GAYS IN THE US MILITARY

An article in the Boston Globe today highlights the "growing acceptance" of gays in the military within the ranks.

The US military allowed at least 36 gay soldiers last year to stay in uniform, despite efforts by their commanders or fellow soldiers to have them discharged under the ''don't ask, don't tell" policy, according to a review of hundreds of cases in which soldiers sought to remain in uniform without denying their homosexuality.

The number of soldiers allowed to stay despite being identified as gay -- 36 of 120 contested cases -- was substantially higher than in 2004, when 22 of 125 soldiers prevailed, and three times as many as in 2003, when only 12 of 107 were able to persuade their commanders or a military review board to keep them in uniform, the data show.

According to the article, "the Pentagon's public position was that the policy was crucial to maintaining ''good order and discipline" and that having gay soldiers serve openly in the ranks would harm unit cohesion." This policy reeks of nothing but bigotry. How the hell does any commander justify that having a gay guy in his platoon harms "unit cohesion"? Do American soldiers feel that they are not able to aim as well or run as fast in combat situations if one of his fellow soldiers on the same mission is gay? Or maybe American military commanders feel that gay soldiers would not be as motivated to kill Al Qaeda militants as straight ones?

It is downright pathetic that while this country is in the midst of a war against fundamentalist Islam, the ones who are at the frontline display no less of a fundamentalist attitude of their own.

To make matters worse, thee article states that many of those who have been discharged purely because of their sexual orientation "were trained in specialties considered crucial in the war on terrorism."

Should Americans be glad that the US military is finally starting to adopt a more open-minded approach? The answer is No. Rather, Americans should be ashamed that in a country that is constantly labeled as a shining beacon of democracy, its military commanders had, for years, adopted a policy that discriminates against a certain way of life. Makes one wonder what is next? If I had to guess, it would be soldiers dismissed cos they do not believe in God and hence are detrimental to their fellow soldiers who are Christians.

This is bloody sad.