The politicians in Washington (our President included) want us to believe that it's vital we have all the information from the Pentagon Report on the effects of gays in the military before repealing DADT. I have one word for that:
Hogwash.
Why hogwash? Simple. The same tactic was utilized before allowing blacks to serve in the same units with whites - and again when deciding if women should be allowed to fight side-by-side with their male counterparts. I can actually understand how waiting for a report from the Pentagon would be necessary for the above as those represented major changes. Yes, blacks were in the service, but in separate units and quarters. Women served too but either as 'office' personnel, or within the medical field, so allowing them to actually serve side-by-side with men (and white men), to allow them into a military academy, and into battle - altogether, as one cohesive unit, yeah,that was a major change.
And yes, I can hear you now: "But so is having gays in the military".
Wrong.
You see, it's damn hard to hide the fact that you're black or a female, so unless I lived in a parallel universe where, for instance, gender wasn't obvious, then there's no way I could join the military now and simply not reveal the fact that I was female. But you see, gays are already working side-by-side with their fellow soldiers - and if you think many don't know it, don't know who those gay soldiers or officers are, well, there's a place called Fantasyland and you might just live there.
Now let me say this again:
GAYS ARE ALREADY IN THE MILITARY
There are already seamen who are gay, soldiers who are gay, pilots who are gay and big, buff Marines who are gay. There are already gay officers. All of them working, sleeping, eating, showering, and fighting right next to their straight counterparts. And you know what? They have been - from day one.
So really, this particular version of the famous "Pentagon Report" on how the military will handle this particular so-called 'minority' in its oh, so precious ranks is far less important than in the past. In fact - it's ludicrous.
Am I saying there won't be problems when some soldiers actually know who the gays are, or find out that they've been successfully following a gay leader for the last year? No. There will be, just as there were issues when blacks were finally permitted to serve with whites instead of in the proverbial back of the bus. But the military survived - and thrived.
And yes, there were major problems for women, especially when they dared to join the ranks of cadets in a military academy. But guess what? The military survived and many soldiers would say now that they can't imagine their world without that female soldier - or black - standing with them in battle.
Soldiers - our military - are, for the most part, the brightest and the best. They hold honor high, sacrifice is a normal act and their courage, legendary. We do them a great disservice to believe that they won't be able to get past the discovery that the man or woman fighting beside them just happens to also be gay - anymore than fighting side-by-side with redheads, blondes (and blonds), Catholics, Jews, surfers, family men and women, single men and women, divorced soldiers, etc. So tell our politicians to get off the stupid dime and just end it. Stop looking for excuses, stop thinking less of our men and women in uniform who defend us daily - and just stop DADT.
Once and for all.
