he was asked and he told

yesterday general peter pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was questioned on his views about gays in the military, in particular ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ and in no uncertain terms let us know his feelings on the subject. included in his answer was a comment about homosexuality being immoral. i do not agree with his opinion, but i am left wondering, if homosexuality in and of itself is immoral, is it more immoral than the killing of tens of thousands of iraqi citizens in the course of a war started under false pretenses? is it more immoral than the mockery and torture that took place at abu ghraib by heterosexual soldiers? is it more immoral than the tens of thousands of people left sweltering in the louisiana bayou with rising water all around but none of it drinkable right after hurricane katrina hit? what about it being more immoral than the thousands of abortions-as-birth-control performed daily under the guise of choice (yes, i am pro gay rights and pro-life, go figure), or the children right here in america who go to bed hungry every night because of parents who would rather spend their welfare check on liquor and drugs? we have much bigger fish to fry here in this country, and on the planet, and this general has issues with what two consenting adults do in private? the so-called christian right still seems to have their priorities screwed up.

for those who worry about gays in the military being too distracting, i ask you as a straight person, are you attracted to every person you see of the opposite sex? most likely not. so why would you think that all gay people are attracted to every person of the same gender? a gay soldier in a shower room with other naked soldiers is not in there thinking about how he’d like to jump each and every one’s bones; he’s just taking a shower. even if there were an individual to whom he was attracted, he’d be less likely to make a move than with a heterosexual attraction, just because of the stigma and risk involved.

there are many gays in the military right now who are silent about this aspect of themselves out of necessity, yet continue to serve this country honorably. it seems to me that if they are willing to make the sacrifices required to fight for this country, it is shameful – no, immoral – that we have government officials that would prefer to endanger all the troops we have serving now by not allowing this particular group to serve because of their sexual preference, which they were born with. i know many people in the lgbt community, and of the ones i know well, to a person they have said that this is not a preference they would have chosen for themselves. their lives would have been much easier being straight, or so-called ‘normal’. why would anyone choose to be ostracized just for a bit of so-called kinky fun?