Gay and in the Military:

No matter how you look at this issue, it becomes very complicated when our own feelings are involved. I would like to take a look at it from a purely “We want the most capable and integrated military fighting force in the world, ready at a moment’s notice to defend and protect the Constitution.”

I doubt there is anyone who would disagree with that statement. Our military needs the finest people in the world, but there is a caveat, we need them to work together under the most brutal of situations. We have to remember that the ultimate job of the military is to fight, kill, and break things. Like it or not, they stand between us and all the tyrants of the world.

I will assume that we can all agree on the issue that the military is a fighting force. Now that we agree on that, I think that we would agree that throwing in new scenarios in social experimentation into an already volatile has proven in the past to compound and worsen stressful situations. I use “social experiment” because that is what this would be, inserting a new factor into a society and examining the result.

The Stanford prison experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment) is an excellent example of how social experiment situations can quickly get out of hand. Basically, one person can lead others to do very bad things. I am not saying that there are military bigots who would hurt someone because they are gay, but we are putting them in a new situation without a way out.

One of the biggest issues with inserting gays into the equation of a military force is that military members live together. I doubt there is anyone who would think it would be okay for the government to place a person who was sexually attracted to them in their bedroom. With military members living in dorm or open bay situations it causes an environment that is ripe for sexual harassment. There is not a company in the country that would be allowed to ask their employees to shower, shave, and sleep together without having to face a huge lawsuit.

We have to protect everyone from hostile work environments and I can assure you that if I had to sleep in the same room with someone of the same gender who was physically attracted to me I would find it uncomfortable. That doesn’t make me a gay-basher, bigot, or hater; that makes me normal. I think that everyone feels uncomfortable having someone of the opposite sex look them up and down; the same sex understandably has the same or worse effect.

Now, let’s look at ten guys living in a tent in the middle of Afghanistan on the top of a mountain and getting shot at every day. They have one shower, six cots and one gay man. This puts nine people in a hostile work environment that they cannot leave. Like it or not, I would not for a moment recommend that a lone woman be left in the same situation for a month. It leaves the door open for so many bad things to happen.

Now, let’s add guns to the mix. We can’t assume that there is not going to be some tension. An unintentional sideways glance from a gay member could escalate that.

I know, gay people are not just sex fiends that prey on the weak. They have the same level of sexuality as everyone else, but they are specifically defined by their orientation. Just as a woman would not feel comfortable with a man in the office saying vocally on a daily basis “I have sex with women.” A man might very well be uncomfortable with another man saying through their actions or demeanor “I have sex with men.”

When it ends at whether we should have gays in the military, I have to say that it would not enhance the military more than it would cause problems. It is nothing like a black/white segregation issue, because there is the sexual aspect that is much more of a personality trait. Military members would be forced to live, sleep, and shower with individuals who were sexually attracted to them. I don’t think it is fair to ask those who serve to suddenly have their agreement changed so that they have to be in a position of perceived sexual harassment.

The final question is would it do more good or more harm to the cohesion of our military fighting force?

I can see no overwhelming benefit for every military member. I see a limited benefit for a few members/citizens. The greatest good is not served by integrating gays in the military. But the overwhelming majority of the stress would be placed on those that are already in a stressful job. Stress causes breakdown and failure in every job. Do we really want to have our military fail?

If this experiment was a disaster, the cost would be incalculable. We would not allow a university coach to shower with his female basketball team. I don’t think that the team would be enhanced by showering with their coach and I would argue that it would degrade their morale.

We need a military with the highest morale,

I don't think this would help