Don't Ask Don't Tell

o the Army is trying to be all progressive and forward thinking by abolishing the ridiculous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. If you don’t know, basically it’s like this policy that if you’re gay/bi/lesbian you shouldn’t go around blabbing it to everyone you know. The army won’t ask you your sexual preference but you aren’t supposed to tell anybody. If you’re “discovered” as being gay, you could be from your position.

When I was in Basic Training I discovered that sodomy was illegal under Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Not that I plan on doing it up the butt anytime soon, but if I wanted to, I could get thrown in jail, and so would most gay men, if that is their choice of activity. Not surprisingly, this anti-gay policy seems to be more directed at gay men then gay women.

But first of all, who really goes around announcing to the world their favoured sexual activities? I thought the whole class was quite lame and just something the drill sergeants used to embarrass us. Little did I know there were actually quite a few obviously gay people in my basic training class. Mostly because we were separated, I did notice the females right away. I don’t have any issues with gay people; they can do what they want. I just thought it was interesting. It made me wonder if they were “out” back home. Since we were miles from home, maybe this was the first chance they got to explore their sexuality. It just seemed like so many girls were gay.

When I went to AIT we were allowed to have more personality, and that’s when I started noticing the gay men. I was quite surprised to know that a gay man would be interested in joining the military. Maybe it’s because of the stereotypes that I think about when thinking of gay men. I know lots of gay men, but I still think of them as some flamboyant drag queen (even though the gay men I know are NOT like this). Why would a drag queen join the military where he would not be able to… uh… you know… be himself…. herself… whateves. But that just goes to show how much I know about the gay lifestyle. Not everybody is like how they portray in anti-gay Bible-thumper films.

A gay friend of mine said he would like to join the military because he wanted a chance to serve his country. An illness precludes him from doing so, but if he weren’t sick, he wouldn’t join under the current climate. He doesn’t want to hide who he is. No, he doesn’t prance around in high heels or wear makeup. He’s a regular guy to me, actually more macho than some straight guys I know, and he would make an excellent soldier, if it weren’t for the fact that other men would be squeamish around him. It’s sorry that ignorance motivates many of us, but it will take a long time for people to shed that cloak and come to grips with a people that really are quite normal. Being gay isn’t anything new, just in case you didn’t know.

At any rate, I’m worried about what will happen if the policy is rescinded. I want people to be as they are. I think a lot of problems in this country stem from the fact that people are forced to lie about who they are. We’ve seen it time and time again. Two guys, two chicks, whatever… hanging out, having a great time. Uh oh, one of them is gay and the other feels betrayed. Well, if you let the person be who they are in the first place, you wouldn’t feel betrayed. See how moronic it all is?

The army might want to be forward thinking but they do very little to school the “little people.” Sure at the very top, all these generals and rear admirals are like, “Yeah, gays should be in the military.” They are prepared to let the doors open willy-nilly but not prepare all the simple-minded assholes that make up the military. Everybody at the bottom level. I’m talking about PFC Bubba Smith from Kansas, who has never been out of his small town before. Basic training was the first day he ever met a black man. How do you think he feels about gays openly in the military? He’s very uncomfortable because all he has ever known is the silly crap someone has fed him his whole life.

There are so many problems at the lower levels of the military: racism, sexual harassment… it’s unbelievable. Throw open homosexuality into the mix without proper education… it’s a time bomb. And it’s sad that we have to be educated in the first place, but to not do so would be a huge mistake.

Last night on FB, someone said, “the topic is don’t ask, don’t tell.” Someone asked if there would be separate showers and sleeping quarters for gays.

Seriously.

Someone else wrote, “why would you need separate anything since they’ve been showering with you this whole time and you just didn’t know it.” Yeah, hate to tell you. I can’t imagine anybody with half a brain would think there isn’t a single gay person in the whole military just because of some lame ass policy. It just doesn’t work that way. Because they had to pretend to be someone else in an overly macho testosterone driven environment. If they get to come out and tell the world who they really are… oh Lord.

There are untold sexual assaults going on right now in theatre. Women are scared to talk because they don’t want to be seen as weak. Gay bashing will probably exceed those atrocities out there where it’s like a no man’s land. If a gay soldier gets his face kicked in by his peers, will he say anything? Maybe he doesn’t want to be seen as weak either. Maybe he doesn’t want to be driven away because maybe he feels like he has the right to be there just like anybody else.

I’m all for equality and I wish this was a different world, but wishing doesn’t make it so. I would rather people be who they really are and not who I (or the rest of the world) want them to be. But I’m more worried about people’s safety. It’s far bigger than you really understand. It’s not just the bashed, or the basher, it’s the whole unit. I have never been to war, but I know that everything must function cohesively. If we got one person over there and one person over here and some people kind of in the middle, it just doesn’t work that way. It can be very divisive in a situation where you need complete unity.

I think we should do away with the dumb policy, but I don’t know how we could accomplish it. I don’t have any faith in the military. Not like that.