Would you have a problem serving with Gays?

Question

A question was asked at the republican debate the other night by a NOW openly gay Retired Army General: He asked if they thought the men and women of the armed forces were professional enough to work with openly gay men and women.

My question to you military folks...is ARE you profesional enough to work with openly gay people? If not Why? If so..Why?

It's my opinion thats being openly gay in the military is illegal because it "shows" you lack good moral standards...of course not everyone believes this is true, just an "old mans" way of thinking.

Just my 2 cents.

I'm not buying the "it would distract us from war" aspect...allowing African American pilots didn't stop us from winning WWII did it? No it didn't, and the "Tuskegee Airman" became known as the best at protecting bombers....maybe if they had a trial run with Gay People like they did with Black Pilots...and they proved they could do just as good or better....minds would change.

Hmmm, maybe they should outlaw females too

Answer 1

I would have no problem serving with openly gay Soldiers. I have for years as a matter of fact.

Under the DoD's Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue policy, Gays serve now, they just can't be open about it. That doesn't mean people in the unit don't know it, it's just the Elephant in the room that nobody talks about.

I've had former Soldiers come back to visit friends in the area and stop by the unit to say "hi" to friends in the unit and "come out" now that they were out of the Army.

The shower issue is a non-issue. 90% of the time nowdays showers are individual stalls with shower curtains. The rest of the time even the gay guys say they are uncomfortable in gang shower facilities.

Cops and Firefighters overcame this issue twenty years ago, why can't we in the military do the same thing?

It is effort and dedication that matter. Gay or straight, is the individual putting forth their best? Can they cover you when you're crossing a danger zone? Can they pull you to cover? do they put in th esame long hours preparing for deployment?

My generation of Soldier and this new generation of Soldier grew up with homosexuals being a generally accepted part of our culture (Pop music when I was in high school included Twisted Sister, Boy George and Wham!). I think once they last of the Baby-Boomer Generation retires and once Gen-Xers are in Congress the final barriers to Gay Service members serving openly will fall.

Answer 2

I have met many effiminate men in the military. At the end of the day I find that Soldiers only care about effort and performance.
The issue of showers or other close quarters living comes in with gays, but there are so many ways to mitigate these worries.
The biggest thing is that the military would make a big deal out of it so it would become a distractor whether the troops wanted it to be or not.
I hate doing a lot of training with females like combatives, first aid, or other things that require touching. You always have to worry about if the normal touching or actions you are required to do will be construed as unwanted touching by her. It is a pain in the rear and it is a situation fully created by Army EO/POSH training standards.

Answer 3

I have never worked with any soldiers who directly and openly admitted to being gay, but I have worked around many that came pretty darn close. It was never a serious issue for me, or for many of the other soldiers serving alongside with me.

Overall, both the gay and straight soldiers were focused on the job at hand, not each other's sexual proclivities. At first it was a little awkward bathing around the gay soldiers or sharing a tent with them, but after a week or so it really didn't matter. Even if the gay soldiers were attracted to any of their fellow troops, they were smart enough to keep it very well hidden. After all, if they tried to make a pass at someone it probably would have been dangerous to their health, and they knew it.

Given a little time, I stopped thinking of them as "gay soldiers" and just saw them as "soldiers". I'm a fairly open-minded person, however, so my experience may be at odds with most other soldiers.

Answer 4

I don't have a problem with gays serving but its not as simple as we are led to believe by politicians and activists. Can a straight male soldier live in a room, sleep with shower with a female soldier? No, and women's rights groups make it clear that there is considerable sexual pressure and tension when males and females in the field or barracks together. But all of a sudden, we are assuming that gay men can do the same with people of a gender that they are sexually attracted to. How do we preserve the right of a heterosexual soldier to be safe in his surroundings and not be sexual harassed? Is there anyone who believes, in this election year, that the first time a gay soldier is punched by a straight soldier in rebuffing sexual comments or overt actions that the straight soldier will not be charged with an offense or even a hate crime? I have no doubt that the straight soldier will be reprimanded, demoted or dishonorably discharged. So in order to insure the rights of all, there needs to be four genders, gay female, straight female, gay male and straight female. Unless straight males and straight females can be housed to together (which of course does not occur) then gay males and straight males cannot be housed together either. DADT was more an exercise in military discipline. The rights and personal space of heterosexual military personnel were never considered. Is this important? Well, its known to the media but self imposed PC censorship forbid them publishing the fact that the Sec of the Navy issued a policy letter that had to be read, personally, to every Marine at every level of the Corps that just because the entire Marine Corps just changed, that does not mean that their enlistment contracts were made invalid. If it was not found to be important, then straight Marines would not have been warned that they cannot apply for discharge. The removal of DADT to insure the rights of gays, only created a vacuum in the rights of heterosexual soldiers. Will it hurt the ability of the Marines to recruit? Certainly not gays, they will enlist like its a trip to Club Med on the taxpayer, but for a straight kid coming out of high school..I think many will not enlist. NCOs have often said that the impact of DADT was more to prevent sexual harassment under the penalty of dishonorable discharge than it was to insure that gays feel free to date, kiss, hold hands and have sex in a barracks. After all how many times is a straight Marine asked about his sexual orientation? Never. Its not as simple as liberals would have you believe and it may have an impact on the military ability to field an Army. When the Army was desegregated it made it stronger because it made soldiers equal, the end of DADT does not make soldiers equal, it makes gay soldiers more than equal and straight soldiers must less equal or safe in their personal space.

Answer 5

it's not about being professional enough to work with them since we do on a regualr basis. The fact that homosexuality would bring discredit on the military. when I was a young soldier there was a couple of females that everyone knew were lesbians and when they brought their Girlfriends over to parties and their girlfriends would cheat on them with guys that would cause problems. Also if you Have a straight soldier and a gay soldier in the same room the straight soldier, the straight soldier may feel uncomfortable and if you move the gay soldier in with another gay soldier then straight soldiers will want to have their girlfriends move in. Lastly in certain situations male soldiers are required to do group showers (basic training & AIT) now I realise that gays aren't going to be attracted to everyone but if you stick a straight male in a shower with 30 females he will probably be attracted to at leaste one, and the same situation would occour. So it's not about proffesionalism, what about their professionalism in maintaining the DADT policy which is violated on a regular basis.

Answer 6

As long as the standard rules against sexual harrasment stand, why not? I work with women, and we all know how to behave in the work place- I don't see how being gay would automatically erode a person's self control.

Answer 7

In the last seventeen years, I've worked with several people I "strongly suspected" were gay....made no difference to me. Two of the individuals were among the finest NCOs I've ever worked with. I feel bad that they have to hide part of who they are to be accepted.

Answer 8

I was in the navy from 1994-1999 and had an officer in my chain of command that was gay. Everyone knew, everyone ignored it. It makes no difference to me, I am more interested in if you know how to do your job.

Answer 9

You cannot generalize the entire Military like this, there are too many what-ifs right now to allow gays to openly serve. The increase in MEO (military equal opportunity) cases would skyrocket.

Furthermore, the Military is constantly training for War, which means training to kill and preparing to sacrifice your life for your country. Allowing gays openly in the Armed Forces would be a distraction from what is paramount, which is, preparation to defend and fight our nations wars.

Answer 10

You see the problem is when they are openly gay. Not everyone gets their own home like the general. Enlisted have to live together. You have never had an experience of two dykes battling it out in your living room have you? Well I have, and I chose to not have that sort in my house. The dorm was my house too.