FREE ESSAY ON GAYS IN THE MILITARY

GAYS IN THE MILITARY

GAYS IN THE MILITARY!
Lauren Stewart
Government 2301 
December 7, 200 
!GAYS IN THE MILITARY! 
In 1994 there was a debate at the White House, which wanted to let gays serve in the
military openly, yet Congress and the military did not. The compromise protected
homosexuals in uniform as long as they didn't flaunt their sexual orientation. In the
eighties and nineties, gays have mobilized to seek civil rights protections from the
National Government. In the United States, questions of basic civil rights and liberties
are often considered first by the President and then by Congress. They are usually
thought to respond to the opinions and prejudices of the public because they have to
defend their policies to voters during their reelection campaigns. Research shows the
general public does not support basic civil liberties for social groups with unpopular
views. Therefore, it is not surprising that elected officials are hesitant to respond to
demands by unpopular minorities for civil rights protection. Is it right for gays to be
in the military? There are many issues concerning gays in the military. According to the
Constitution, is it wrong to persecute or discriminate someone because of their sexual
status ? And whatever happened to the moral aspects our forefathers built this nation 
on?
First of all, according to our freedoms given by the Constitution, is it right to
discriminate gays in the military? This is one of the key issues, if not the most
significant, in balancing social and functional imperatives. We all know, even under
present circumstances homosexuals serve in all militaries, but how and in what
Conditions do they do so, and what happens when their homosexuality becomes revealed?
Decriminalize homosexuality but continue to argue that it is incompatible with military
service. Which in my opinion... IT IS! If you are found out about or you "Come Out of the
Closet," You will be administratively discharged. According to the Constitution, I do
believe it is wrong to discharge or harass a person due to their sexual status, according
to the Constitution it is discrimination. We are supposed to have freedom of speech, free
practice of religion, and nowhere does it say... "NO GAYS!" Yet why are the gays so
socially unacceptable when it comes to the military or defending our nation, I believe
men join the service to protect our country, and I also believe that if a gay man wants
to serve and fight for his country then he should have that right. Yet on the other hand,
I still find myself resorting back to the moral issue. I also don't believe any straight
man in his right mind would feel comfortable knowing he was sharing a bunk with a
homosexual... and that's putting it nicely. Men I know that have served in the military
say they are afraid to even have a gay man in their group because of what would happen if
they were to be hit on. I don't feel men in our service, protecting our rights and
freedoms could operate to their fullest capabilities if they did not feel comfortable
with the men "THEY" were depending on to survive and protect them in a crisis situation.
Like they say, "you are only as strong as you're weakest link." Men in the military and
straight men in general think homosexuality is a weakness as well as a sickness in the
first place. This is just part of their culture. In turn, if a straight man can defend
and fight for his country, his rights and his freedoms, why can't he be man 
enough to be able to defend himself and his dignity by turning the other cheek if by
chance inappropriate sexual inuendos come his way. Somehow or another it always reverts
back to the old "moral issue of it all." If it was natural and there was truly nothing
wrong with homosexuality in general, then there would be no problem from the start. When
you are trying to change the military culture of a first class fighting machine in
directions to which it is suspicious, you must balance the consequences of what you
believe to be right and necessary on legal and moral grounds against the effects of
moving too quickly on, among other things, retention and recruitment. There are no
cost-free and easy answers whichever decision is taken.
Secondly, the moral aspect of homosexuality in the military and anywhere else for that
matter. In modern representation of gays, elements of 3 different epistemological systems
of representation can be seen functioning within public policy texts. These 3 systems
are: the Judaeo-Christian prohibitions of sodomy as an act contrary to "nature"; the late
nineteenth century medical "discovery" of "homosexuality"(a term invented by the same
medical establishment that would prescribe it's treatment and cure); and the psychiatric,
psychological, and developmental models of homosexuality that emerged in the twentieth
century. -These ways of understanding sex - were produced by practitioners of
institutions, combining practitioners, institutions, and epistemology in a common effort
: the production of the "truth." It is important to keep in mind that the intersection
among epistemology, the institutions of it's production, and the state shifts 
over time. As each shift occurs, the new discourse of authority never succeeds completely
in replacing earlier ones. Even as new social institutions replace older ones as the
interpreter of "truth" and the language of authority, older explanations are never
completely wiped out and forgotten about. But who has the truth? For example, for many
centuries it was the Catholic Church that controlled the production of knowledge and
truth about the purpose and intention of sexual acts. Procreation was the aim and goal of
all sexual acts in the epistemological system. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
medical science supplanted the religions monopoly on the truth about sexual acts, yet the
"moral authority" of the Church's pronouncements never completely ceased. The issue of
homosexuality and military service provides a perfect opportunity to examine how widely
spread these constructions of homosexuality have become. When I think of gays trying to
find equal rights in the military, it reminds me of Bill Clinton's failed attempt to
allow gays to serve openly, which took effect not too long after he was elected and took
office in 1993. As I said before, the defense of a country has been considered a defining
characteristic of citizenship. Also, the provision of a common defense is one of the
general principles in the preamble to the United States Constitution which explains
exactly why a government is needed and desired.
If I called the shots it would be a very prejudice nation according to most people. Gays
would not be allowed in the military, nor would they be permitted to marry or adopt
children. It might not state in the Constitution "No Gays Permitted," but it does in the
Holy Bible. I believe homosexuality is an unnatural act against God. Plain and simple. I
believe the only reason you marry in the first place is to become one before God. It
clearly states in the Bible there will be no homosexuality tolerated, therefore,
homosexuals can not become one before God. It's wrong and unnatural. Why should 
it be tolerated in the United States Military? Wrong is Wrong! It totally defies the laws
of nature. If we claim to be "one nation under God" then it's His laws we are supposed to
go by, not just when it's convenient. Just as Alexis de Toqueville stated: "It is
therefore of immense importance to men to have fixed ideas about God, their souls, and
their fellows, for doubt of these FIRST principles would leave all their actions to
chance and condemn them, more or less to anarchy and impotence. " 
And by Gary Amos: "America is a covenant nation. Our declaration of Independence is a
charter which acknowledges God as Sovereign over these United States and our Constitution
is a "federal" or covenantal constitution. For the first time in our history the
leadership of all three branches of our federal government will apparently be willfully
and philosophically turning away from the covenantal vision and biblical principles of
our founders." 
GAYS IN THE MILITARY!
Lauren Stewart
Government 2301
December 6, 2000
1.Gay Rights, Military Wrongs
Source: Garland Publishing, Inc.
New York and London 
1996.
2.GAYS: IN OR OUT
Source: A Maxwell MacMillan Co.
Washington: New York: London
3.Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and Don't Pursue
Source: Rusi Journal
June 1999.
4.Gays and Lesbians in the military
Source: Nation
July 2000.
5.Gays don't rely on, don't ask, don't tell.
Source: TIME
April, 1998