Gregory D.

Lee

Read Greg's bio and previous columns here

January 16, 2009

Why Do Homosexuals Want to Serve in the Military? For Sex, Of Course

Now that Barack Obama will be the 44^th president of the United States and commander-in-chief, will he do away with the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays?

Within days of becoming president, Bill Clinton sought to eliminate the long-standing prohibition against homosexuals enlisting into military service. His proposal met such stark opposition from within the ranks of the military that he was forced to compromise with the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Now, instead of a total prohibition of gays in the military, recruiters and commanders are prohibited from asking potential recruits and those under their command if they are homosexuals. Instead, it is acceptable for homosexuals to serve in the military so long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves. Any admission or evidence of homosexual activity is grounds for a discharge.

So, what’s all the fuss about? What’s wrong with having homosexuals serve in the military? Don’t gays love their country? Shouldn’t they have the same opportunity to serve in the military and take advantage of the training, camaraderie and benefits straight people do? Other countries allow homosexuals in their military. Gay advocates say there are many potential gay linguists who can fill positions for needed language skills in Arabic and Farsi. Advocates often compare the struggle of gays in America with the black civil rights movement in 1960s.

I’ll tell you why having openly homosexual military members in the military is an awful idea. Go to West Hollywood or San Francisco the last weekend in June during “Gay Pride” festivities and take a good look at what these people are doing. Then ask yourself if any of them should have anything to do with national security, and if they should serve with, or be in charge of you, your son or your daughter if they were in the military.

If that doesn’t convince you, then you need to understand that homosexuals predominantly want to serve in the military in order to have access to people their own age with whom to engage in sex. It’s just that simple. It’s all about sex, and not about serving the nation. It is not unheard of to have a lesbian officer coerce a lower enlisted woman into engaging in lesbian sexual activity. “I’m an officer and you’re a private, who are they going to believe if you tell them I forced you to have sex with me?” Or two male soldiers go out on the town. One has too much to drink, and when they return to the barracks, he passes out in his buddy’s room. When he wakes up, his “buddy” is performing fellatio on him. These are two actual cases, and many more like them have occurred, which prompted the ban to begin with.

Having openly gay men and women in close living quarters with heterosexuals would make straight soldiers uncomfortable, to say the least. The morale of units would decline almost immediately, and re-enlistments would most certainly suffer.

Under the current “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, gays are essentially asked to be celibate – something straight service members are not expected to be. Asking committed homosexuals to refrain from sexual encounters while in the military is unrealistic and requires them to live a double life – straight while performing military duties and gay when on leave away from the military base.

Could the Army stop a homosexual transvestite soldier from wearing a female soldier’s uniform while on duty? Should gays be allowed to form civil partnerships in the military and be allowed to occupy military family housing and adopt children? Is the military prepared to handle increased health care costs associated with homosexual activity?  

The Washington Post and other mainstream media outlets have published polls that show a significant increase in the American public’s acceptance to openly homosexual people serving in the military. However, when Military Times published a poll in 2008, asking servicemen and women their opinion on the subject, 10 percent said they would not stay in the military and another 14 percent said they would consider not re-enlisting. Those combined percentages represent over half a million active duty and reserve/national guard personnel who might leave the military if the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is revoked. This could mean the return of the draft.

This is another example why liberals should never be in charge of national security.

Gregory D. Lee is a nationally syndicated columnist who is an active army reserve officer. He can be reached through is website: www.gregorydlee.com.    

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