Friday, July 28, 2006

Don’t Ask don’t Tell

H/t: Gayorbit.

Clearly not real law or policy because the military is here asking and he is required to tell. On that basis alone it’s time to chuck the policy. Laws that are not upheld aren’t worth anything.

On one hand I agree with conservatives. Homosexuals really shouldn’t be in the military. It’s a hostile closeted system and is too risky to have a career destroyed.

On the other go ahead and do it anyway. Who knows it might change things for the better and you will still be doing your best to serve. Just be prepared for being dishonoured.

Translators huh. Who needs em?

3 comments:

Barb said...

You know, the concept of not asking about a person's sexual proclivities - and therefore (hopefully) not judging them on that basis, is reasonable. In the civilian world. Apparently not in the military world. Certainly when the policy was first announced, I just laughed at the silliness -- you are so right about it being impossible to uphold. I think that this may be one of those things where the people in the system *must* define the policy. What I, as a civilian, think about it isn't worth beans.

dreamkatcha said...

Many of the job application forms (non-military of course) I've filled in ask about candidates' sexuality. They say they need to know to uphold equality in the workplace i.e. to fill quotas as they do with ethnic minorities.

Who knows, in any given instance, if being open about your sexuality will scupper your chances of landing the job. I've yet to decide if it's right to ask in the first place (assuming gays are welcome within the company you're applying to).

AFSister said...

I was wondering if you'd pick up on that story.
I have no problem with gays in the military- but, as you say, it's a hostile environment and most military-types I know are pretty homophobic. Not all, but many.

The linguist in the story was outted through "many" emails to his superiors, which makes me believe he wasn't well-liked and was tad too flaunty with his sexuality.

It surprises me that in a country with anti-discrimination laws that our military discriminates so heavily against gays.

This may sound strange, but once the US military gets used to having females in combat arenas, I'm thinking they'll loosen up on the the gay policy. One of the big reasons for keeping women out of combat is the sexual attraction- and it's the same kind of sexual attraction issues that the military seems to have problems with when it comes to homosexuals.

I've also noticed that there aren't many lesbians who get kicked out of the military- it's mostly gay men.