Don't Ask, Don't Tell has certainly been a controversial issue. The opponents of the policy are starting to smell victory, and naturally the proponents are getting desperate as they double down with ridiculous theories. Traditional Values Coalition's Louis Sheldon and Andrea Lafferty have written a doozy:
"Imagine the impact that the rampant spread of STDs, including HIV would have on the military? How will the military handle the spread of these diseases in the barracks? How will the military handle sodomy in battlefield situations?
Imagine the impact that sexual favoritism would have in subverting military cohesion?
A homosexual Sergeant who was in love with a member of his company, could protect his lover from battle – or send a straight soldier into harm’s way just to punish him for having the wrong attitudes about homosexuality. Straight soldiers could be denied promotion by militant gay officers. The military chain of command would be undermined.
In addition to the coming persecution of straight soldiers, what about the unrestrained drug and sex antics committed by young male homosexuals? Homosexual sex is consistently related to drug use, including crystal meth and other sexually-stimulating drugs. What sort of chaos will be caused in the military by bare-backing parties and other forms of homosexual orgies?
There is also an effort by the White House and Congress to legitimate drag queens/transgenders in the military, too. The normalization of these behaviors are in many bills being pushed through Congress. This will impact the military as well."
I know it's a long one, but it's too rich with crazy to not include in full. Militant gay officers? Bare-backing orgies? Persecution of straight soldiers? Where to start!? These two are clearly not living in reality, but that's not surprising.
What do you guys think of this ridiculous tirade?
– Andy
Photo Credit: Flickr
well as we all know the government loves to waste money! what a great excuse this time….(rolls eyes)
it makes me wanna sign up LOL
Sounds to me like they are afraid of being treated the same way they would treat gays and lesbians. It is always funny to see such wild comments, as though the gays are going to ‘get even’ with them for years of discrimination and oppression.
Gotta love how they think every homosexual male, even one militarily trained, could be distracted or influenced by ‘orgies’ and ‘drug induced sex antics’. Are all other gay men that unable to control their sexual instincts? i think (and hope) not
just another example of homophobia…LOL
Oh Yeah…. I’m in Irag…mortars going off all around me, car bombs blowing my friends to bits…I think I’ll snort a lil meth and have a 9-way on the battlefield…give me a huge frikkin break!
There are indeed those elements of gay culture; however, I think what proves these people wrong beyond any reasonable doubt is that Canada, Australia, and most of Europe have banned discrimination based on sexuality in their respective militaries, and little of any consequence happened from it.
Why? Because the military already has a proportional number of gay people serving in its ranks (in reference to the civilian population). If “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is repealed, the biggest change will be on paper. Functionally, the military would pretty much operate as usual.
How fuc$!*% simple minded are these people !?!? Ive got new for them ,Im gay, been in 8 yrs and am In charge of a small group of men, never has anyone been discriminated against. Further more Ive never attended a “wild sex orgy” or a “barebacking party” what fuc%$#@ world are these people living in !? As if every gay person is a crazed, diseased, drug abusing, sex fiend ….
funny you could change the words in this to white and black and it would be the same thing they said when blacks were trying to join the armed forces, 50 or so years ago
Sheldon’s arguments are also undermined by the presence of women serving with distinction in almost all jobs in the military. Their presence could also (in theory) have caused an undermining of morale, e.g. by straight (male) superior officers making command decisions to favor particular female subordinate(s) whom they were attracted to, or in love with. While these things were foreseen, and used in the 1970s as objections against women serving in the military, they have largely turned out to be overblown concerns.
Actually, my own view is that things are better now than they will be after the eventual repeal of DADT. I say this after more than 10 years in the army. The reason that straight people have these biases about homos, is because there is a serious element of truth. Gay men in their 40’s behave like straight guys in their 20’s. That won’t changed with gay “marriage.” Gays have a highly sexualized subculture that would make straight men (even marines) blush. The reason gays can’t win an electoral majority, even in places like California, is that our “culture” creates doubt in people that “we’re just like everyone else.” We have to be honest with each other about this, despite what the crazy types say.
It sounds like someone has been smoking some crystal meth themselves. How about all the straight sex that’s already happening? How about all the bias against all the closeted gays in the military? Also they make it sound like once the don’t ask don’t tell rule is lifted, the gays are gonna come out of the wood works. The guys and gals that want to serve should be able to. We can vote but we can’t marry or serve in the military (and be ourselves). I think it’s time they give on something or maybe we’ll just clear out Congress. After all these years, can we not get over the things that keep us apart. Are we gonna have to get militant again before we are seen as something besides sub human? I’m willing to become a pitch fork wielding mob if it’ll help. If they want monsters lets give them some monsters. I know aggression isn’t the way, but some well placed aggression can do wonders. I just want to see some real results before I’m raising my future children in the same stone throwing, name calling, religiously bigoted, lynching ass holes that have always been around. By the way, if we do start being militant, I suggest we go for Sarah Palin first. That window licking retard can go first for all I care. The last thing she’ll see is Russia from her house. lol
WTF!! where are these orgies at?? how come i dont know about them?
Bigotry at it’s finest. To think im in the service doing my part just for these close-minded jack-a$$es to live their cushy lives.
The only orgies are in those thousands of military-themed pornos where fantasy comes to life. Then again, the fantasy has been the reality for decades.
Given the state of the economy, The O administration is deciding to place this on the backburner and deeming this as another social pet project. Too bad.
It’s great to see these awful ideas in print in one place; it confirms how deperately crazy these people have become. Like all forms of descrimination, people take small kernals of truth, and distort them. The more people go public with such irrational statements, the less credible they become. Conversely, the more all of us same gender loving people come out to parents, friends and family, the less power such remarks will have. The truth of our day-to-day lives in all of its diversity — including its most crazy elements — is the greatest response to such stereotyping.
Another great response would be to take time today to write the Obama administration. Ask that they move changing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to the front burner as soon as possible. But also remember the power such crazies bring to sexuality related debates. Rmember what happened with Bill Clinton’s efforts and the ways they virtually paralyzed his administration when he started with this issue. Also look to California and their irrational reactions to these issues as reflected in its “no on 8” vote.
Last but not least, I am mystified how does any gay person can still vote Republican. The geat female impersonator, Ida Slappedher said it best, “Gay Repulicans are like roaches for Raid.”
Actually, many of these things ARE likely to happen with openly serving gay soldiers. Many already do.
Just not in such great numbers as to threaten military stability.
Since military officers regularly have health checkups and are often treated for diseases they get fucking strangers abroad, the STDs probably will not “run rampant”. Unless I am mistaken, most serious untreatable STDs like HIV and Hepatitis already disqualify people from military service for reasons that have nothing to do with sexual preference, so those won’t be spread.
Most soldiers know enough to glove up with exotic lays by now anyway.
As for sodomy in battlefield situations, it depends on how you define battlefield. If you mean during active combat, gay soldiers, like straight, have other things to worry about, say, not dying? During breaks when bunking down for the night? Yeah, stuff already goes on, I doubt that will change.
Sexual favoritism will probably happen, but it already does with straight couples, and even if it increases a bit I don’t see how it will be worse than various other types of prejudice and favoritism that already determine, unfairly, who lives, dies, or gets promoted.
Nor will it be universal, many well-trained military officers are incorruptible. A friend of mine commanded a unit a while back, before I knew him, first Gulf War maybe? He sent his lover on the mission that killed him, knowing the danger, and beats himself up about it all the time, but he admits that it was the right thing to do in their tactical situation.
The persecution of straight soldiers by gay officers? Definitely possible, probably already happens, just like the persecution of suspected gay soldiers by homophobic officers, and of various races by other races within the military. Likely to exist but not likely to be widespread enough to cause real trouble. If someone feels s/he is being discriminated against by his/her superior, I am not sure but I believe the military already has channels to report that sort of thing.
The characterization of drug abuse and sexual activity as “unrestrained” among young gay men, on the other hand, is one of the truly outrageous things that these people have said. YES they are rampant in the gay community, but not even close to universal, and the last time I checked straight people liked drugs and sex a lot too. Those who enter the military, regardless of orientation, are consciously choosing to curb their vices, and if they don’t they are subject to expulsion, for good reason!
I wouldn’t be surprised if knowing which of your fellow soldiers are gay DOES lead to occasional sex parties, but barebacking will probably only occur if they are away from civilization with no access to condoms, and drug use is unlikely in those cases especially. And really, having nasty orgies while off duty, though certainly unpalatable to some, will have no affect on combat ability, and again I would expect it to be a rarity rather than the norm, since drug use and I think sex between deployed soldiers are punishable offenses most would be eager to avoid.
Th only negatives effects of trans people in the military, meanwhile, will likely come not from them, but from the boneheads who harass them instead of concentrating on their own duties.
See, the main problem with this argument from the TVC people is not that it is just ridiculous( it actually has some fair ‘predictions’), it’s the idea that repealing DADT will have a large impact on the number of serving gays and lesbians. THAT is the dumb part. Many of the GLBT people who WANT to be in the military already ARE, just hiding. Many of the things that will happen ALREADY DO, and the bad things will continue to be hidden.
It’s just that GOOD gay soldiers/sailors/marines/airmen/officers will no longer be forced to conceal it or get kicked out for no reason. Corrupt ones will still get their butts court-martialed. In fact, if gay servicepeople know of infractions by other gay servicepeople, they will be MORE likely to report those things when the fear of being outed is no longer equivalent to the fear of dishonorable discharge.
I’m not so sure what everyone’s freaking out about. I mean, when you think about it… homosexuality IS one of, if not THE, ultimate downfall and corruption of society. Sally Kern had it right. it’s like pinky toe cancer. If they grant us all these “equality” hooplaws, then who KNOWS what kind of damage we’d do. It’s just too bad they caught on to our ways. the inability to NOT fuck every guy that walks… or the relentless drug usage… oh, lets not forget how we all have a disease of some sort.
i’d really love to elaborate, but i’ve got about 7 condom-burning, self-glorifying, tweaking nelly bottoms and drag queens playing Cher’s greatest hits (uhm, all of them)… that’s my cue to get this bare backing orgy starting.
if i ever find a moment to escape my inescapable sex habits, i’ll share my opinions on the amazingly profound ideals of the WBC.
Who do I need to punch in the face? (or write an angry letter to) to set things right?