Should or Shouldn’t Gays Be Allowed to Serve in the Military

When it comes to controversial issues, strong feelings such as irritation, frustration, or even agitation arises in the form of ammunition for either side. This can turn any debate into a heated battle and this issue is no exception to that statement. Now of course, this issue has been debated and discussed numerous times in congress, by the president himself with statements regarding where he stands on this issue, or maybe you’ve discussed this issue with a personal friend and asked for his input on said issue, either way, this issue has been beaten to death and sent to its grave. Since a good majority of the people have said everything there is to say on this subject, this topic isn’t as heated as it once was. With that said, you may be asking, “well then why are you reviving this issue from its grave if it’s been discussed countless times.” To answer your question, my response would have to be, simply put, to readdress the public and eliminate any misconceptions that people may have on this topic. Now in a debate, the notion agree to disagree is the foundation that resides in any debate but, I think we can agree things have change. For better or worse, that’s up for debate. Let’s first talk about the policy that the military had on gays during the Revolutionary War all the way up to the present. Believe it or not, there were gays in the military during the revolutionary war, but hardly any of the soldiers ever admitted to being gay or committed homosexual activities such as sodomy due to it being forbidden and in many instances, was penalized severely. It was literally a “don’t ask don’t tell” environment back then. Let’s us now move on to World War 2 and talk about its effective on homosexuals in regards to its policy that was instituted during that time period. Now the policy that military had before this crisis and even Pearl Harbor was almost the same as the one they had in the Revolutionary War. The only difference was before they recruited you, they would ask you a series of questions; one of them being your sexual orientation. If you were to reply to that question with homosexuality as your sexual orientation, then the chances of you entering any branch of the military would be from slim to none. What’s even more grotesque are the tactics that the military employed in order to detect if a soldier was a homosexual or not by observing their vocabulary, how they dressed, and how they walked. If any soldier was detected of being a homosexual, then they were sent to a psychological mental ward or were discharged from the military and were unable to garner any GI benefits or rights. Now were moving on to present day policy. The current policy that we have in the military today-but also has been repealed- that pertains to homosexuals is the don’t ask, don’t tell policy. This policy essentially instituted a notion of not investigating any soldier if they haven’t committed any type of misconduct that the military deems homosexual. Basically, this only protected closeted homosexuals, not open homosexuals. Many people think that allowing homosexuals in the military will inevitably change our military for the worse. To which I say to that, look at the sexual assaults that occurs in the military and you will get a comparison or a correlation on the number of sexual assaults between homosexuals and heterosexuals, regardless of gender difference. Now granted, it’s not a secret that both types of gender, regardless of sexual orientation, have committed some form of sexual assault or sexual harassment. According to some of the statistics made in the documentary, Invisible War, an estimate of half a million women and twenty percent of female veterans has been sexually assaulted while serving. That’s insane and even more so when you take into consideration that more than half of sexual assaults go unreported due to the repercussions that comes with this ordeal, so it’s probably even higher. I have also read an interesting article in the Washington Times Post stating that more military men than women have been sexually assaulted than women. It’s also important to note that almost all man to man sexual assaults have also gone underreported. So, once again, both gender, regardless of gender, have been sexual assaulted and have fallen into horrible circumstances that have ruined their lives. There are many people that would argue against me with points ranging from unit cohesion, too feminine, no pride in their country, or even uncomfortableness among other folks. Let’s try to dissect each counterargument one by one. The first runner up is uncomfortableness among other folks. This particular argument doesn’t really hold that much merit. When you’re in the military, there are bound to be tasks or objectives that could possibly make your job uncomfortable. Homosexuality is no exception. Like anything in life, people will eventually learn how to deal with their fears and demons and will be better off in the future. Next up, is no pride in their country. Again, doesn’t hold up any merit when you think about it. If an individual takes time out of their day to enlist in any branch of the military because they want to serve their country, then obviously they have pride in their country. Now granted, there are a group of individuals who join the military for the free benefits that the military provides and there has been a decline in patriotism, but, that’s not the case for every individual, making this argument a cursory generalization. The last item on our agenda is no unit cohesion among soldiers. This argument has some nugget of truth in the sense that it depends on the willingness for each soldier to come to a compromise and understand that they both have a job to do and must be willing to complete it to the end. So, the job might go smoothly in some cases, but in other cases, it can go south. To end this on a positive note, while also taking everything I said into consideration, I believe that homosexuals should be allowed to serve in the military regardless of their sexual orientation. If they want to serve their country and are willing to put the time and effort into it, I say let them and be done with it. Hopefully this will be the norm in the near future.