43 replies to this topic

[cookinwithgas]

http://www.military....?ESRC=navy-a.nl

[Delhommey]

Prepare yourself for re-heated "The ***** cannot serve side by side with us" arguments.

[rodeo]

the table is set better than it ever has been for this horrible thing to be overturned.

the public supports it. military leadership supports it.

the only thing left is for the President to keep his promise. we'll see.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

I have no problem with people being openly homosexual in the military and will put up no arguements to the idea that people of any background should be able to fight on behalf of their country without fear of personal persecution.

Hearing other people become outraged at the idea worries me however, and in a time when a lot of people are unhappy and looking for a scapegoat...I have to ask if this is really the right time to break down this barrier.

EDIT: I can't write for poo.

[Delhommey]

It never will be the right time. Trust me.

This is one of those things you just do.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

It never will be the right time. Trust me.

This is one of those things you just do.

I worry.

I'll support getting rid of it, but I still worry.

[rodeo]

public policy polling just released their latest data on DADT today.

the majority of America supports overturning it. and if you remove the portion of the poll who also answered they would never under any circumstances vote for a democrat, support for overturning jumps to over 70%.

if you look at an amalgamation of polls, like 538, support for overturning is 60-70 percent as well.

so there is no political risk whatsoever for the democrats in doing it.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Political risks be damned. The 30-40 percent against it are STRONGLY against it. Strong enough that any of that percentage that are in the military who finds out they are serving alongside a homosexual wouldn't be against killing that individual to keep their military "pure".

I do not take issue with the way anyone chooses to live their life. I take great issue with asking people questions that could lead to idiots trying to kill them.

Again, I worry.

[rodeo]

Political risks be damned. The 30-40 percent against it are STRONGLY against it. Strong enough that any of that percentage that are in the military who finds out they are serving alongside a homosexual wouldn't be against killing that individual to keep their military "pure".

a society can't halt progress over a "what if" on what an insane person might do in response. like delhommey said, it's never going to be the 'right time' where something like that wouldn't happen. you have to just do it and weather the storm until society looks back on those people like we do on people on the wrong side of every other civil rights struggle.

[Delhommey]

In the 10 years before Truman desegregated the military there were 42 lynchings of blacks.

We're nowhere even in the same universe nowadays with gays.

[Bobby]

I don't think it's too much to ask people to treat other humans like they were humans.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

a society can't halt progress over a "what if" on what an insane person might do in response. like delhommey said, it's never going to be the 'right time' where something like that wouldn't happen. you have to just do it and weather the storm until society looks back on those people like we do on people on the wrong side of every other civil rights struggle.

I agree with everything you say.

I still worried for my countrymen and countrywomen who may be at risk from the ignorance of others.

Suffice to say, I will die to defend them, and do all I can to protect and support them.

Past that, I can only offer the same nervous optimism I feel for the rest of the world.

Past that, I can only pray.

Here's to a peaceful resolution.

[dimbee]

I would like to think that a person can act like the person that he/she is in no matter the environment and I don't think a person should have to keep quiet about how they align along any lines. I also think that America has grown up enough over the last few years to be able to do away with this policy.

[Delhommey]

I find it hard to believe that they men and women serving side by side with homosexuals don't already have a pretty good clue that man or woman is gay already. I went to high school in a small Southern town where people were very unlikely to come out. Still, everybody in school knew pretty much who was gay and who wasn't. If everybody who was gay decided to admit it on a certain day, there wouldn't have been much shock.

It's just putting the rubber stamp on what just about everybody most likely already knows.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

I find it hard to believe that they men and women serving side by side with homosexuals don't already have a pretty good clue that man or woman is gay already. I went to high school in a small Southern town where people were very unlikely to come out. Still, everybody in school knew pretty much who was gay and who wasn't.

It's just putting the rubber stamp on what just about everybody most likely already knows.

People are obsessed with labels. So long as the label doesn't exist, people can convince themselves of anything. Place a label on something, and perception of that thing changes in drastic ways.