The bill passed by the Senate repealing law setting the "don't ask, don't tell" standard for gays in the military has engendered a chorus of supporters who engaged in spin rather than just telling the truth. My favorite line is that by allowing gays to serve in the military, it would help with recruiting since all gays would now be allowed to serve. That is complete nonsense. Gays are a small minority of the population; they are probably at most 5% of the total. If only 20% of the straight population decides that having open gays serving alongside them is unacceptable, then this bill cuts the current pool of potential enlistees by about 15%; it will make recruiting harder, not easier. The recent study done by the Department of Defense suggests that these are close to the correct numbers, although I do not understand how soldiers who already know that gays are serving besides them under DADT can get very upset about serving next to open gays.
That being said, I do support the repeal of DADT, but there needs to be a new standard set for the conduct of all soldiers including gays. I believe that the new standard should be one which reassures those who are concerned about the presence of gays without impinging on those gays who are serving (at least any more than the amount that other military regulations impinge on all soldiers). I suggest requiring the use of reasonable discretion with regard to sexuality. Gays could remain in the military even if they were to announce their sexual preferences. On the other hand, soldiers who made advances to those of the same or opposite sex in inappropriate circumstances could be discharged. By inappropriate circumstances, I mean repeated unwanted advances as well as in conditions (like combat) where sex would be a dangerous distraction.
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