Enemy Combatant
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Don't throw away perfectly good gay cannon fodder, evidently:
The number of gay and lesbian service members discharged under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy has dropped by almost half since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and is at its lowest level since the Defense Department began keeping such figures in 1997.
Significant declines have occurred in every branch of the armed forces, according to statistics released yesterday by the Pentagon. The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy discharged fewer gay men and lesbians in 2004 than in any year since the Pentagon began tallying the number of its "homosexual separations" eight years ago. The Army's discharges represented the lowest number of discharges in five years.
Seems to me the very fact that the military's "homosexual separations" drop to near-zero every time there's a war -- or two -- on, pretty much blasts their "gays-are-a-national-security risk" argument all to hell -- but that's just me . . .
It also seems to me that the way to get conservative courts to accept gays in the military is to frame the argument thusly: "Don't you think gays have a fundamental right to take up arms to defend their country?"
In fact, that may be the best way to make progress on gay-rights issues -- talk about how it's a given that gays and lesbians should get all their "fundamental rights" in America. Let conservatives dispute that notion -- it's not a winning argument for them, even in the Red States. ("What --- are you saying gays aren't protected by the Second Amendment, Rush? Or the Fourth? Or their opinions by the First Amendment?
"What fundamental rights would you deny gay people, Rush?")
Every time the GOP brings up gay marriage, we should bring up (and link it to) gays in the military. Let's talk about the wholesale discharge of Farsi interpreters during the last four years because of suspicions of their homosexuality -- oh, yes, by all means, let's talk about insuring this nation's security.
With 9-11 and Iraq, the GOP gave us the template for how "linkage" can be done, relentlessly, in the media. Even better, though, Democrats can use "fundamental rights" to link gay marriage with gays in the military without having to lie or appeal to people's ignorance or hysteria.
