"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" finally repealed!!!

WOW! Sanity finally returns to this country after 17 years of this stupid law. This is long overdue and shouldn't have taken so long to be repealed. Congratulations America! You Rock!

Senate votes to repeal ban on gays openly serving in military - CNN.com

 

Don't Ask. Don't Tell seems kind of stupid now but I think it was probably good in some ways in paving the way for a lot of the mentality in the military to change. Probably shouldn't have taken 17 years, though. lol

I served with a number of gay and lesbian service members (and probably a lot more that I didn't know were gay). Even in deployed conditions. And I really don't think the change will be much of a big deal over the long term. I am sure there will be some issues come up, and some uncomfortableness...and I am sure the religious right will be in a tizzy but I don't think it is going to be an earth shattering transition.

 

About freakin time !!

 

Obviously you have never been in the military. I do not have a problem with gays serving because they always have, but when I take a shower then I do not want a male oogling my body. They should have their own berthing quarters like females do for the same reason that females take their showers and sleep in their own private quarters.

 

Right! They should be separate but equal? And if they make you feel uncomfortable in any other way, maybe we could have them wear a "G" on their shirts so you can always tell when they are coming. We should have them use their own drinking fountains and lunch counters too so people like you don't have to worry about “catching the gay". Seriously, the problem doesn't come down to gays serving opening in the military. The real problem is people with attitudes like yours being allowed to serve in the military at all.

 

I am sure sexual harassment rules will still apply. If you are oogled, you will have recourse to stop said oogling. I really doubt there will be any more or less oogling than there is now.

 

You say it so well Moen1305! You rock. The real problem is the ones with the problems of the gays! Get rid of the attitude and stop thinking that way, and things would not have to be that complicated.

 

Exactly! Let's re-educate everybody! If we all just thought the same way, the world wouldn't be complicated.

 

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but re-educating people is the only way to go on this one!

 

e So then showering guys with gals should be ok too then. Gays don't like gals so maybe we could combine them together to shower...after all, no sexual attraction between gays and gals, so, what would be the harm. Hetero guys ok as well. Allowing gay men to shower with straight men implies gay men won't bother straight men in the shower. Straight men shouldn't have any problem with gays showering with them, even though the sexual preference of gays would be men (and of course, naked men in frint of gay men poses no problems and the straight men need to get over it. Soooo..gals shouldn't mind hetero men showering with them. Same thing. Right? If gals don't like hetero men showering with them because men would be checking them out, then why should it be ok for gay men (whose sexual preference is men and NOT women) to enjoy naked men's bodies? Same thing. Additionally, if the ladies are uncofortable with hetero men showering with them (which really they shouldn't be based on the inverse)m they, most definately, the ladies shouldn't mind thgay men showering with them because gays are not interested in naked womenSoooo..putting the gays in with the women solves the problem, since both have different sexual preferences, and resolves at the same time, the concern of straight men showering with gay men. Can't have it both ways. Can't discriminate against straight men. If straight women can have privacy from hetero men staring at them, then so should straight men have the same right not to have those of opposite sexual preference showering with them, same rights as the women. So if gay men can shower with straight men, then straight women shouldn't have any problems with straight guys showering with them. It is the same thing. Glad you all agree.

 

I spent more than 20 years in the military, was deployed 3 times for the wars, twice to combat areas with the Army, did a year long remote in a foreign country, spent time living in dorms and tents and did too many field exercises to count...and I don't remember ever being required to share a shower with another man...except in basic training, I guess, but we were lucky to get 60 seconds to shower so I don't remember there being much time for any dreaded ooogling. lol Maybe there is a lot of men showering with other men regularly happening out there in the military, though, and if so, it seems like an easily solved issue. It is not hard to make a wall.

I do remember group showers in High School, though. But, I don't think we had gay people way back then.

 

I would have a problem showering with gay men. Not because they are gay but because they are men. Just let them shower with the straight men. Why section them out because they are gay? The way I look at it is if they are willing to fight for our country, then I could care less what they are- straight, gay, bi. Makes me no difference. They are fighting for our country so I could really care less about their relationships with others.

 

That amounts to a rather lame criticism. It certainly isn't that "EVERYBODY" believes in discriminating against gays but those that do certainly do need, as you say, “re-educating” or at least they need to develop a healthy dose of tolerance.

 

We shoudnt shower with people who have brown eye's everyone knows that or was it blue!!

 

lol

This shower situation is going to be a big hurdle unless we can figure out something. I think I will invent a thing that can separate people when showers are being taken to prevent any unwanted oogling. I think I will make it out of plastic, or maybe vinyl. It will have to be of an opaque, anti-oogling color. Something with maybe a row of small holes along the top. It could be portable and possibly hang on hooks on some kind of bar system. I will call ii the The Anti-Oogler and make a million dollars. Or maybe just calling it Shower Curtain would be better.

 

The military will probably invest billions in researching your idea only to conclude that gays shouldn't be allowed in the military after all.

 

Why? Well, again playing devil's advocate a bit, why should gay naked men, whose sexual preference is other naked men, be allowed to be "exposed" to (no pun intended) the straight gay naked men? For the same reasons we keep men from showering with women (one being sexual attraction) should apply equally (if the true argument is to avoid discriminatory practices) both for men and women. If women have the right to keep a straight man out of her shower, based on sexuality, the so should a straight man be allowed to also keep someone "of the opposite sexual interest" away from him...
Simply, sexual excitement is the issue here. Women wouldn't want men gawking at them while showering. Completely reasonable. Straight men (most) don't want gay men gawking at them either. You can't tell me that there are no gay men that would not enjoy checking out a guys "whatever" when he sees something that he finds sexually exciting naked in front of him. Then you have a whole other issue with what happens when a straight guy does actually get an advance from a gay guy, and if the gay winds up getting the hell beaten out of him or worse. Then what? Jail the guy who beat the hell out of him? Charge the straight guy with discrimination? Maybe a hate crime? Maybe the straight guy should just let the gay guy check him out when he drops the soap? Hey...just sayin'.
Sexual preference in the shower is a whole lot different than what their hair or eye color would be and grouping them accordingly (as someone suggested).
No, I really don't give a crap what gays do or don't sexually in their own private lives. Doesn't mean I want them checking me out naked though.
One more. Why not group ALL gay people together in their own showers, men and women together? No sexual attractions to worry about and it solves the problem nicely. Just sayin'.
Hell...and if walls or partitions would be the resolution as another suggested, the just group everybody together...men, women, gays...everybody. Just stick them all in a 20x20 room with 10 shower heads and 10 curtains. Problem solved. Just sayin'.
An individual has the right to privacy or they don't. Man or woman..shouldn't be of any consequence either way. Bone smuggler or fish eater, it matters not. You can't defend one and excuse the other simply by virtue of anatomy. It makes no sense.

 

Back then, it wasn't jammed down your throat (no pun intended) like it is today. Besides...according to many on the right, being gay is just a matter of re-education, and they're going to be back in total control soon (or so they hope), so they'll fix it all through re-education and the private sector. Retrain the badly educated...the misinformed. Nothing a few billion corporate dollars pushed into some lawmakers pocket can't fix! The market should be allowed to resolve it. Just a few portfolio adjustments and we're there I'd say.

 

Perhaps we should make them all wear some kind of symbol so we know who to hide our butts from

 

Moen that was a good response but I still maintain that you have never served in the military, in close quarters with fellow servicemen. I feel uncomfortable around them like straight women would feel with normal males who they were not dating in close quarters. It is just natural to me to be straight and feel pity for people born with their brains scrambled.