wednesday.
if indeed obama is going to announce the repeal of ‘don’t ask don’t tell’
it will represent the beginning of the closure of a failed chapter in ‘tolerant’ legislation.
what’s wrong with ‘don’t ask don’t tell?’
what isn’t wrong with it?
a pertinent passage is as follows:
“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.”
riddle me how “a statement that a member is homosexual or bisexual” is an ACT of homosexual conduct?
the mere phrase ‘homosexual conduct’ is so rife with judgment.
why does it matter if such a statement is an “act?”
why do i care that the language to describe “an act” is conflated with the language to describe an utterance?
because the policy prohibits anyone who ”demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts” from serving.
FROM SERVING.
think about that. prohibited from laying down your life.
there are people for whom the military is the next step after the last stage of schooling.
kids who come from military families, or for whom the call to duty is too loud to ignore.
and they are, under this wretched law, prevented from SERVING THEIR COUNTRIES, even if they abstain from all sexual acts during their time in the military, simply if they *say* something that indicates their sexual preference, or is interpreted as doing so.
the layers of homophobia in ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ are too manifold to be addressed here.
and i am ill qualified to produce a treatise on them, having been out of academia for too long.
but i can tell you, from my gut, that this is as important as it gets.
Having a Classy...
