Dublin Core
Title
Red, White & Bold: Lack of Homosexuals in Military Illogical
Description
Opinion piece discussing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'...
Creator
San Smith IV
Source
University of Tennessee Daily Beacon
Publisher
Knoxville, Tenn. : University of Tennessee
Date
2010-02-08
Language
English
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
There are few moments in the course of our lives when leadership calls us to look into our souls to understand our fundamental nature and to ask ourselves whether or not we are truly decent and logical people. Recently our leader’s calls for change have done precisely that. There are currently a group of Americans who are being denied their ability to be themselves and perform the heroic task of protecting our country. Our government has told them that somehow homosexuality is incompatible with protecting their homeland and serving their nation.
I could delve into how inefficient and costly “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is, how it wastes taxpayer dollars training fully competent individuals to perform highly skilled tasks, only to fire them later, but I won’t.
Instead let’s focus on the core moral argument at stake. One can debate the definition of a marriage, or whether or not two men or two women are capable of raising a child the way a man and a woman could, but I have yet to hear a decent argument for not allowing people to serve our country simply because of their sexual preference.
We all know how conservatives like to drudge up images of drag queens and men in feathers wearing army boots. This is just stupid. The military is a highly centralized organization with very distinct rules of conduct. No matter" how “gay” a person is, he or she still must adhere to these rules and act accordingly. Then, of course, there are the arguments about showers, sleeping arrangements and personal quarters in general.
While I admit that this is an appropriate area for the military to have a dialogue, I, on a personal note, also think about the experience of being in a locker room at the TRECS. When I am changing or showering, I don’t know the sexual preference of the guy the next few lockers over, and to be quite honest, it really doesn’t matter. As long as there is no inappropriate physical contact between the two of us or sexual comment made, why should I care?
Shouldn’t this be the same thought process in our military? Shouldn’t a bigger priority be for our military to solve the problem of the thousands of women each year who report a rape and the many more that don’t?
I can understand that many are not as progressive on this issue as I am. I can understand that, like I did, many came from rather “traditional” backgrounds, where “alternative lifestyles” simply aren’t an alternative. But now we’re in college, and if you haven’t yet become a bit more open minded, or if you’re in your early twenties and you’re a social conservative, then there’s probably a pretty sad problem.
These are people who are making sacrifices that neither I nor most others are willing to make. How dare any of us demand that that they hide who they are? At the end of the day, we often notice that throughout our history, the successive generations of the present correct the morally reprehensible standpoints of the past. Let’s be that generation.
I could delve into how inefficient and costly “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is, how it wastes taxpayer dollars training fully competent individuals to perform highly skilled tasks, only to fire them later, but I won’t.
Instead let’s focus on the core moral argument at stake. One can debate the definition of a marriage, or whether or not two men or two women are capable of raising a child the way a man and a woman could, but I have yet to hear a decent argument for not allowing people to serve our country simply because of their sexual preference.
We all know how conservatives like to drudge up images of drag queens and men in feathers wearing army boots. This is just stupid. The military is a highly centralized organization with very distinct rules of conduct. No matter" how “gay” a person is, he or she still must adhere to these rules and act accordingly. Then, of course, there are the arguments about showers, sleeping arrangements and personal quarters in general.
While I admit that this is an appropriate area for the military to have a dialogue, I, on a personal note, also think about the experience of being in a locker room at the TRECS. When I am changing or showering, I don’t know the sexual preference of the guy the next few lockers over, and to be quite honest, it really doesn’t matter. As long as there is no inappropriate physical contact between the two of us or sexual comment made, why should I care?
Shouldn’t this be the same thought process in our military? Shouldn’t a bigger priority be for our military to solve the problem of the thousands of women each year who report a rape and the many more that don’t?
I can understand that many are not as progressive on this issue as I am. I can understand that, like I did, many came from rather “traditional” backgrounds, where “alternative lifestyles” simply aren’t an alternative. But now we’re in college, and if you haven’t yet become a bit more open minded, or if you’re in your early twenties and you’re a social conservative, then there’s probably a pretty sad problem.
These are people who are making sacrifices that neither I nor most others are willing to make. How dare any of us demand that that they hide who they are? At the end of the day, we often notice that throughout our history, the successive generations of the present correct the morally reprehensible standpoints of the past. Let’s be that generation.
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