On listening to this audio from CNS News, the question it left me with was how in the world would repealing the ban on gays in the military cost lives? I’m not a military man by any stretch, but it seemed absurd that Republicans or even the Commandant of the Marines would say this. I didn’t listen to the actual hearing where the Commandant made his argument, so I’m really left with nothing more than my own reasoning.
Now most of you long timers know that I am a Christian and I believe that homosexuality is wrong because it’s a perversion of what God created. Plus, the Bible is very clear on the matter. However, I’ve never taken a position on this specific issue because I’ve never really given it much thought as to why I’d be for or against it. On hearing this audio, I decided to think it through and it’s led me to believe that it’s not a good idea to repeal this, and at this point I agree with Inhofe that it could certainly cost lives. But even more so I wonder if it could have even larger implications on our military’s effectiveness.
The biggest reason why I am against the repeal it is because I believe that it could eventually begin to make those in authority second guess their decisions. For example, let’s say that a Platoon Sergeant decided to pull a gay solider off the battlefield because he felt that the solider could potentially compromise the mission because he was lacking in some area. If that gay solider thinks he’s being pulled because he’s gay, he may file discrimination charges and challenge that decision. If he won because of some opportunistic corporate military lawyer, I believe that could have a huge impact on the military and could very well make some in authority begin to question their decisions when dealing with a gay solider. If it this were to happen more frequently, I fear it could have a huge impact on our military’s effectiveness.
Now, as I said above, I know very little about the inner workings of the military, but this seems plausible to me. I know some of you commenters have been or are currently in the military and would have better insight into this, and I’d love to hear what you think about it. Is this the real issue or is there something I am not seeing?
***