Don't Ask, Don't Tell

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A joke, true, but therein lies one of the misconceptions about gays in the military. The tendency for every male to assume that gay men will automaticaly find them a) attractive and b) immediately want to sleep with them regardless of what else is happening. Its the same tendency that they apply towards women, and its absolutely ludicrous, egotistical, and just plain wrong. Bit of a double standard as well. "That gay soldier MUST be looking at me because I'm so hot and physically amazing and manly and f***able but I'm terrified that he's going to creep up and bum me in the middle of a sweep and clear..."

I didn't have any experience with battlefields, but everywhere I went in the navy had some amount of women, except for submarines. There was a spread in performance, with some doing a very good job, and some barely scraping by, but men also had that spread in performance.

I think sexual attraction was less of a problem than sexual harassment and actual sex. I never directly saw either, but I heard stories occasionally.


While 'anti-gay' has the advantage that it doesn't appear to suggest a similarity to claustrophobia or arachnaphobia, it's still quite vague.

Are you talking about someone who has no moral problem with it, although it gives them the willies? Are you talking about someone who has a moral problem with it, although it doesn't give them the willies? Are you talking about somone like Fred Phelps, who thinks it's a good idea to picket funerals? Are you talking about someone who doesn't have a problem with gay people, but doesn't like the idea of gay marriage? Are you talking about someone whose views don't correspond with political correctness?

I'm not talking about anyone specifically. I was merely giving an alternative to 'homophobe'.

I think 'anti-gay' is fairly self-explanatory, but yes, it again covers a range of attitudes. If you're looking to define degrees of anti-gayness then that's something you would have to deal with on an individual case by case basis.

Of your examples, the first two are within the category anti-gay, whereas the third is non-specific. It is possible to have politically incorrect views and yet be neutral on the subject of homosexuality.

Last edited by adifferentname on 20 Oct 2010, 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

exactly.

The United States government has put this country at risk by discharging many competent, valuable, well qualified, honorable men and women from the military due to their sexual orientation.

If I were serving with a homosexual individual in the context of the military, I would care about one thing, and one thing alone. The answer to the question "can this person protect me and my country?"

I'm also of the opinion that a person mentally insecure enough to, in the context of war, be worrying whether or not his or her fellow soldier finds them sexually attractive, is too mentally insecure to be in the military.

I'm autistic and gay, and I support DADT.

What has being gay got to do with serving your country? the two don't even go together! What you are attracted to is your own business basically at the end of the day.

The problem is that if you're in the military and anyone ever finds out that you're gay, you get a dishonorable discharge. And if ever asked (the "don't ask" part is not nearly as strictly enforced as the "don't tell" bit) you have to either lie or accept that you will be kicked out.

I agree with you that someone's sexuality is purely their own business for when they're off-duty and should not even enter into the equation when we're talking about the military. Unfortunately, this is not the case under the current DADT policy.

Fair enough. Didn't know it was that extreme.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell should be repealed.

Let LGBT folks serve openly in the military.

Who cares if a soldier is gay or straight?
It doesn't matter!

when my late father was in WW2 and Korea, there were segregated gay units, of whom he said performed D & C in the most exemplary manner. so in the interest of fair play, they should serve both in peacetime as well as in war.