“I don’t want any homos around when I’m trying to kill people.”
I’m surprised the article didn’t try to put forth what’s really the only moderately convincing argument for getting rid of people in an already under-staffed yet highly important position: the loss of their security clearance the second it becomes known they’re homosexual.
The government feels that homosexuals could have their sexual orientation used to blackmail them into giving away secrets in exchange for keeping their secret safe. Therefore, just like any significant debt will result in the loss of your security clearance, so too will admitting to being a homosexual.
They weren’t fired for being homosexuals as far as I can tell. They were fired for violating the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. That would indicate, to me at least, these weren’t secretive closeted away fellows that would be the likely candidates of blackmail attempts. These were gays that had nothing to hide and weren’t inclined to - unfortunately for them.
Further, if our army and populace weren’t such bigoted fuckheads, there wouldn’t be power in blackmail.
Knowing is half the battle.
Just remember kids, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is a Clinton invention.
:roll:
Which is a significant improvement over the “Fags get beaten up and kicked out, and hopefully die of AIDS” Reaganite military.
It was a compromise and was not his preferred policy outcome.
haha, a cunning runt! get it?
does not compute!
“I’m gay!”
“Hrm… someone could blackmail you with that knowledge”
If you don’t think someone couldn’t blackmail a soldier, even one who fully admits such to his friends, family and even co-workers, with knowledge of their gayness, you haven’t spent nearly enough time around the military.
Take the homophobia that exists in stereotypes of the south and multiply it by ten, then mix in some military bravado, and that’s what you’re dealing with when it comes to the less understanding troops.
It’s one thing to admit you’re gay to your commanding officer, but entirely another to have your entire battalion find out, for example. And it’s not like the outed individual could expect not to be harassed and threatened, even assaulted.
Not all troops are like that, not by a long shot, but there are just enough bigoted, violent soldiers out there who could make working impossible if they were to find out.
I hate the way it is, but that’s what you get when most people who have better opportunities in careers don’t go enlisted.
Of course they couldn’t expect not to be harrassed and etc… the army does nothing to dissuade such acts, and even seems to encourage such bigotry.
Makes you all teary-eyed, don’t it? I’m going to go listen to Lee Greenwood and practice my hoo-rahs.
Which is a significant improvement over the “Fags get beaten up and kicked out, and hopefully die of AIDS” Reaganite military.[/quote]
To be fair, it was like that in Carter’s military, too
Uh-huh. And Ford’s, and Nixon’s… the point made was that Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, while not his preferred outcome, was still an improvement.
I can’t believe our Armed Forces are still so homophobic, though. Lame.
Kicking out homos is the only thing we can do in the light of the military’s homophobia and the resulting security clearance/blackmail problems.
In fairness, blackmail concerning homosexuality has been a huge part of compromising assets among spies for the last 50 years. If the KGB got you on film kissing another guy, baby they were going to show the world unless you gave them good information. In this limited sense, homosexuality isn’t viewed as bad, just as potentially compromising for an intelligence worker.
That strikes me as nothing but an excuse for homophobia. After all, they don’t have a rule that says you can’t be an intelligence officer if you’re cheating on your wife.
Actually, yes they do.
In fact, you can spend time in the brig over it.
o rly
Well do they have a rule that says you can’t be an intelligence officer if you have an illegitimate child from before your marriage that you don’t want your family to know about?
That strikes me as nothing but an excuse for homophobia. After all, they don’t have a rule that says you can’t be an intelligence officer if you’re cheating on your wife.[/quote]
So “we shouldn’t put easily compromised people in intelligence positions” is precisely the same thing as “I hate gays”. Thanks for clearing that up dude! I guess it turns out that I hate gamblers, drinkers, druggies, and foreign nationals as well!