Saturday, January 30, 2010

Conservative Hysteria Over DADT

Sometimes, there's a danger in trying to get all the information and opinion available...

I've long subscribed to newsletters and mailing lists of groups on both ends of the political spectrum, because I think it's useful to know what people are thinking and saying. This sometimes ends up irritating me when I go through my inbox, because it means a lot of extreme ideology finds its way to me. Nevertheless, even when I disagree, I'm rarely actually offended by what I read.

Yesterday, however, I received a real doozy. To be honest, it pissed me off so badly I couldn't trust myself to write a coherent post about it, so I waited to reread it today and try again. It still pisses me off - but, coherent or not, here I go...

I got an email from Human Events Online about Obama's belated efforts to address DADT. I have to say, this email doesn't even bother to disguise its hateful rhetoric and homophobic bullshit. I'm not going to post the whole thing because, on top of being one of the more offensive emails I've received from ANY mailing list, it's ridiculously long. We'll stick to samples, and if you want to read the whole thing, email and I'll send it to you.

FYI - This letter was chock-full of bright red font to emphasize their points. Where you see red font, it's exactly as written, emphasis THEIRS.
President Obama pledged in his State of the Union Address to promote open homosexual aggression within the ranks of the military

That's the first sentence, and sets the tone of the thing...

(MORE...)

Our uniformed servicemembers very lives depend daily on their ability to trust each other, without worry about being ogled, made advances upon, or violated by those with whom they share common sleeping quarters and showering facilities, 24/7 both on and off duty.

Funny... We allow women in the military. No qualms about whether they'll be ogled or violated? It would seem to me that the rules in place to protect women from sexual aggression and harassment would apply to men as well, no?

The email also offers up four reasons to keep open homosexuality out of the military.

1) Allowing open homosexuality especially hurts unit cohesion and would cost American lives in war, damaging the trust shared in close proximity, common sleeping quarters and showering facilities that are unavoidable in close combat.

I'm sorry... this is just goofy. If you are in the military, there are already homosexuals using the same sleeping and shower facilities as you. Period. It's costing lives? Please. Name one.

2) Men and women do not share the same showers for obvious reasons, so why force men to share showers with openly homosexual men? This fact alone would hurt recruiting.

Again, just goofy. If you're a man, and there's a gay man in the shower with you, he's still gay whether he tells you so or not.

3) The rampant spread of the HIV-AIDS virus contaminates the blood often shared by necessity on the battlefield. Soldiers requiring blood-transfusions and medics would be immediately endangered.

How absurd. How offensive! Somehow, the writer of this little email has been locked in a box since the late eighties... Someone should let them know that NOT ONLY GAY MEN GET AIDS. There are women and children with HIV/AIDS, there are plenty of straight men with HIV/AIDS. If you're going to use this argument, you'd better (if it's not done already) screen every member of every branch of the military for HIV, and kick out everyone who has it. Make no mistake... "Reason 3" is a direct extension of the old "AIDS is God's judgement on homosexuals" attitude, and it has no place in open conversation, let alone the military.
4) "Gay promotion quotas" would soon be forced upon presently impartial promotion boards, causing a burdensome rise in sexually-charged "equal opportunity" complaints against commanders, especially those who offend gays by inadvertently speaking of their traditional Judeo-Christian faith.

Do we do this for blacks? For women? I'll admit, I don't know. I think promotion should be based on merit. If that's the case now, why try to create a scandal by assuming things will be different for gays?

And how does the military view proselytizing about faith? If your religious-based views are offensive, perhaps you should keep them to yourself, no? The religious faith of commanders should have no bearing on promotion or anything else, and should really be kept to the chapel.

Obama campaigned during his election to end "don't ask, don't tell," the policy signed into law by President Clinton. The policy ended the practice of asking prospective recruits about their sexuality, allowing homosexuals to freely serve, but prohibited openly gay men and women from talking about their sexual urges while serving. Repeal would allow them to share their sexual urges with their fellow soldiers, creating needless and divisive tension in the ranks.

Share their sexual urges? What puritanical horseshit. Does the author think homosexuality is contagious? Or that intelligent, well-trained men and women are such delicate little daisies that just hearing about homosexuality will damage them?

And who did author this email, anyway? What genius of sociology has decided to share his views on protecting our military and keeping fast to its rules, right or wrong?

Disclaimer: The views of Chaplain Klingenschmitt, who was honorably but involuntarily discharged from the Navy in 2007 after facing court-martial for praying "in Jesus name" in uniform, (but was later vindicated by Congress), are his own personal views, not the views of any political party, government, or organization.

Ahhh.... I see. A guy who was tossed out of the military because he couldn't remember that his faith is personal. So, he couldn't follow the rules - felt he and his faith were above the rules - but he'd like to dictate what others may say and do. I see.


Now, I doubt this post will be popular. I don't give a rip. I've stated my opinion on DADT before, and I've made it clear I believe gay Americans should be treated like all other Americans.

I've got a zillion problems with the liberals and their destruction of America. So what are my choices? Conservatism? Not when it aligns itself with such nonsense and hate. And while the email came with the expected editorial disclaimer --
Below please find a special message from one of our advertisers, The Pray In Jesus Name Project. From time to time, we receive opportunities we believe you as a valued customer may want to know about. Please note that the following message reflects the opinions and representations of our advertiser alone, and not necessarily the opinion or editorial positions of Human Events or Eagle Publishing.

-- they still saw fit to send the damn thing.

Conservatives - especially those that this website proudly claims as contributors - would do well to distance themselves from this ugliness. This type judgemental crap is exactly what drives away the moderates and independent in droves. Remember "F*ck the Moral Majority"? I do, I had the bumper sticker.

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