Gays in the Military: Are Times A-Changin'?
Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in hot water for saying that
homosexuality is "immoral" and comparing it to adultery.
"As an individual, I would not want (acceptance of gay behavior) to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior," he said.
Pace, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, said he based his views on his upbringing.
I find this last part particularly interesting: Pace doesn't justify his feelings on grounds of public policy or anything else ostensibly rational; instead, he feels that way because of his "upbringing."
This seems a highly subjective, inherently irrational way to determine feelings about national policy that affects the security of our country.
Also interesting, there appears to be a generational shift developing between the generals like Pace, who grew up bigoted, and the current members of our armed forces.
The Washington Post reports on a new Zogby poll...
...of 545 U.S. troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three quarters said they were comfortable around gay men and lesbians; 37 percent opposed allowing gays to serve openly; 26 percent said they should be allowed, and 37 percent were unsure or neutral.Of those who said they were certain that a member of their unit was gay or lesbian, two-thirds did not believe it hurt morale.
Seventy-five percent say they are comfortable around gays and lesbians! And this is the military, not exactly a hotbed of social radicalism.
I imagine that what is happening is exactly what you'd expect to happen: That when bad guys are trying to kill you, you're all in it together, and who a person wants to sleep with is a lot less important than that person's ability save your life.
