Copyright John T. Reed
Why not?
For one thing, gays are serving in the military right now. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe they have not been serving in the U.S. military continuously since the Revolutionary War.
I saw a documentary on TV about World War II gay vets. They were just regular vets—many decorated—who had extra difficulty serving in the military because of homophobia. I felt bad for them.
During World War II, guys used to claim they were homosexuals to get out of going into the military. Presumably both heterosexuals and homosexuals did that. The military said no dice and drafted openly-gay men anyway. Note that word, “draft.” They didn’t just let them enlist, they forced openly-gay men to join. These are the same people the military now says cannot come in even if they want to.
They accepted openly-gay men then because they needed more men than just the apparently straight men they could draft. Furthermore, they did not discharge them if and when they later discovered they were homosexual. They needed the manpower.
So the military has never had any qualms about using gays when they needed them. When drafting only men who claimed to be straight was not enough, the Army tacitly admitted that that gays had been fit for service all along and took them. Claiming that gays are unfit is apparently a bit of hypocrisy in which the military indulges themselves only when their personnel needs are relatively small. If openly gay men were ever acceptable to the military, they should always be acceptable. The military cannot have it both ways.
I am not aware of any problems in the military stemming solely from any gay serviceperson being gay. If there has never been a problem, what exactly is it that the military fears? Increased use of females and increased integration of females into previously all-male units has caused all manner of heterosexual problems, yet no one has suggested retreating from the current assignments of male and female heterosexuals.
There are countries that allow openly-gay military personnel and have for some years. If we really want to know if it’s a problem, check the experience of those countries.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice spells out what behavior is not allowed in the military. If anyone, gay or otherwise, breaks the law, punish them appropriately. Why doesn’t that cover it? Why would the military need an additional law regarding who a person is rather than what he or she has done? How could such a law be Constitutional?
Is the “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy enough to let them serve? No. It’s nutty. I know of no other law that can only be broken merely by revealing a non-criminal aspect of one’s life. It sounds Taliban-ish—like beheading someone for saying he was converting from Islam to Christianity.
The arguments also sound vaguely like those military people used to keep black soldiers, sailors, and marines segregated from whites in the military prior to 1948.
The most delicious aspect of ending the “Don’t ask, don’t tell policy” would be forcing the colleges and universities who ban ROTC and military recruiters to admit their real agenda: they just hate the military. As long as the “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy exists, the academics can cite that as their reason for banning the military. Once the policy is ended, they would have to allow the ROTC and recruiters. I cannot imagine that would happen. But they would then have to come up with a new reason for continuing the ban.
John Shalikashvili was the top general in the U.S. military when the Clinton Administration instituted the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy regarding gays. On 1-4-07, he changed his mind.
Here is an email from a reader:
From: Sophie Pallack <pallacks@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Should Openly-gay persons...
Date: February 13, 2012 9:03:57 AM PST
To: John Reed <johnreed@johntreed.com>
Alright, thanks asshole. :)
On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 12:03 PM, John Reed <johnreed@johntreed.com> wrote:
You cannot use it because I own it.
On Feb 10, 2012, at 5:57 AM, Sophie Pallack wrote:
> Hello Mr. Reed,
> I am writing a research paper about whether gays should be allowed in the military or not. While looking for articles to read, I found your article, but without a copyright or written date. I hoped to use your article, but cannot without the date. Thank you :)
> - Sophie Pallack (student)
John T. Reed
John T. Reed Publishing home page - John T. Reed military home page
John T. Reed’s Succeeding book, in part, relates lessons learned about succeeding in life from being in the military