Reason #19776364864827 Why I'm Ashamed To Be American Sometimes

[teleen_fiction]

Republicans block bill to lift military gay ban

Once again, the Republicans prove that they don't give a flying fuck about what's best for the country or about the rights of individuals.

I'm getting really sick and tired of living in a theocracy, :(.

Whether you think that being gay is morally okay or not (though for the record, if you think that it's not, I think you're an asshat), there is overwhelming support for DADT being repealed - 80% of Americans are in favor of it.  There is also a TON of evidence proving that it causes no harm to the military and that having this policy in effect makes other countries who allow gays to serve openly not want to serve with our soldiers.

Not to mention that a lack of Arabic translators contributed directly to 9/11.  Guess what the specialty was of many of those discharged under DADT?

It's a shitty policy that hurts our country and destroys lives, so of course Republicans are in favor of it.

Comments

[angstosaur.livejournal.com]

what sounds really frustrating is that it seems to have been a wasted opportunity - the best chance to repeal an archaic ruling... from over here in the UK it looks like a poorly played shot on goal that missed badly ... what a shame ...

unfortunately for many Americans, and the rest of the world, the Republicans are still manipulating politics on a scale that is dangerous ...

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

This.

[darth-eldritch.livejournal.com]

This is one of the many areas where I lost patience with the Republicans. From my own direct experience, the whole thing about gays in the military is extremely blown up, over the top, too much bullshit. It was nothing but fear and homophobia, and people too worried if you sleep with ZOMG!!!!! someone of the same gender.

For all the lurid rumors and self appointed "gayness experts" I never saw once any hint of a problem from someone being LGBTQ.

This entire thing is a massive waste of tax payers' money, federal time, and my patience because they won't let this thing go.

Let's face it. Gays have always been in the military. They always will be in the military. They are not going away. Plato praises the virtues of homosexual soldiers in Symposium, the Hagakure (handbook for Samurai) deals with homosexuality pragmatically and gives practical advice on an affair during wartime. A dear friend of mine came out of the closet after he did a stint in the Navy.

AAAARRRGGHHHH!!! I'm ranting, I know, but I endured years of sly "knowing" looks and not too subtle hints that the "experts" knew I was a lesbian. The joke is on them, because I am the religious right's near ideal, a somewhat asexual vanilla het. I only laughed at how they held their asses fearing penetration coming out of the dark and how they suspected so many.
Gah, I could make a movie satire of their homophobia.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

The joke was indeed on them, :). It's sad that who someone has sex with is so VERY important, sigh.

[darth-eldritch.livejournal.com]

IKR?

obsessive, that what it is.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

I blame the Puritans, myself, but that's me...

[las.livejournal.com]

The one fellow I know who was booted from the Army due to DADT was in fact a newly-trained Arabic translator.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

And there have been many, many other documented cases of it - hell, the Colbert Report did a piece on it back when the show was new... Either that, or it was back when Colbert was still on The Daily Show...

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Democrats hardly fought for it, Obama seemed indifferent and the Republicans were utterly beyond the pale in their hatred.

The GOP enshrines its bigotry again

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

Obama RAN on repealing DADT and I think that if he wants his base to really turn out the vote for the midterms, he needs to use his executive powers, which are exceptionally broad in a time of war, and just say, 'We're done enforcing it. Period.'

This is one of those times when I just don't understand humanity. These are men and women who are willing to fight and die for their country, something that most people AREN'T willing to do (me being one of them - I'd fight someone invading who was at my door, but military service is something I've actively avoided), and we shun them because of who they have sex with.

The stupid, it burns.

[(Anonymous)]

I just had to comment on the mention of gays in the military throughout history. There was one instance (I THINK it was the Sacred Band of Thebes, but I am not sure) where a special unit was made up entirely of pairs of gay lovers. The idea was that this would make it impossible for them to run away, since no one would leave the one they loved in jeopardy. The only way they would run is if both agreed to do it together, and since they can't read minds, someone would have to suggest it without knowing if his partner would agree or would think him a coward. Since lovers rarely want to risk their loved one feeling contemptuous towards them, this would never happen. In one of the stories I read, it said that when they finally lost a battle, the bodies of the entire band were found on the battlefield, still in pairs. How's that for positive uses of gays in the military? Not that I am suggesting this approach, it wouldn't work in today's military, but still, it shows that gays can be fierce fighters in the right circumstances.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

it shows that gays can be fierce fighters in the right circumstances.

I see what you were trying to say here. However, the thinking that we need to overcome is that GLBTQ persons are somehow different form other soldiers.

ANYONE can be a fierce fighter under the right circumstances, regardless of any other factors, :).

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

it shows that gays can be fierce fighters in the right circumstances.

I used to know a (deeply closeted) Combat Controller out at Nellis.

You don't to be one of those unless you're the sort of person who can open up a can of whup-ass any time, any place, anywhere.

It has nothing to do with gay/straight/bi.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

I just got done reading Steven Zeeland's excellent Sailors and Sexual Identity a work that is both scholarly (and sexy), and every single one of the sailors (gay and straight) he interviewed agreed that, (gay or straight) you don't sleep with somebody in your division/chain of command. Why?

It's unprofessional.

(Now, there were some different opinions about having sex on ship and fraternizing, but everybody was in agreement on "you don't shit where you eat.")

(And I'll be back with another comment as soon as I get on the ref desk.)

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

So what I wanted to add on to that was this quote from Unfriendly Fire:

The military's effort to repress homosexuality embodies this tension between illumination and denial and highlights the failure of American culture to deliver the Enlightenment promise of achieving freedom through self-government. This is where sexuality policy in the military should be played out. True, the strongest argument against the policy is one of national security: We simply can't afford to waste good talent. But it is also one of national greatness: We can't afford to treat the men and women of our armed services like children, to indulge -- with the approval of the military leadership -- their worst instincts and to write repression and denial into federal policy. American service members are not infants who think that when they close their eyes, the world disappears. Operating as if they were doesn't make our country great; it diminishes us.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

This.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

:)

[alafaye]

There are no words for how upset I am.

No words.

[teleens-journal.livejournal.com]

*hugs*