Golmer's Blog

When Don’t ask Don’t Tell was passed, I was in the military. I was in a relative position of authority, so I wound up having to outprocess a few people based on the policy. I thought it was a stupid, bigoted policy then, and I think it is a stupid, bigoted policy now. 

Much like the military has ALWAYS had Atheists and Wiccans and other non-Christians serving, there have also ALWAYS been gays in the military as there have ALWAYS been gays in every other facet of society. In my experience both in the military and out, gays aren’t incompetent boobs at their jobs because they are gay - they are good or not so good at their jobs for the exact same reasons anyone else is - individual drive and ability.

That they have to HIDE whom they are as a person from everyone just to keep their job because of some bigoted policy written in large part by bigoted, old, white anglo-saxon Christian who think military service should be limited to bigoted, white, anglo-saxon Christian men is just STUPID. The thought (or lack thereof) that goes behind creating and implementing a policy like DADT is the same process used to discriminate against others based on race, religion, creed, and other aspects of human diversity.

Logically, DADT is just stupid. What it is is the mental equivalent of poking one’s fingers in one’s ears, squeezing one’s eyes shut, and shouting “LALALALALALALALA!!!” so you don’t have to see or hear reality going on around yourself. It is KNOWING that you are serving in the trenches with “unknown” gays in all aspects of military life and KNOWING that they are doing a really good job as a supervisor, or soldier, or gunner, or pilot, or translator, etc. but being obtuse and self delusional enough to think that if you don’t KNOW which ONES are gay you are “safe” somehow from being tainted by their presence. In reality, they have to know that the gays that serve along side them do not deserve to be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. And gays serving in the military do not deserve to automatically lose their jobs based on sexual orientation - if they were serving along side you for years and years while they were hidden as a gay it doesn’t make them a different person or any less deserving of your friendship or support as a military patriot once you find out that they are.

DADT is nothing more than a religiously motivated bigoted policy that allows bigots to hide the fact that they are bigots (or pretend they are not bigots), while retaining the ability to BE bigots and ACT on being bigots should one of these “gays” accidentally or purposefully be “outed” by themselves or someone else. 

It is time the ridiculous DADT policy and the ignorant, bigoted reasoning that went behind its creation ends.