One person said something about the repeal of DADT giving "special rights" to gays. Um, excuse me? The desire and ability to serve one's country in the Armed Forces, to potentially give their life in defense of their country, to want to protect one's way of life, is a "special" right? I think that one had "special" confused with "equal". Medical or physical limitations keeping people out of the military I can understand. But sexual orientation? That's just silly.
Then there are the people wondering what the effect on the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) will be. Homosexual acts are allegedly against the law of the UCMJ (I say allegedly, because I have not read the full UCMJ ... I am taking this info from others). Ok, homosexual acts and being homosexual are NOT the same thing. Why do people insist on thinking that every gay man wants to sleep with every man in the world? Sure there are whorey gay men. There are whorey straight men too. What is the difference? Whorey gay men hit on anyone and make them feel uncomfortable. Whorey straight men hit on anyone and make them feel uncomfortable. The same feelings of discomfort exist when one is being hit on by someone that one does not want to be hit on by, regardless of gender. There's a guy on base that has a little crush on me that I find creepy. I'm a straight girl, he's a straight guy. It's still uncomfortable.
I had a former Marine tell me that gay troops in a combat unit are bad for morale and unit cohesion, because people that have "feelings" for other members of their unit are dangerous. Another example of people assuming that just because one is gay, one sees everyone of the same sex as a sexual object, with the endgame being to "tap that". Of course, there is the whole confusing sex with love thing, but that's a whole different subject. The former Marine suggested that gay people could not effectively back up straight people in life-or-death situations, because of the gay people's "feelings" for the straight people. I looked at him with incredulity in my eyes, and said "I've had gay people back me up in life-or-death situations, and it worked out just fine". He looked at me, puzzled. I went on explain that I had worked with lesbians in the fire department. Fighting fire inside a building is a life-or-death situation. I asked him about law enforcement officers. Is what they do any less life-or-death than what troops do?
Fortunately, he had the good sense to say, "I never looked at it like that before". This is probably what kept him from having a fat lip from me punching him in his mouth.
One of the statements in the article kind of annoys me. The article states: "Repeal would mean that, for the first time in American history, gays would be openly accepted by the armed forces and could acknowledge their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101219/ap_on_go_co/us_gays_in_military) It's the "openly accepted" part that bothers me. The "...could acknowledge their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out." part is AWESOME ... but the "openly accepted" part is just ignorance of the part of the author. I *wish* all gays would be openly accepted in the Military, and everywhere else, for that matter, but let's be realistic. Not everyone thinks like I do. Realistically, there will still be backlash if someone in a very "masculine" unit comes out. It may not happen in all units, but it will happen in some. There may be some transfers that need to occur.
It's when people start expecting special treatment that things get stupid. If someone comes out, and demands that others accept his orientation, and forces opinions upon others, then he should get his ass kicked. Not for being gay, for being an asshole. Several years back there was a big court case to allow a girl into an all boys military academy. Virginia Military Academy, maybe? She fought and fought, finally got in, and then pussed out because they were picking on her. As a girl, that pissed me off. I have absolutely no problem with all-male schools. There are all-female schools. What the eff is the difference? I understand it was a prestigious military academy and she wanted to pursue that life/career, but if you fought such a battle to get in, why would you let ANYTHING get in your way of reaching your goal? Sexual assault and things of that nature, are, naturally, unacceptable in any circumstances, but beyond that ... so the boys are mean to you. You fought a battle that disrupted a billion years of attitudes. You have to expect a little backlash. If you don't, that's just naive.
Gay marriage. Is that a "special" right? Shit no. That's a special kind of torture! No, I'm kidding. It is a right that should be granted to those who wish to commit their lives to one another and want to partake of the benefits that come with being married. Hell, gay marriage could possibly be the best kind of marriage. The whole "toilet seat up, toilet seat down" thing is no longer an issue. If one partner doesn't want kids, there's no way the other partner could make it happen without being devious, and then you have good grounds for divorce! Who has the right to say two men, or two women, can't love each other as much, if not more, than a man and a woman? I have two very good Friends, who are both female, who love each other very much. I desperately hope I find the sort of love they share one day. If same-sex marriages are ever legalize in Florida, I really hope they let me officiate their ceremony!! That would ROCK!!!! (I'm a Notary Public in Florida ... )
And then we move on to more localized stupid shit. Ah the double standard. How I love it. If an American man gawked/leered/glared/stared at an Afghani woman, it would be an international incident. The man would be beaten, well, probably the woman too, and the world would never recover. Here at our little piece of heaven in the Kandahar Province, we have a small Afghan National Army camp. We walk past their cooking area on the way to our d-fac. (Incidentally, the town crier just started ... apparently it is prayer time. I love the just-before-0600 prayer the most.) Anywho, the Afghan men openly gawk at the American women. All the effing time. I was told by a Lieutenant Colonel that I was not allowed to punch anyone in the face for staring, but if anyone laid a hand on me, I could knife them. I like him! But yeah, it's ok for Afghan men to leer at American women, but should an American man even glance at an Afghan woman, all hell would break loose. As I said, stupid shit.
Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike ignorance? Stupidity I can generally laugh at and get over. It annoys me, but I'll get over it. Ignorance just pisses me off. Educate yourself, for the love of all that is holy. If you don't understand something, learn about it. If your world view is so narrow that it is limited to your tiny mind with your tiny, ignorant opinions, and you refuse to accept anything but what your narrow-minded group of friends tell you, then you need to be put out of our misery. I'm alright with people believing what they want to believe, but people need to accept that other people have opinions that may diverge from their own.
Which reminds me: the whole Christine O'Donnell -Wicca thing. For fuck's sake, why are people all bent out of shape that an American woman chose to explore a different religious path? Isn't that what America was founded upon? Gods! She should be celebrated as the epitome of what it means to BE American. Yeah, I know that isn't in the media anymore, but I forgot to rant about it when it was.
That's probably enough ranting for now. Grrr. Ignorance makes me mad. Willful ignorance is even worse. Go learn something new. Today I learned what 'meat curtains' are. It's gross, don't even waste your time looking at Urban Dictionary to find the answer.
Later!
Posts
1 comment:
Gays can't support a straight person they have "feelings" for in a life or death situation? Hell, I *want* someone covering my ass having feelings for me! Brotherhood is a good motivator to back me up but I'll take anything I can get.
It's not the most idiotic thing I've heard. I also heard (read) someone say that other militaries wouldn't "fear us" enough if this passed. Hmm... If someone is operating from stereotypes of gays, how do you think they're going to feel about being POWs?
On being accepted, it reminds me of a 10 year old son of a friend who just came out. #1, I applaud his family that he was able to be self-aware and comfortable enough to do so. (Though they put a cramp in his style for sleepovers *real* quick.) He just got tired of the kids at school constantly asking him which girl he liked so he just said none. He noted that it's been easier to deal with the one or two knuckleheads than to constantly hide from everyone.
There's always going to be someone less "accepted" or feeling "fish out of water". That's not something policy can decide. Whether it's a Catholic amongst Protestants or vice versa, one ethnicity in the distinct minority of another, or hell, even a New Yorker or Southerner among a bunch of Californians.
Post a Comment