Homosexuality in the military...

This seems to be a pretty controversial topic these days, especially with the political history of our Commander in Chief. I have had a few people ask me how I felt about this matter. I have decided to publish my personal opinion here. That said, my opinion does not reflect the opinion of any else in the military nor does it represent any recommended policy.

To get started, I will explain my views on homosexuality. I have no real issue with homosexuals and their rights movement. Do I think that they should be allowed to marry? Yes, our supreme courts have held that the concept of separate but equal is never equal and saying that they can be joined in a "civil union" is the same thing as marriage, but just with a different name is wrong. Am I against letting homosexual couples adopt? Absolutely not. Some people argue that homosexual parents will raise homosexual children. That is complete insanity. By that logic, how do heterosexual parents raise homosexual children? To stay honest, I have to disclose that I am very uncomfortable with the idea of a gay male couple. I don't hold it against them personally, but it is a gut reaction for me. I will note, that I have no such discomfort at the idea of lesbian couples, it's even a turn on. That double standard tells me a lot about how I view homosexuality as a whole. I don't think my discomfort comes from them being gay, but from my lack of attraction to my own sex and my desire to not be approached by members of my own sex. I have found in my limited interactions with gay men, that once they know you are straight, they are just like most other guys. Most of the stereotypes just haven't held up to my personal examination of the issue at large.

Now, on the the issue of gays and lesbians in the military. To be clear, I will refer to homosexual men as gay and homosexual women as lesbian. I recognize that the classification of gay applies to both, but some of my examples will require the distinction to be clear. If I am referring to both, I will index that with G/L. This prevents me from having to type homosexual too often, and avoids me publishing the shortened version of the word that has come to be something of an insult.

Do I believe that homosexuals should be allowed in the military? Yes. Yes, I do. I believe that every American regardless of Race, Gender, Sex, Religion, Sex, or Sexuality should be allowed to defend their rights and the rights of those they love. The US military preaches about how diversity makes us stronger, and I believe that. Everyone has something to contribute, and I think they should be allowed to do so.

Several very large issues come up when one starts to consider allowing G/L to openly serve. I will try to address a few of them here. How do we handle billeting/berthing, restrooms/shower facilities, and other traditionally sexually separate facilities. This I think is the easiest one to fix but my solution is very controversial. Simple Co-ed facilities the whole way through. Stop segregating the sexes. It's simple really. Consider the following examples:

***Segregation continues without change - A gay is roomed up with a straight guy. The straight guy is uncomfortable with the situation and lashes out. He feels discriminated against because a person who may or may not be sexually attracted to him is allowed to share a room with him, but straight people will never be billeted with anyone they may be attracted to. In an effort to prevent discrimination to a minority, we discriminate against the majority.

***Segregation is adjusted to sexual tastes - Now gay men are billeted with women and lesbians are billeted with men. Now we run into a two fold issue. The straight personnel may be attracted to the G/L and some dishonest persons may lie to be billeted with opposite sex. This will create all kinds of problems and really solves nothing.

***Segregation is no longer policy - Billeting is assigned based solely on alphabetical or serial methods. Is it possible G/L may be billeted with straight people that they are attracted to? Yep. It's also possible that straight people may be billeted with someone they may be attracted to and G/L may end up with other G/L that they are attracted to. Under this method, everyone has equal opportunity to be uncomfortable. Sounds tongue in cheek, but it really comes down to accepting that military personnel are adults. We volunteered to serve and recognized that there may be sacrifices. There will be growing pains involved with a method this extreme. Discipline for sexual crimes and voyeurism will have to be extremely harsh to express the seriousness of these crimes. What about people having sex in the barracks or berthing? You would be a fool if you thought it didn't happen with our current system.

In summary, I think it's possible to have a strong, unified military that doesn't discriminate against G/L's. But we first have to look at the way we treat the military as a whole. When we are treated like children, many times people act like children. Why do people sneak into the opposite sex's barracks? Because it's dangerous. There is risk and risk is sexy. If we take out the risk factor and it becomes an everyday normalcy, much of the drama will sort itself out. Who knows? Maybe someday our military can be like in Starship Troopers. Where men and women shower together and there isn't any ogling. Where everyone is viewed as a part of the team and not as a piece of meat. We can only hope...especially the showering part. I'm just kidding.

Feel free to post comments if you disagree, but keep them respectful. Anything else will result in a deleted comment.