As many of my readers know, I am, for the most part, a lesbian. I was still in the closet, not admitting my true sexuality to even myself, when I was enlisted. At the time I signed the papers, I had myself convinced I was merely bisexual, and not 99% lesbian. Being in the military and having a closeted sexuality is hard enough, and I think my views on DADT are in the minority within those who are gay, but here goes.
I am against the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Let me give you a moment to process that...
From a purely logistical standpoint, it is almost impossible to fully repeal the policy, which, was started by Bill Clinton, a Democrat (the horror!!).
Lets think for a moment. If you were enlisted and in basic training, as a straight person, being forced to share a dorm, forced to shower with and change in front of a person who was openly gay, would you, honestly, be fully comfortable?
What about the close quarters of a war zone deployment? Would you feel completely comfortable living in such close quarters with a person who was openly gay?
All new living quarters would have to be built. What about basic training? Males and females are in different bunks for a reason during basic. One of those reasons is to hinder sexual contact, to keep your mind on training and discipline. So, if different living quarters are built for gay and lesbian troops who are open about their sexuality, how does one prevent the sexual contact from happening? Wouldn't having gay men in a dorm together, or lesbian women in one dorm together, actually possibly promote the sexual activity? If males and females who were homosexual were put in one dorm together, would straight people lie just to get into a gay dorm to open themselves up to the sexual activity?
Taking a step further... Would a homosexual couple be granted the same benefits as a straight couple? What if a homosexual couple was stationed in a place that allowed gay marriage, then the service member was PCS'd to a state that did not recognize gay marriage. Would the military then force said state to recognize this couple's marriage, thus taking away the state's rights? Would gay and lesbian couples be provided the same insurance, housing, and base privileges as a straight couple is?
What about deployments. Would the military have to provide separate living quarters, again, for the openly gay enlisted person? What if the only two openly homosexual people deployed were an E3 and an O6? Would they be forced to bunk together? Or would the military have to then provide two different arrangements, one for the enlisted person and one for the officer?
See what I mean by a logistical nightmare? Why should we tax an already overburdened military budget by forcing the will of the minority onto the majority?
There is also the legal standpoint. I think the sexual harassment claims of both the straight members and the gay and lesbian members of the military would increase 100 fold. If you don't like or don't get along with a coworker who just so happens to be an open homosexual, well, they just came onto you, knowing you are straight, right? What better way to get rid of them? Same thing goes for the homosexual member, don't like that straight male you work with? He knows you are a lesbian, you are open about it, well, he just tried to come onto you and "convert" you to be straight.
See how easy that is to just claim? The instances of rape, both real and lies, will also increase, I think.
Then you remove the states' rights by forcing a state that does not recognize gay marriage to recognize the marriage of homosexual service members by offering a gay spouse the same benefits the community offers straight spouses.
There is already a shortage of family housing on most bases, and repealing DADT will, possibly, take away more housing as homosexual service members will need different living quarters, taking away family housing, since the military will not want to build completely new dorms for homosexual service members.
Notice a pattern here? Separate but equal would be the order of the day is DADT was repealed. Didn't we try that once as a nation? Didn't work out too well the first time, did it?
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