AS A MATTER OF EQUALITY

Lately, there has been so much concern about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy-change becoming a reality. There have been so many questions as to whether or not the soldiers are ready for this big adjustment. I can’t help it: I smirk a bit from this. If the soldiers can make it through basic training and deployment, then they can make it through this. They don’t need to be babied.

I think people would be surprised just how many gay and lesbian service members there really are. And just how few of them actually follow that policy. It might be kept quiet in public, but behind closed doors, they might tell the dirty secret to a fellow soldier. If I can trust you in battles, I assume I can trust you with the fact that I am gay. If I am willing to die for you, why would you care either way? Right?

Unfortunately, that isn’t always how it works. But we sure do appreciate it when it does. I would like to ask: Do people think this isn’t scary for the GLBT community as well? While it is a celebration, it will be hard to face the discriminatory attention we will surely receive. At the end of the day a person’s sexuality does not fight the war. The person behind all the labels does. We have people going overseas fighting for our freedom when they don’t even have the freedom to say who they really are. I don’t think this policy has to do with sex. If it did, it would include straight people as well. It’s simply homophobia.

We have gay police officers. Bisexual soldiers. Lesbian firefighters. Transgendered teachers. They are the hidden backbone of society.

My prediction: I don’t think it will be as bad as people think. Sure, it will be insane on every channel I turn to. However, I think abolishing DADT will be a smart move for the military. There were gay people long before we told them there were. I think more people in the service are in favor of this than we know. There are always going to be people out there who disagree, no matter what the issue is. The sooner we go ahead and approve repealing DADT, the sooner acceptance will come.

What do you think the outcome will be?

The opinions expressed by the Contributor and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NWA Center for Equality, its Members, or any employee thereof. The NWA Center for Equality is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Contributor.