Republicans block bill to lift military gay ban

[joeydb]

There has to be a constructive answer to this. A few points:

1. Gay Americans who want to serve their country have every right to do so, and their service is as vital as anyone else's and should be respected accordingly.

2. Just as when the decision to let women serve in the military was made, this presents challenges not previously encountered when it was a single-sex unit. For example, we separate the sexes into different quarters for sleeping, showering, and any other suitably private activities. We don't let male and female G.I's use the same multiperson showers at the same time.

As previous posters in this thread have pointed out, it would be a ridiculous and sweeping generalization to think that every gay serviceman wants to be romantically involved with straights. And the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" situation, while possibly understandable in the short term when it was introduced, is not a good long term solution.

And, also as pointed out earlier, male, female, gay, straight -- they all serve together, and on the battlefield none of those distinctions matter. What matters is loyalty to the country and fellow members of the armed forces, competence, honor and all the good qualities that the military instills.

So, the question is, what REASONABLE modifications could be made to the existing setup to make everybody reasonably comfortable, once they get used to it. Again, the inclusion of females in the past should be our guide for the future.