Gays and the US Military

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back in the old days if you were born "different" they would have a abortion! Rules need to change for the better. Not every rule or law are for the best.

God, it REALLY annoys me when people won't associate with gay people of the same gender as them because they think the gay person will fancy them. Once a girl in my school heard a rumour that I'm a lesbian (not true, I'm actually bi, but nobody at school knows that), and she wouldn't sit next to me on the bus because "you might make a move on me". But she has no problem being around boys...

Back to the original question: gays should have exactly the same rights as straight people. Why shouldn't they be allowed?!

Just out of interest, are gay women allowed in the military??

any women that does better then a men is considered gay by military standards. I don't believe this at all. I believe everyone is equal, we all have our strengths and weaknesses! I knew women in the army that could out solider me! I call it has I see it.

want to have a little fun? Go into your history book and look up the arguments against having blacks in miltary units. Okay, now everytime you see the word black, replace it with gay and voila! You have the argument against gays in the miltary!

Second, ancient rome encouraged gays in its fighting forces, since one would fight harder for their lover and look what the roman army did, practailly captured all of the known world under Alexander the great and his gay army!

And this is how we should fix it.

That's why I say it's nothing but protecting the last bastion of legal prejudice tolerated in the military.

I think "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" should be repealed
and gays and lesbians should serve openly in the military.

I was kind of asking about the United States Military, not the Spartans.

You're just stereo-typing gays.

True, but I think ruveyn's point is that rather than homosexuality weakening the dynamic within a military unit, there are examples in history where gays in the military had the opposite effect, actually fostering a cohesion between fellow soldiers. The question I would wonder then is whether such cohesion would be of benefit in the US military, be of detriment, or be neutral/have no effect? I think policies like "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" are some people's attempts to ensure that homosexuality would have as little effect as possible without simply turning gays away, but I wonder if these policies are actually necessary, and also whether it'd actually be better to take advantage of any possible benefits openly gay members of the military can offer?

Think of it this way: A Band of Buggers is a Band of Brothers (sort of).

ruveyn

Where are you stationed? Some units don't actively enforce the don't ask don't tell policy, some go a little too far. Hopefully you're not in one of those units, what's your MOS?

Part of me thinks that society should be over their homophobia, such that gays and lesbians would be able to serve openly in the military.

Another part of me recognizes that society is, unfortunately, not over their homophobia. I think there is a rational argument against allowing gays to serve openly in the military. I don't like the argument, but I have a hard time not recognizing the logic behind it. It's really just a regretful situation (not them being gay of course, but the reality of homophobia alongside the reality of war).

There isn't any rational logic behind the exclusion of gays, just an irrational fear that gays will anal-rape their battle-buddies in the shower.

From experience, I can tell you that guys act a lot more gay when there aren't any women around to watch (all the homoerotic insinuation comes out). The only person in the unit who I knew was gay was the clerk and the pretend gay talk didn't happen around him as much, just me being myself and being random. I enjoyed his company, half the company seemed to hate him because of the vibes they got, but he always did his job and he never made passes at anyone in the company.

Just because you don't recognize the logic does not mean that there is none.

I don't really wanna be the guy arguing this, because it's not my argument, just one I recognize. However, in brief, it's all about group cohesion. There is still a social stigma attached to homosexuals, and said stigma can be a major detriment to group cohesion.

If someone is so homophobic that they won't work with a homosexual, then it should be the homophobic person getting kicked out, not the homosexual person.