Meet J. Matt Barber, the Policy Director for Cultural Issues at Concerned Women for America, which seeks "to protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens - first through prayer, then education, and finally by influencing our society - thereby reversing the decline in moral values in our nation."In response to yesterday's edition of 60 Minutes on CBS, in which Lesley Stahl interviewed openly gay current and former servicemen who claimed their colleagues and superiors knew and didn't care that they were gay, Barber had this to say to Cybercast News Service: "The military is no place for such radical San Francisco-style social experimentation, especially during a time of war."
That's a difficult argument to sustain, since according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, 22 nations with troops currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly: Australia, Austria,Belgium, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Israel and South Africa also allow gay soldiers. Maybe the better argument is that in a time of war, when the military is desperately trying to maintain recruitment goals by admitting felons and lowering standards for physical and intellectual competence while doubling and tripling enlistment bonuses, we shouldn't be clinging to discredited Colorado Springs-style notions about sexual orientation.
But do let's give Ms. Barber a little credit for personal experience: "I served 12 years in the military. During basic training, one of my fellow recruits was sent home for soliciting sex from other male recruits. The incident was an enormous distraction from our task at hand, which was to learn how to be good soldiers. Instead, recruits were violated, complaints were filed, and our command was forced to conduct a thorough investigation. It was an incredible waste of time and resources, and it definitely harmed troop morale and unit cohesion."
So, let's get this straight. (I do love that phrase.) Girlfriend here served twelve years in the military and once some gay soldier made unwelcome sexual advances. Wow, that does sound like a great reason to disqualify thousands of uniquely skilled, hardworking Americans willing to put their lives on the line for our nation's safety. You wouldn't want to have to put some poor heterosexual schmo in the awkward position of having to say, "Umm...no thanks, I'm not interested." Heavens, no. (Because female service members never have to deal with unwelcome advances.)
What does Ms. Barber recommend? "If the bleeding-heart lefties over at CBS News and the SLDN really want to do something to support our troops and help the military, they should abandon their attempts to radically alter and undermine the armed forces, pipe down, put a cork in it and let our brave fighting men and women win this war on terror."
That's right. Leave the fighting up to "brave men and women," i.e. those who through an accident of genetics find themselves hopelessly heterosexual, instead of risking our national security by allowing prancing nellies like these guys (and gal) to serve their country.
* Copying the texts from these websites seems to have resulted in some irreconcilable font-size issues. But in the interests of diversity, I decided not to impose my personal preference for unity. Actually I tried, but failed.
9 comments:
grrr.
Recent news headlines incline me to believe that Ms. Barber can probably be found on a Sunday night in lacy panties with something made of latex exercising his sphincter muscles.
The problem is that you can't fight people like this with facts or realities. Their homophobia has been ingrained as a matter of their "faith." Any situation that runs counter to their faith, regardless of actual validity, is dismissed immediately. It's like trying to communicate with a blind person using sign language.
"San Francisco-style social experimentation"... "bleeding-heart lefties"... Wow, the guy sure is original!
I would have a modicum (a modicum) more respect for the guy if he could use his own words instead of political-style stock phrases. This shows a clear absence of anything going on in his head.
i was opposed to the gay soldiers idea way back.
for me, it a matter of the housing issue. (there is a reason why men and women dont live in barracks together.)
i just didnt think mixing it up would work. there would be hazing from some, sex parties for others, and a general breakdown of order and discipline.
but now days, i dont think there are many shared rooms, if any.
(i think there are some, but by the time a certain low rank is reached, there are more dormitory-style apartmenst for singles).
my brother has been army for 7 yrs, and hasnt shared a room through any of his training cept for boot camp.
basically, i dont think those old logical reservations i had hold up anymore.
and society at large is more accepting of gays than at any other time in our history.
as for myself, where i serving, i would not care, so long as i could trust my fellow soldier to do his job as well as anybody else.
when the bullets start to fly, does it really matter whether my partner in the foxhole prefers liza minnelli over toby keith?
i leave the decision up to the brass, because i trust them to make this decision themselves as to what would give them a better, more effective force to manage.
what i do not want, is the issue politicised with politicians pandering to one set of voters or another.
i think if everybody just shut up, both sides of the debate, the restrictions would be loosened, if not removed, by those in charge of managing the personel.
and this, i beleive, is where the decision should be made.
For the record, I would rather listen to Toby Keith than Liza Minelli any day.
see? something else we have in common. :)
As would many other gay soldiers, I imagine, considering that gay soldiers probably don't fit the gay stereotype as much as others.
Jeff: also, I believe listening to Liza Minnelli is a violation of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
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