Gays in the Military

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=54730" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="06c085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>The David Kaye Web Site</b></FONT><B>    </b><B> |     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The David Kaye Web Site"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Backstreet Boys"><U>Backstreet Boys</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Closet"><U>The Closet</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cobbler"><U>Cobbler</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Descartes Contributions to Contemporary "><U>Descartes' Contributions to Contemporary Mathematics</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eoanthropus dawsonii"><U>Eoanthropus dawsonii</U></A>   |   <B>Gays in the Military</b>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Gonads of Leibniz"><U>The Gonads of Leibniz</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gooey Eyes"><U>Gooey Eyes</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Nice Try"><U>A Nice Try</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old Things"><U>Old Things</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Person"><U>Person</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Positive/Negative"><U>Positive/Negative</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Sermon on Masturbation"><U>A Sermon on Masturbation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stratfords 1999 West Side Story"><U>Stratford's 1999 West Side Story</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Sysiphean Predicament"><U>The Sysiphean Predicament</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="And This is My Beloved"><U>And This is My Beloved</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What Would Jesus Do?"><U>What Would Jesus Do?</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Womens Fashions"><U>Women's Fashions</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="06dd2e83.jpg"> <div> David Aaron Kaye </div> <div> November 1, 1998 </div> <div> Persuasive Essay</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:dakaye@yahoo.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:dakaye@yahoo.com"><U>dakaye@yahoo.com</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Gays in the Military</I></div> <div> "Don't ask! Don't tell! Kiss my ass and go to hell!" was the call we were shouting as we were marching in our parade for Pride week. While the issue on the ban on gays in the military was resolved, no one was content with the resolution. While the witch-hunts that many people who were suspected of being gay had to endure were over, many people in the military were being discharged for their sexual orientation. Without any solid evidence, Congress had formally declared that gays pose an "unacceptable risk to our national security". To those in favor of keeping the 1943 ban on gays in the military, gays posed two main problems: treason and discomfort for heterosexual soldiers. To those opposing the ban, the issue was clear. Sexual orientation had no bearing on the job a soldier could do.</div> <bR> <div> Gays had been associated with treason ever since the World War I. In 1918, English parliament member Noel Pemberton Billing declared that he had a "Black Book" containing a list of 47,000 prominent English citizens who were guilty of sodomy and lesbianism. The book was billed as a list generated by the Germans in order to be able to Blackmail English people into helping with the German war effort. Gays never lost this association with treason.</div> <bR> <div> The McCarthy era brought attention to gays for the US government. A Senate subcommittee researching the issue concluded that "sex perverts" were not "proper persons" to be employed by the government. The belief was that gays lacked "emotional stability" and hence were easy objects for other countries, particularly the Soviet Union, to coerce into giving them military secrets. This is where the congressional belief that gays pose a threat to national security originated.</div> <bR> <div> The belief that gays are a security risk can be refuted in many ways, one of which is addressing the mental state of gays. In 1973, after much research and debate, the American Psychiatric Association made a declaration that homosexuality in no way inhibits a person's ability to carry on mental processes. These processes would include the ability to tell the truth and the ability to conceal. The accusations of treason are thus scientifically unsound.</div> <bR> <div> The aspect greatest discussed during the recent challenge on the ban was the comfort level of the heterosexual soldiers. It assumes that all heterosexual soldiers are homophobic. The new policy mandates pretentious behavior. It keeps the comfort level high by not questioning the sexual orientation of the soldiers. Since the military is operating in a heterosexist environment, the gay soldiers are then assumed to be heterosexual. Forcing soldiers who pretend to be straight is a disgustingly heterosexist policy.</div> <bR> <div> The issue was brought up that if an openly gay soldiers may hit on a heterosexual soldier. Tanya Domi, a retired lesbian army captain, was quoted in <I>Newsweek</I> in 1993 as addressing this concern as follows: "These guys who operate multimillion-dollar aircraft and tanks are afraid somebody's going to hit on them. Maybe they'll understand how women feel all the time."</div> <bR> <div> With reasons of keeping gays out of the military unsound, the question then does not become "why should gays be allowed in the military?" In a country that has an otherwise very open-door policy on allowing people to join the military, the right to be in the military is a negative right. It is being kept away from gays and lesbian because of irrational discrimination. The heterosexist ban should be lifted.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>