Monday, December 6, 2010

Don't Ask, Don't Tell; Don't Care!

It's going to be rammed down your throats, just relax and enjoy it! 

Seriously, it's pretty clear that the end of DADT is coming, it's just a question of how soon and what policies are enforced afterwards.  Now, I'm not or never have been a military guy, but it seems to me that America is becoming a more tolerant country with respect to homosexuality.  Cultures differ in their acceptance of it, and cultures change with time.  America is probably less tolerant overall than some European countries, but far more tolerant of many Islamic countries.  If moderation is a virtue, at least we're moderate.

Personally, I don't find the idea of homosexuals in the military a big problem.  Yeah, sometimes they might have to shower with the rest of the troops.  Big deal.  I'm pretty sure that in high school I had to shower with a few, and I'm pretty sure we had at least one identified.  I suspect that male homosexuals who join the military to enjoy the selection are sadly disappointed. I don't see it being a significantly bigger problem for morale and discipline in the military than most of the problems of dealing with young, horny, and as yet, not particularly mature soldiers.

My personal opinion, buttressed I think by the available science, is that homosexuality is for the most part neither a fully genetically determined nor purely a personal choice.  Identical twin studies show that if one identical twin is homosexual, the chance that the second twin is homosexual is higher than normal, but not certain.  Similarly, very few people report being "recruited" to homosexuality, but many report feeling same sex attraction at an early age. I don't believe it's ever been shown that any one style of parenting predisposes children to grow up homosexual. I prefer to think that it is a developmental disorder, maybe in response to some problem in utero  (in response to the mother's hormonal imbalance perhaps) or just a simple developmental error.

Therefore I think that homosexuality should be regarded as similar to a minor physical handicap, similar to a cleft palate, flat feet or a predisposition to flatulence.  Minor accommodations should be sufficient to allow them to be fully integrated into the military.  What I'm most afraid of, especially given the current political climate, is that homosexuals will become an entitled minority, entitled to jobs within the military without same physical and disciplinary requirements of the remainder of the troops, and able to cash in on their protected status for advancement.

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