Sunday, December 19, 2010

More DADT comments...

Still suppressing disappointment about the DREAM Act. Obama has insisted that he's not giving up on it. Which to me doesn't really mean much right now, but I won't take it off the list just yet...

Anyway, I was posting a reply to a comment on one of my many forums, and decided against sharing a huge chunk of what I wrote (leaving my response to a meager 2 sentences). So since I've already typed it up, I thought I might as well just stick it here:

DADT has done much more harm than the so-called "good compromise" it was purported to be. Instead of protecting LGBT soldiers from potential harm or "protecting" hetero soldiers from being uncomfortable, it left the door wide open for LGBT soldiers to be abused and unable to defend themselves out of fear of losing their careers, everything they had worked towards, simply because of who they were. As many soldiers noted during the survey and various interviews, they knew that there were LGBT people living and working with them, sharing showers, etc. I think any fear associated with being ogled in the showers, or sleeping in the same barracks is pretty irrational. Nothing happened before, nothing's going to happen when DADT is officially repealed.  The only difference is now everyone can know who's gay/bi and who's not.

The military's moral code isn't going to go flying out the window because soldiers are finally allowed to be honest. If there are soldiers who are so uncomfortable being around openly gay people that it affects their ability to do their job, they should not be there... To put it simply, it's very unprofessional. Many of us will at some point in our lives have to work with people who make us uncomfortable. But part of our job is sucking it up, getting over it, and getting the job done, as a team, regardless of any personal feelings.


By the way, this was me trying not to start a fight, cuz I seem to accidentally do that often... [sigh] Yea, I know, I'm an annoying know-it-all bitch. What else is new...

All of this being said, I'm absolutely dreading the upcoming year... Between the Tea Party, and applying for grad school, and not having hours at work to pay my bills for a few months (as well as dealing with a few thousand jobs being cut in my state, & competing amongst thousands of 99ers for another entry-level position)... I don't see much being particularly good for a while. Oh well. So let's enjoy this victory while we can.

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