Marshal vows legislation to keep gays out of Virginia’s National Guard; Graham threatens to block START treaty ratification in revenge over repeal of DADT
Hardy Haberman Flagging Left
I was wrong. I was very skeptical of the chances of getting “don’t ask, don’t tell” repealed in the lame duck Congress, yet they did it. Yes, Hardy, there is a Santa Clause!
The vote for repeal, which was slightly bipartisan (eight Republicans voted for repeal), was a great holiday surprise. But what comes as no surprise is the vehemence with which opponents vow to fight on, even after they have lost on this one.
Already the voices of hard-core homophobes are chiming in. Virginia Delegate Bob Marshal says he will introduce legislation to prevent openly gay men and women from serving in the Virginia National Guard.
Hatred, especially hatred of LGBT people, dies hard.
Further west, Sen. John McCain, one of the most vocal opponents of the repeal, still laments its passage.
“I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage. Today is a very sad day,” McCain declared.
Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is leading the charge for Republicans to block the new START treaty ratification in retaliation for the repeal of DADT. Apparently in Sen. Graham’s eyes, keeping gays out of the military is more important than nuclear disarmament.
Like I said, old hatred dies especially hard.
And then there is Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Amos. Anyone who watched the debate in the Senate was most likely surprised at his strident opposition.
“I don’t want to lose any Marines to distraction. I don’t want to have any Marine that I’m visiting at Bethesda with no legs be the result of any distraction,” he said before the vote.
I guess Gen. Amos figured that Marines are just too delicate to serve next to gay troops, or at least to know which Marines are gay and which are not. I have to wonder how much further his career will go now that the law of the land has changed?
Additionally, some evangelical chaplains have voiced their worries that they will no longer be able to preach. A Pentagon report stated, “Some of the most intense and sharpest divergence of views about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ exists among the chaplains.”
Most of these concerns are that chaplains would no longer be able to preach that homosexuality is a sin. This little problem is particularly confusing to me since for centuries they have been able to reconcile killing the enemy in battle with the whole, “thou shalt not kill” thing.
Luckily, some chaplains — like retired chaplain Col. Jerry Rhyne — feel differently.
Rhyne has counseled gay troops who struggled with their sexual orientation for years. In an interview with CNN he said, “For me, it was very disheartening. I tried to bring them hope and encouragement to live their life to the fullest and to help them deal with their issues.”
Needless to say, Col. Rhyne supported repeal of the policy.
I hope the voices of dissent will soften after they realize that essentially, nothing in the military will change except that those in the military will be able to concentrate on doing their job. They will no longer be distracted by the witch hunts and investigations that saw more than 13,000 gay men and lesbians discharged.
Gay and lesbian service members will no longer be distracted by trying to conceal their orientation. Military commands will no longer be distracted by spending valuable time and resources looking into every innuendo and allegation.
Contrary to Gen. Amos’ assertion, having openly gay and lesbian troops serving will be less of a “distraction.” Straight troops will not have to wonder who is gay and who isn’t, though I suspect in reality it won’t be an issue. All the service members I know, both straight and gay have told me they know gays and lesbians in their outfits and have never had a complaint against them.
The military will behave like the military, and continue to serve with honor and bravery.
Contrary to what they opponents of DADT repeal believe, gay troops are not going to start having orgies in the showers, and the behavior of troops will still be subject to military decorum. To believe otherwise is just not rational.
I have to wonder if folks like Lindsey Graham and Gen. Amos haven’t been watching too much gay porn?
Hardy Haberman is a longtime local LGBT activist and a member of Stonewall Democrats of Dallas.
His blog is at https://dungeondiary.blogspot.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition December 3, 2010.
DADT is a sensitive subject, one definitely hard to approach. Being in the Army myself I can honestly say that the infrastructure, from the training-environments to the in-the-field environment was not ready for a flip of a switch.
The average male soldier’s living space (E-1 to E-4 at least) is half of that of the average prisoner. And in the showers you are practically rubbing elbows. Now try to imagine mixing male/female showers. I believe sicking opposite genders in the shower would definitely have an adverse affect on mission and training readiness (the ability to perform in battle or during training at 100%).
Further, I believe that I straight male’s mindset would be very similar to the female mindset in the situation described above when placed elbow-to-elbow with homosexual men.
What I am trying to say is it took a very very long time to attempt to create the structure where even Females could participate in serving our country, and when I joined, were still not allowed to hold combat jobs (e.g. 11B – Infantry). Which I have seen the exception that should be allowed to be an 11B :).
I do not believe there should be an identifying factor due to gender or sexual preference that would prevent one from serving in the US Armed Forces. However, just like pulling out of Iraq, or any other touchy subject, has to be handled in a manor that facilitates the needs of everyone.
Happy New Year Dallas Voice Community!! —