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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Finally! The US Senate does the right thing about "Don't ask, don't tell"

Gays in the US military are willing to put their lives on the line in defense of their country.

This decision was long overdue:

5 comments:

Bob Devine said...

Most of the time I am of the same opinion as yourself. Not this time. I am not good at putting my thoughts to paper so I will refer you to an essay by Ann Coulter who expresses my feelings on the matter very well.

http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/article.cgi?article=400

Richard K said...

This is a civil rights issue. Frankly, Bob, people were saying the same thing about desegregation of the Armred Forces 60 years ago that Coulter is saying about Gays in the military now.

The fact is that there ARE Gays in the military and the repeal of DADT lets these courageous people who want to serve their country do that as who they are.

Israel and Canada lets Gays serve in the openly in the military and it hasn't hurt their fighting ability in any way; I don't understand why anyone would think that would be the case with the US.

Richard K said...

PS I don't know anyone who agrees with someone else ALL the time!

AtlanticJim said...

You absolutely nailed it in your response Richard.

The part that really gets me is the many people who openly and freely support the military in the US have issues with this. Their reaction equates to saying that the members of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are children and cannot be expected to deal with this.

On the contrary, they adults, discplined and most importantly, professionals. They are being given an order, and like we did in the CF almost 20 years ago, they will go to work and get the job done.

The views of Coulter (who I agree with on almost everything) and the rest of the hand wringers over DADT are simply degrading to the pros that I have worked alongside for twenty years, both straight and gay.

Richard K said...

Absolutely, AtlanticJim. I know ex-miltary and police and they are professionals. Regardless of their personal attitudes, they go out and do their jobs.

Every western country has women in the Armed Services and that hasn't weakened the military, despite predictions that it would before that change happened.

From what I understand, not letting Gays serve in the US military has hurt them in Iraq, since there were a number of translators who were Gay and very good at their jobs that were discharged.

Israel has some Intelligence Units that are predominantly staffed with Gay soldiers.

If someone is willing to risk their life for their country, they deserve honor and respect and I don't care what their sexual orientation is.