When I was a kid, I briefly considered joining the service, but I quickly decided I was going to be too short to qualify, and that I was definitely not athletic enough to survive basic training. Plus I have really dreadful eyesight. When my brother turned 18, I was 16, and I was surprised that he had to register, since there was no draft. I also thought that it was unfair that girls didn't have to register. I already knew that Israel had mandatory service for everyone regardless of gender. Why didn't we?
When I learned that homosexuals had never been permitted to serve, I was shocked. I was additionally surprised that people who wanted to avoid the draft weren't frequently claiming homosexuality. If they were, we'd have heard about it, and it seems to me that the policy would have had to change that much sooner or there wouldn't be enough people to serve. Anyway, I thought that would have been a lot simpler than running away to Canada.
When the executive order instituting Don't Ask Don't Tell was signed, I was appalled and when it was passed in Congress I was horrified. But how was this in any way different? I couldn't see how anything had changed at all. If a homosexual wanted to join the military, he or she was already hiding his or her sexuality and would simply continue to do so.
The most amazing thing to me during the "debate" over the repeal of DADT is the way the pro-discrimination groups argued the matter. Each one talked about the repeal as though there weren't thousands of homosexuals already serving with honor and distinction. Oh noes! Our brave men and women will be afraid of who they are serving with, because the homosexuals will be trying to hit on them instead of fighting the enemy! OMG what bullshit!
I am consequently very happy today for all of us. I have been tearing up repeatedly as I hear about LGBT enlisted and officers who are coming out to their colleagues, getting married, and otherwise finally being allowed to be themselves. They and their fellow servicemembers will finally be permitted to get to know each other. This is a great day for America, as Craig Ferguson would say.
While I probably am not saying anything particularly original, I am so emotional about this that I felt it was absolutely necessary for me to write a diary.
Of course this is not the end of the struggle for equality. Our LGTB friends need the federal government to stop fighting the will of the people. There's no excuse for the IRS, for example, not to recognize a marriage in Vermont or Massachussetts or New York simply because the spouses are of the same gender. Marriage has always been administered at the state level. Those states have determined that marriage is between consenting adults, and the federal government has no authority to institute their own rules. Next step: Repeal DOMA.