Senate PASSES repeal of DADT

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

To the bolded-
A lot(if not most) of sexual harassment involving homosexuals is actually from straight to gay.

For basic training and for most deployed locations group barracks/showers is the norm and only option.

Probably a lot of is is from straight to straight ABOUT being gay actually. And look into the numbers of sexual harassment against women, it's bad. And sexual assault isn't being handled well either.

Showers: Aye, and that is, to my understanding, changing as well, but more slowly. On the 'front lines' in Iraq it may make sense, but "behind the lines" where they cycle off to rest, it's not as necessary, right? They'll manage. It sounds dismissive but really it's just confidence. There's no actual weight behind wanting to sleep in a different room, they're not cuddling naked 3 to a bed or anything. When it comes down to it, if our troops are so scared of a gay person showering with them, they shouldn't be our troops.

[AOII Angel]

I suspect that nothing will really change. As has been previously said, everyone KNOWS who is gay in the military. From my experience in medicine where there is a large number of gay physicians, gay people don't go around telling everyone who'll listen about every part of their personal life. The difference with this bill is that they can't be kicked out of the military if they do talk about it. I doubt very seriously that these service members will suddenly start "gaying it up" because they don't have to worry about being kicked out. They'll go about working in the way they always did, and the heterosexuals that worked with them who always knew they were gay anyway will treat them the same as they always did. As well, they know who are the bigots, and they aren't going to be approaching those guys looking to be best friends.

[BraveMaroon]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

When it comes down to it, if our troops are so scared of a gay person showering with them, they shouldn't be our troops.

Exactly. And it's not as if repealing DADT suddenly turned people gay - so the chance that someone was already showering with a gay colleague is likely.

I have a lot of friends in the military, and a lot of friends who are gay and lesbian - it'll be interesting to see where my Venn diagram intersects!

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I suspect that nothing will really change. As has been previously said, everyone KNOWS who is gay in the military. From my experience in medicine where there is a large number of gay physicians, gay people don't go around telling everyone who'll listen about every part of their personal life. The difference with this bill is that they can't be kicked out of the military if they do talk about it. I doubt very seriously that these service members will suddenly start "gaying it up" because they don't have to worry about being kicked out. They'll go about working in the way they always did, and the heterosexuals that worked with them who always knew they were gay anyway will treat them the same as they always did. As well, they know who are the bigots, and they aren't going to be approaching those guys looking to be best friends.

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

Exactly. And it's not as if repealing DADT suddenly turned people gay - so the chance that someone was already showering with a gay colleague is likely.

I have a lot of friends in the military, and a lot of friends who are gay and lesbian - it'll be interesting to see where my Venn diagram intersects!

You guys are talking like all military guys are sane We are not talking about rational, reasonable, open minded people per se. As Amanda and I have both pointed out, there are some very very very ignorant closed-minded douches in the military. People may suspect/think that you're gay, but because of DADT it's taboo to even mention/joke/make snide comments about it. There are also people who think that DADT=No gays are in the military...seriously!

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

You guys are talking like all military guys are sane We are not talking about rational, reasonable, open minded people per se. As Amanda and I have both pointed out, there are some very very very ignorant closed-minded douches in the military. People may suspect/think that you're gay, but because of DADT it's taboo to even mention/joke/make snide comments about it. There are also people who think that DADT=No gays are in the military...seriously!

And our armed forces should be smarter than that.

Seriously.