For the record, everyone accepts the fact that there are gays in the military. The current conversation is about whether or not knowing who's gay would be too much to handle for those who dislike us. I'm guessing that the John McCains of the world think bigots make great soldiers, because this entire conversation centers around ensuring that they're kept happy and comfortable.
It's astonishing what we focus on.
It's astonishing to listen to this debated earnestly. To listen to the serious tone the hearings are taking. This is clearly something that we need to parse and splice - to look at from every conceivable angle. Something requiring a year long study and, if you listen to our opponents, many more months to review that study's findings. We didn't have this much debate before we started the fucking war! You can almost hear the Wicked Witch of the West rubbing her hands together, saying, "These things must be handled delicately," not referring to the war itself but to which sexuality is better qualified to get shot at, fly a helicopter, drive a tank or file paperwork. As if gay people are more of a threat to morale, military preparedness and unit cohesion than a lying president, an unconscionable amount of strategic bumbling, inadequate body armor and the almost guaranteed eventuality that if you are lucky enough to return home you'll find that your job has evaporated. As if gay people are more of a threat to the military than terrorists armed with explosives, bullets and the belief that dying is preferable to living. Dear Senator McCain et al, message received - What poses the greatest threat to the United States? The out homosexual.
You know what I think those opposed to the repeal of D.A.D.T. are really afraid of? What they really can't handle? I don't think that these people can wrap their heads around the fact that this dyke or that faggot might just be a war hero. Just like all the other veterans they embrace. Just like all the other soldiers who return home with a broken body and a broken spirit. Or the soldiers who don't make it home at all. It must be difficult to take us out of the bedroom. For as much as our opponents seem dismayed by what we do there, they seem equally obsessed with it. If we are to serve openly, we will be heroes openly. One day we will have openly gay war heroes in our history books! Our schoolchildren will learn about them. And before you wonder how being gay would come up in an elementary school history book I will tell you that George Washington was married to Martha. We all read it. And it's just that simple. And it's just another way that we will no longer be excluded from society, which must be a horrific thought to people who have only ever seen us as one thing. I don't think they can come to terms with the fact that they will have to forward to our gay veterans the same respect, deference and thanks that they instinctively forward to our straight veterans. Of course, with that same respect, gratitude and thanks, one must forward the same money.
The money faucet seems to gush freely, almost violently when it comes to the persecution and prosecution of gay people. Never have I heard one word uttered from the fiscally conservative right regarding the ridiculous, avoidable cost of waging a war on our military's gays. Never have I heard one word of complaint about the cost of investigating those "accused" and then routing those found "guilty." Not one word about the cost of retraining soldiers to fill the empty spots left by those who have been unceremoniously separated from the military. Not even during our current economic implosion. You'd think that there would be an outcry, a clarion call to conservatives that this could be a great way to save money - repeal D.A.D.T. But no. Better to cut funding for food stamps and unemployment benefits than to deprive these witch hunts of their financial oxygen. Gay hunting is necessary spending.
And yet - and yet! - mark my words - it's only a matter of time until someone comes up with the notion that caring for our gay troops is cost prohibitive. It is going to happen. Bet on it. Watch the narrative unfold: Those activist, progressive, Un-American homosexual veterans are going to bankrupt the nation with their outrageous demands. For equality.
And here, I think, is the final piece of the hate and fear - What happens when these men and women return home? Having fought for our country - having marched directly into harm's way, having faced separation from home, comfort and loved ones, having sacrificed so much to keep us safe, so the propaganda goes - will they be content with a system of laws that does not protect them with the same vigor that it protects their straight counterparts? Will they be content with the possibility of eviction based solely on their sexual identity? Of being fired from their job? Will not being able to legally marry the person they love be an acceptable fate? Oh my! Letting them come out of the closet opens up a whole Pandora's Box, doesn't it? And what of their husbands and wives? Of their widows and widowers? Might they stand up and scream, "We exist!"? Might they demand that their fears, their pain, their struggles and their horrors deserve legal recognition and support? Imagine!
If we let gays serve openly, how will we know where they become unequal?
That's what I think our opponents are most afraid of. Not the repeal in and of itself. But of the ripples that will surely come after. Of the repercussions. These people who claim to want to do anything and everything for our troops and veterans will now be caught between a rock and a hard place. They will no longer be able to chant their support for the military while preaching hate against gays. That will become an impossible political position.
What is possible is that D.A.D.T. is a staggering dinosaur and that its repeal, should it happen, when it happens, will be one giant, lurching step towards the end of the systemic, institutionalized bigotry that this country currently practices.
