Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy

[randomfan 0]

It's less of a problem than you think. I've been around lesbians for extended periods of time, and it really isn't awkward at all.

[Aethix 129]

I don't doubt that at all, but have you been around lesbians in a barracks setting? Also, some people might respond to it differently than others.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Which is why there's no problem if nobody knows they are gay.

But if some random happenstance on the job makes them let slip they're gay, they're kicked out? No. That's a problem.

I can only imagine it feels like you're hiding something all the time. Who needs that kind of stress? Straight people can walk around with any other expression of their personal upbringing and persona. Crosses around their neck, tattoos with their lover's name. But someone can't just walk around and not feel persecuted? What if I had a tattoo visible on my face that had a heart with the name "Jim" in it? Looks like my my profession of being in a relationship with someone is apparently inferior to any exactly the same guy with a female name in that heart and must be exterminated to keep the military clean and orderly.

How can you defend that?

Sahaqiel

[pheonix561 2080]

Aethix isn't suggesting that all gay people act the same, he's suggesting that homophobes think all gay people act the same, which is why they're homophobes to begin with, any why we need this law.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

I bet they'd let racists into the military.

I mean, how many so-called patriots despise Middle Eastern individuals?

[pheonix561 2080]

they DO let racists in the military. They're the ones who are so eager to kill as many "ragheads and Ayrabs" as they can.

[DocHobo 0]

Aethix isn't suggesting that all gay people act the same, he's suggesting that homophobes think all gay people act the same, which is why they're homophobes to begin with, any why we need this law.

How does that even make sense?

[Aethix 129]

How can you defend that?

If the policy is revoked, it will damage the soldiers' ability to function as a unit. How can you justify the loss of life that would result, all for the sake of putting an end to "discrimination". It's not about homophobia, it's about priorities. Where are yours?

[DocHobo 0]

If the policy is revoked, it will damage the soldiers' ability to function as a unit.

How so? If my life is in danger, will I really give a shit if the guy next to me is gay?

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Tell me why the unit would be less functioning? Aren't people trained together? They shouldn't care, because that is what they were trained to do. Everyone is in uniform. Everyone has the same haircut. Everyone sleeps in the same kind of bed. Camaraderie is developed if you like it or not. My friend had to use the restroom in bulk with a bunch of other people in a room full of toilets, with no dividers in them. He held conversation during this. That was part of his military experience. You're already feeling awkward. Having a gay dude in the room wouldn't change anything. Everyone's either scared someone's looking in their direction or they get over it.

[Aethix 129]

Do you think that if you're in the battlefield, you're going to be in a continuous state of "my life is in danger, so nothing else matters"? Of course not, no human being can function like that. Your thoughts will turn to other things. Even if just a small percent of soldiers are made uncomfortable, their actions affect other soldiers.

I don't have any military experience, so I don't know how naked things get. But I do imagine that soldiers have little privacy. Little privacy around people that have the potential to view you sexually when you do not have that potential towards them will make many people uncomfortable.

[DocHobo 0]

AGAIN. It's not like they're going to be flaunting the fact that they're gay. They're not going to have a rainbow patch. If I'm gay and I'm looking at a fellow soldier naked I'm not going to tell him, "WHY DON'T YOU LET ME STICK MY BONER UP YOUR ASS AND WE CAN LET OUR BALLS TOUCH ALL NIGHT LONG, BABY"

Removing DADT would allow it so that if the gay soldier is ever put in the position to reveal his sexuality, he won't get punished for it. It would also allow people with a previous track record of being gay to join the military.

[Max 10]

That is a ridiculous and outdated piece of legislation and ought to be repealed immediately. Homosexuals shouldn't have to hide who they are, in the military or elsewhere. Enough said.

'Nuff said, bro. 'Nuff said.

[Jo-Bengt 0]

Military life isn't a simple job. It's, like Skippy has said earlier, a service.

If you're a middle-aged balding man who sits behind a desk all day pushing papers, you don't think about honor, duty, patriotism, camaraderie, service, your family thousands of miles away who don't know if you're going to be shipped back dead or not, and you sure as hell ain't holding an M4AI assault rifle.

Don't compare business to military life. The sense in that you have a job to do is the only thing that makes them comparable. They're worlds apart otherwise.

I respect soldiers too damn much to listen to people compare them to pencil pushers, politicians, construction workers, etc. I even want to become one.

Personally, I'm between straight and bisexual. This isn't something I'd bring up in a barracks, but whatever. I probably wouldn't bring up much at all that's sexual in that environment. I'm pretty sure I'd be either heading to bed or being rushed out of it. I'd be either too tired or too focused to talk about something like that.

But I was talking about being a soldier with jobs vs. military. There are numerous jobs available in the military, but being a soldier is different.

I don't exactly believe in don't ask don't tell, because it might discourage people who are homosexual from enlisting.

[Kimmy 0]

There are a whole bunch of minority-only scholarships, women-only scholarships. Nobody is going to hire a blind referee, and Mr. T is never going to play the role of Marie Antoinette.

Can I just say that comparing these things to someone being removed from a job due to their sexual orientation is the most retarded thing I have ever heard in my entire life?