The recent posterboy...
...for ending the "Don't ask, don't tell" thing in the military. I came here because I didn't have to confine myself to text-sized posts. For me it is a complex issue. I think I can claim to be 'on record' as having no problems with people in same-sex relationships and partnerships... for years Charmaine and I wished for an alternative to '
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Next, I have no confusion in my mind when it comes to gays and pedaphiles. None. One is a lifestyle, the other is a sickness. This is why I hate to bring this up... people think I'm some kind of retarded, red-neck gay-basher without even considering the perspective I'm trying to explain. I am not and have never been That Guy.
I'm talking about the melting pot that is our nation, and I'm talking about mixing people from all sorts of backgrounds and creating an environment where they can live and work together under what are difficult circumstances. I'm also talking about the fact that a pretty large portion of our population isn't as 'educated' as you might like, yet they share a lot of the same trials. As far as the statistics go, with about one and a half million on active duty and nearly a hundred thousand more in the reserves it sure doesn't seem to me the policy is driving gays from the military or that most just can't keep their private life private.
The only people I feel sorry for are the career types, the ones who'd like to spend 20 years or so in the service but would still like to come home to someone they love.
Oh, and no, you're not trying to trivialize people's fears, but that last paragraph trivializes other people's understanding of the world we live in. Your attitude has been as hostile and self-infused as any right-wing bible-banger. You assume too much if you assume I'm some kind of homophobe. In the culture we live in (and a culture doesn't just change if you pass a law, ask anyone in the equal rights movements) the law has to guide us towards a better culture as we, as a mass are able to accept it.
Lastly, I've been around long enough to know a thing or two about people. Now is just not the time for this issue. As a whole, the American people are not ready to accept it. I am niether ignorant nor superstitious. I am, however, pragmatic. My whole goal was to try to bring some understanding to the left-wing illuminated-set of why there might be so much resistance on some fronts, and why even an open-minded, intelligent teenager might be turned away.
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Everything that I've seen indicates that the majority of people in the military know that they serve alongside gays and lesbians and don't care. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd like to see it.
and a culture doesn't just change if you pass a law, ask anyone in the equal rights movements
With all due respect, you're wrong. I'm old enough to remember--and I'm pretty sure you are not--what U.S. society was like before the civil rights movement. I remember what U.S. society was like before Roe v. Wade. I remember what it was like before the "women's liberation" movement. I can assure you that a culture most certainly does change when the law forces it out of its comfort zone.
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