Have some more American RAEG!

[vulgarweed]

http://www.servicemembersunited.org/survey

This is the survey the Pentagon sent out to service members regarding DADT.

It basically boils down to 32 pages of variations on the theme of:

Q. I will treat other human beings in my unit as human beings if I find out they are gay/lesbian, true/false?

A. (multiple choice):

1. Yes

2. No

3. Maybe, but ICK! I won't like it.

4. I'm too ignorant to know or care.


Yes, I've read the whole thing all the way through, and I would definitely quit any job who thought this line of questioning was appropriate in any way. Yes, I get that in the military it's different, you sign up for a contract and you have to take orders...so isn't it long past time someone with authority stood up and said GLBT PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE AND THEY ARE YOUR COMRADES, SO MAN UP, SOLDIER, AND GET OVER YOUR STUPID SUPERSTITIOUS PREJUDICES OR ELSE?

(And if the Pentagon is so worried about the possibility of people feeling uncomfortable about folks maybe getting checked out in the showers...maybe they might want to do something about the widespread and well-documented rape of female soldiers by male soldiers allegedly on their same side? Cause I can't think of anything more damaging to unit cohesion than that.)

Comments

[thistle-verse.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And the thing is, I think it would be so easy to just do it. The military integrated by order and while I'm not saying there is no racism, it was probably the smoother than any sector of civilian society. I believe we could see the same thing happen with repealing DADT, if we would stop this kind of bullshit.

The other things that stand out to me:

1. We're already moving toward more personal privacy. The brand new barracks our BN is moving into are two person apartments, with individual bedrooms sharing a kitchen and bath.

2. If a gay soldier propositions you and you are not gay, what happened to being a grown up and saying "no thanks" just like you would do if someone of the opposite sex who you weren't interested in did the same? Come on, people.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the thing. I see often see the racial integration of the US military as something that, while of course isn't perfect, largely can be said to have worked pretty well. And it was progressive for the time. And of course there was a lot of white-supremacist grumbling, but so fucking what? Who cared what those people thought? That's how homophobes need their "concerns" handled, IMO--with all the respect they deserve, which is none.

People in the armed forces are supposed to be brave. Don't all the ideals of courage in tough situations fall apart if grown men curl up into little whiny fetal balls of terror at the very idea of the possibility of some dude checking them out? I suspect there's a lot of projection and fear of other men treating such guys the same way they treat women.