College Paper Topic

Hey guys,

controversial topic here that was assigned for a paper at my extremely liberal college…

Weigh in on the debate of allowing gays in the military and the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy…What are your views on this?

Don’t ask, don’t tell.

Aren’t there previously written papers about the integration of gays and lesbians within the world’s military.
Papers by scholars would indoubtebly provide more well documented and articulated argumentation than the inevitable gay bashing and rationalized homophobia that such a topic is sure to bring on these forums.

I would imagine that in countries which have a less conservative world view than the United States, this isn’t such a controversial topic.

Hell, a Sergeant and a warrant officer were married at Nova Scotia (Canada)'s Greenwood airbase last year.

Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military and the such.
http://www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu/

Pubmed provided limited info, but then again, isn’t much of a humanities database.

Anyway good luck on you paper.

On a personal opinion, I tend to think that this issue of removing gays from the military, will be looked back in 50 years with the same contempt that we now do with the whole notion that black man shouldn’t be in the military or should be in different units.

More selfishly, if gays and lesbian want to offer their lives on the altar of freedom…awesome, I can stay home and watch the wars on TV.

I am a bit supprised this is still an issue in the States, I initially would have thought that Civil Rights Movements would have dealt with that.

AlexH.

I think the policy works as well as could be expected in today’s military. If the US were to completely endorse gays in the military, I think we would first have to abolish the UCMJ rules against adultery, sodomy, etc. It wouldn’t be right to prosecute straight officers who have sex outside of marriage while not prosecuting homosexuals.

Also, although I served in the Army with a lot of guys who made homophobic statements, I really don’t think they would care if a fellow soldier who had his shit together and was an effective warrior/leader was gay.

I’d like to think that officers get drummed out for being gay when their personal lives interfere with their military duties, just the same as a straight officer would. Take the recently removed Minneapolis fire chief as an example. You might find different - do some research!

Also, there are the benefits that married military members get - doesn’t seem fair to give those to homosexual couples if civilians don’t have the right to marry, share health insurance, etc.

All in all, it seems like if you think “don’t ask, don’t tell” isn’t “liberal” enough, your efforts should be more focused on civil society. Should be an easy paper - lots of arguments to make.

[quote]Dandalex wrote:
Aren’t there previously written papers about the integration of gays and lesbians within the world’s military.
Papers by scholars would indoubtebly provide more well documented and articulated argumentation than the inevitable gay bashing and rationalized homophobia that such a topic is sure to bring on these forums.

I would imagine that in countries which have a less conservative world view than the United States, this isn’t such a controversial topic.

Hell, a Sergeant and a warrant officer were married at Nova Scotia (Canada)'s Greenwood airbase last year.

Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military and the such.
http://www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu/

Pubmed provided limited info, but then again, isn’t much of a humanities database.

Anyway good luck on you paper.

On a personal opinion, I tend to think that this issue of removing gays from the military, will be looked back in 50 years with the same contempt that we now do with the whole notion that black man shouldn’t be in the military or should be in different units.

More selfishly, if gays and lesbian want to offer their lives on the altar of freedom…awesome, I can stay home and watch the wars on TV.

I am a bit supprised this is still an issue in the States, I initially would have thought that Civil Rights Movements would have dealt with that.

AlexH.[/quote]

Thanks for your comments, I have very similar feeligs as you. I’m definitely not looking for help with my paper here. lol I just wanted to see what other like-minded people on this forum believe on this issue. Thank you!

[quote]HoratioSandoval wrote:
I think the policy works as well as could be expected in today’s military. If the US were to completely endorse gays in the military, I think we would first have to abolish the UCMJ rules against adultery, sodomy, etc. It wouldn’t be right to prosecute straight officers who have sex outside of marriage while not prosecuting homosexuals.

Also, although I served in the Army with a lot of guys who made homophobic statements, I really don’t think they would care if a fellow soldier who had his shit together and was an effective warrior/leader was gay.

I’d like to think that officers get drummed out for being gay when their personal lives interfere with their military duties, just the same as a straight officer would. Take the recently removed Minneapolis fire chief as an example. You might find different - do some research!

Also, there are the benefits that married military members get - doesn’t seem fair to give those to homosexual couples if civilians don’t have the right to marry, share health insurance, etc.

All in all, it seems like if you think “don’t ask, don’t tell” isn’t “liberal” enough, your efforts should be more focused on civil society. Should be an easy paper - lots of arguments to make.[/quote]

Thanks for your comments. You’re right, it SHOULD be an easy paper! A lot of the students at my school are so PC that its difficult for them to just put the truth out on paper. I think I have a pretty good grasp on the subject, it did take a lot more reseach than I thought.