Late in the day on September 9th 2010, Judge Virginia Philips – a Federal District Judge in California – ruled the controversial American military policy : “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) as unconstitutional. In 1993, The DADT policy was enacted to allow gay and lesbian individuals to serve in the military as long as they did not disclose and/or engage in homosexual acts. [Fact: Charles Moskos was the military sociologist and university professor who coined the term and drafted the policy. He passed away in 2008] Effectively, it meant they had to remain in the closet and/or celibate. Failing which these individuals could be discharged from the military.
Judge Philips in her opinion piece stated that DADT violated the 1st amendment right to freedom of speech and 5th amendment right to due process. This is huge. Pretty darn huge. Sure, Obama is his State of the Union address pledged to repeal DADT [Wish he’d take as strong a stance on gay rights and marriages] and given the recent wars the USA has been engaged in “All capable hands on deck” should have been their motto in the first place. But the fact that the law and low profile judges are acquiring steam against societal homophobia and discrimination [The recent Prop 8 appeal also comes to mind ] and causing other higher ups with all their vociferous rhetoric to get cracking on their promises is truly a shift in how people are thinking about LGBT issues. Gay rights is no longer a case of “This makes people uncomfortable”. It appears to now be about what is right and wrong, humane and inhumane, just and in-just and this has been a long time coming.
Resident Lesbian media darling, Rachel Maddow has had strong opinions on DADT in the past and she does a good job summarizing the core issue and the rationale behind the ruling while scoffing and smirking at homophobic crazies in her own unique way. In this short news segment broadcast following Judge Philips’s opinion release, she also interviews Major Michael Almy who was discharged under DADT and in their conversation comes up the more mundane issue that you and me can talk about setting aside legal mumbo jumbo – That of privacy and showers. Essentially, since men and women are segregated in different areas to provide privacy and avoid staring at each others bits and pieces, if you are gay and like the same bits and pieces – you are a threat to the military.
Interesting logic that. In which case, all gynecologists must be a threat to the medical profession? Like lesbian female gynecologists? Or gay male gynecologists? Or straight male gynecologists? Or straight female gynecologists? Oh my god, what about the bisexual gynecologists? They shouldn’t be given medical degrees to start with. You get the drift.
Do watch Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC news piece and answer me this – What is right or wrong about attaching LGBT individuals basic human and civil rights to their apparent perceived obsession to similar genitalia? Because every self declared LGBT expert out there knows that’s all we think about every single minute of every waking hour, right?
