The link below is to an post on the Economist. It is an excellent read, and I encourage everyone to dig into it. The piece uses a column by Bill Kristol and responds to the points of his argument. It is all good, but I want to focus on one small concept in it.
So what institution does the president want to subject to an untested, unnecessary, and probably unwise social experiment? The U.S. military.
Social experiment? Open and peaceful cohabitation with non-heterosexuals is a social experiment that has been going on for decades, with fairly good results.
We see this type of fear mongering language so often anytime issues surrounding gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people are concerned. “Social Experiment, as if equality is an unknown adventure full of potential danger.
This is ludicrous for two reasons. First, a large number of other countries across our globe already allow openly Gay and Lesbians to serve in their military. Our soldiers have been fighting side by side with them for some time now. There is no experiment here, but there is a body of evidence that this works and works just fine.
The second point is possibly more subtle and potentially more important. Where are experiments done? Â In Science. The far right and radical Christian movement is battling Science everywhere that it can. From claiming that dinosaurs were only 6000 years old and existed on the Ark with Noah and all the other animals, to the battles against contraception. These conservative and theocratic oppressors dictate that the Bible is to be taken as the literal word of God, but Science- especially experimentation- is scary and wrong.
Check out the entire post, and add your comments and ideas here.
Yes, this is a matter of “othering” gay and lesbians. The reality is, regardless of sexual orientation, all in the military are there to do a job and act professionally. This scare tactic suggests/implies that gay and lesbian military have a different agenda. This is offensive and appalling, and given how and where women have been so badly treated by males in the armed forces at times, it speaks more about their own issues rather than the reality of what gay and lesbian military would do or how they would behave.
We don't want to play into their message, so this is only a minor point. But it's been bugging me, so I have to get it out there. This whole issue of close quarters, showers, etc. reminds me of the xenophobes who don't like people speaking languages other than English in public because they think they might be talking about them. A gay guy is not going to be interested in someone he knows is straight, and those people speaking spanish on the bus are not talking about you. Folks, you're not that important. Get over yourself.