Usefully Employed

Recently I posted on the Army becoming a Stonewall Diversity Champion - their dramatic change of approach over the years met with little interest.

Compare and contrast with the situation in the USA, with their odd ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell‘ policy. The effect of the policy is to forbid LGB service personnel from disclosing or discussing their orientation, but in turn to forbid their superiors from investigating it. This is seen as a compromise between allowing the undoubtedly hundreds of gay servicemen and women to remain, while appeasing those who believe the presence of homosexuality (or perhaps rather its disclosure or expression) is detrimental to the services’ operation, or just plain immoral.

Feelings run high - a Senate subcommittee has recently investigated the issue. Witnesses before the subcommittee included the first soldier to be injured in the Iraq war - he had his leg blown off, and had nothing but praise for his colleague’s attitudes towards his homosexuality both before, during and after the incident. His testimony is sincere and heart-wrenching.

The founder of the anti-gays in the military “Center for Military Readiness”, instead warn of the dire consequences of more openness:

“inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community”;

“forcible sodomy” and “exotic forms of sexual expression”;

Soldiers “‘who do have religious convictions,” would be alienated by the “sexualized atmosphere” if forced to serve with gays and suffer their “introducing erotic factors” to the military;

The increase of “HIV positivity”.

Melissa McEwan does an excellent Comment is Free piece on it - also check out her blog. You can watch video summaries of the two witnesses at the Lavender Newswire - do, it’s worth ten minutes of your time.

Especially with US elections looming, it’s fascinating to see how issues so divisive over there fail to arouse barely any interest here at all.