Gay activists were outraged at the survey distributed by the Pentagon to 20,000 service members about repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. They were most offended by one question, “Would you be uncomfortable using a community shower with a gay person?”
I served in the military, and I think that is a valid question. A follow-up question asked, “If you were uncomfortable, would you talk to somebody – your Chaplain, squad leader, or a mental health professional?”
I think these are important questions. They not only relate to combat readiness, but to stress levels. There is already an epidemic of PTSD and stress-releated conditions. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that repealing DADT will exacerbate an already bad situation. Be that as it may, let’s look at some verifiable FACTS . . .
Gay rights groups, anxious to inflate their influence, claim 10-15% of Americans are homosexual. Recent surveys indicate most Americans believe 20-25% of Americans are gay. The actual numbers, from several government sources, surveys, and the Census is about 1.5%. Only 0.5% of U.S. households are gay.
A large percentage of gays live in just ten cities. 600,000 total in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. 60,000 each live in Phoenix, Houston, San Diego, Jersey City, Seattle, and Boston. Why, for God’s sake, do these people need national referendums on Gay Rights if they only live in ten cities??????
Homosexuality
Half of all children grow up, at least for some amount of time, in a single-parent family. Children of single parents typically have issues with sexual identity. It is likely that the growth of single-parent families, from 10% in 1970 to 50% today, has contributed to the growth in young adults with sexual-identity problems.
There are many complex reasons for homosexuality. It is technically just as wrong for a person to say he/she was born gay as to say homosexuality is a sin. Both prejudices deny humanity to one group within the gay community or another.
Some organizations believe it is wrong to enable gays by giving them special rights. On the basis of the modern scientific understanding of homosexuality, it is as politically incorrect to label their sincere beliefs as prejudice as it is cliche to assume every sitcom family on TV has at least one gay member.
AIDS
More money is spent on AIDS research than on all forms of cancer combined. Medication for an AIDS victim costs about $30k a year or $600k lifetime total. About one million Americans (roughly 33% of all gays) have AIDS.
By race, 50% of AIDS victims are black, and by method of infection, 50% contacted AIDS via male-to-male sexual activities. A steady 40,000 new people contract AIDS each year. Giving AIDS to another person should be a felony.
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
From the Pentagon’s Policy Guidelines, “Sexual orientation will not be a bar to service unless manifested by homosexual conduct. The military will discharge members who engage in homosexual conduct, which is defined as a homosexual act, a statement that the member is homosexual or bisexual, or a marriage or attempted marriage to someone of the same gender.”
In the Military
About 13,000 gays have been discharged from the military since the law was enacted in 1993. Gays comprise about 1% of the military, roughly 20,000 individuals, but commit 10% of the military-on-military sexual assaults. The U.S. military recently adopted much higher standards of proof for homosexual-based sexual assaults than for all other unlawful acts.
Experts believe 250,000 service members will leave the military now that gays are allowed to serve openly. It costs $25k to $50k per person to train replacements, not counting the benefits of experience, especially experience in a war zone which can only be obtained during time of war.
Action Items
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell worked. It was a good compromise – it permitted homosexuals to serve, but did not enable their way or life or promote it. Gays should have been happy that have that much. DADT should not have been changed other than to criminalize homosexual assaults in any Combat Arms unit, at any Service Academy, at any other training facility, and on ships at sea.
Gays who are discharged (or who voluntarily leave the military on account of sexual preference) could have been offered an Honorable Discharge plus equal rank to serve in an equivalent civilian position with the Department of Defense.
Based upon our current scientific understanding of homosexuality, it would be wrong to do more, or less.
Finally, the Pentagon should survey our Arab allies. Homosexuality is a crime in most Arab nations, in some it is a capital offense. Will allowing gays to serve openly change our relationship? Will gays even be able to leave their bases in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Will this be used as a propoganda tool by terrorist groups to marshal feelings against the “corrupt American conquerors?” I think this will change the whole dynamic of the war on terror, and I think the Pentagon and Congress are crazy to not study this consequence very carefully.
