the military announce to everybody you're gay. For me Clinton's Don't Ask/Don't Tell kinda makes the most practical sense, it really shouldn't be an issue for either side.
ReplyDeleteWell, let's pretend I'm gay and I want to talk about what I'm doing this weekend, going to my girlfriend's family's house. I can't do that. I can't mention that she's taking me to a resort in Cancun for a romantic week. I can't show pictures of us from our last romantic week in Cancun. I can't write her a letter and tell her I love her, because the military censors mail, and someone might see it. If I'm wounded and in the hospital, she can't come sit with me and be with me and be privy to my information.
ReplyDeleteIn short, I can't 'have' a girlfriend and be in the military.
That's whyit's a big deal.
I still detect a political agenda here. My whole thing is personal questions I'm against in the first place. I hate it when they ask you too many personal questions at work, I mean it's one thing to ask where you live it's another to ask if you have a girlfriend and my whole view of work is you're there to do a job and so let me do it. The military is the same way, you're there to do a job and so I'm not really big on the small talk and let's face it small talk will often get you in trouble with the gossipy types who see work as something more than work. Don't get me wrong, you do have a point and express it well but there is still a kind of political agenda at work here and that is to normalize homosexuality but having said that they should still be allowed to serve.
ReplyDeleteThe point I don't get is the connection between fitness/unfitness for duty and the choice of who you get into bed with.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm a really great nurse/sniper/navigator/tank driver, does having Suzie in my bed (rather than Scott) somehow negate that skill?
That's the actual sticking point that the military has no answer for, because the answer is no. Who I choose to sleep with doesn't bear on how well I perform my job.
So the political agenda really, all along, has always been to denigrate homosexuality, to bury it, to force it to be invisible. It's just now that since people are bringing out the obvious fact that your sexual preference doesn't have any impact on your fitness-for-duty that it appears to be a political agenda to 'normalize' homosexuality.
It's actually just attempting to dismantle the political agenda that's been in place all along.
And btw, I'm not a lunatic or a stalker and I don't care about Hannity, I just wanted to tell you something I wouldn't put up in public comments. And that's why I wanted your email. :P
Tempest in a teapot, IMO and hardly novel ...the boudoirs of Alexander The Great and Richard the Lionhearted would have
ReplyDeleteprecluded their service
with the USMC...
I pretty much agree with you here and that's why I hate personal comments at any job and the military is only one job among several. I'm here to do a job and that's it, what matter my personal life? Wasn't calling you anything regarding the e-mail thing it just jogged my memory about something else that I felt was kind of amusing to relate. I'm interested in your comment btw but just pressed for time today:)
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess I should get Back to Responding to Blogs. The Christmas Business had Sort of Put me Behind and I wasn't sure what to Read, so I Read a short One.
ReplyDeleteThe Idea of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy was never Meant to Keep Gays Out of the Military, nor to Make "Fitness/Unfitness" Judgments about it, but Simply to Prevent them from Practicing it Openly and this has always made Sense to me.
I Guess the Problem has been that too Many People Got Kicked Out just For Mentioning the Subject Casually to someone who they thought was their Friend, but wasn't and Decided to Turn them in.
I Guess that Harassment Laws will Still be in Place and My Husband has Informed me that Sex while on the Ship in the Navy was Never Allowed, even among Heterosexuals, so this will Still Remain True. All Sex, Regardless of Sexual Orientation, will have to be done on One's Own Time. In the Navy, that Meant, while Docked in a Port and even then, not on the Ship, so there is Still Going to be Rather Strict Protocol.
I guess that there may not be a Political Agenda Here. Maybe it's a Legitimate Thing, yet I do Hope that these Gay recruits will Still Use some Discretion as to who they Talk to and How they Talk about their Personal Life.
Simply to Prevent them from Practicing it Openly and this has always made Sense to me.
ReplyDeleteSo does it make equal sense to you that NO ONE should 'practice openly'?
Because to tell one person they are allowed to openly have love in their life and to tell another person they can't is discrimination and prejudice.
I'm not big on TMI and this applies to straights as well. My friend was telling me at his job some guy was saying how he was having sex with his girlfriend and all of a sudden she starting eating out of the old bunghole and if that were me I'd tell the asshole great if you can get it but I really don't want to hear about it so all my friend says to him is he could receive it but doesn't think he could give it. Meanwhile I'm sure nobody was doing any Actual Work during the course of this enlightening conversation so yes straights can be obnoxious about what they do but somehow it's OK. I think there's too much discussion of personal issues on the job anyway.
ReplyDelete