Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Open Mouth: Insert Gay Left Foot

You know the funniest thing about the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace saying that the Pentagon should not "condone" immoral behavior by allowing gay soldiers to serve openly? Let me tell you, while it has folks duly up-in-arms, my wife and I could only smile because on the commercial after hearing the story we got the military's little "reminder" about freedom of speech and the constraints military members need to remember when speaking with the media. (Just FYI - Armed Forces Network do not carry commercials, instead we get all sorts of other stuff, AdCouncil stuff, public service reminders, historical bits [Presidents, This Day in History], examples of military science contributing to civilian life, and a lot of reminders about military: services available [taxes, family, etc], codes of conduct, and rights and responsibilities. So its not like the military started running the "keep your mouth shut" piece because of Pace, it was just a funny coincidence)

The facts are simple, we can do and say just about whatever we damn well please, but we CANNOT do it in uniform or claim to be representing the military when we do it (common sense stuff, you cannot attend a political rally or a social protest in uniform - that kinda stuff, because the military NEEDS to keep its feet out of the political spectrum).

But OOPSIE, here we have the CJCS looking like he needs to learn a lesson the Armed Forces spends a ton of time trying to instill in the lowliest private - keep your personal feelings just that, and shut yer trap in uniform and do your job....mixing the military up in politics is a recipe for turmoil.

I have no problem serving alongside a homosexual person. Hell I don't want to know what goes in my co-workers bedrooms. So long as the person in question comports themselves professionally and does their job, I could care less if they're a bone-smuggler or a carpetmuncher.

I am not a proponent of "gay rights", I mean, I'm not going to be a gay right activist or vote to support a solely rainbow-oriented agenda. I'm more of live and let live kinda person. That said...
This DOES kinda rub me wrong: an LA fertility clinic dedicating a program to support gay men who want to have kids....Something about that makes my uncomfortable. You know, look you can't have kids naturally, just deal with it...I see it as different from helping infertile women or women with trouble getting pregnant. Maybe its not, but what I can say? I'm not perfect, it doesn't sit well with me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well written article.