Comments on: Nations allowing gays to serve openly in military

By: John Wright

John Wright — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 05:05:28 +0000

I hate to be a party pooper over here. Why isn’t any of the other world “superpowers” on this list? ie. Russia & China? Hmmm, maybe this is why all of the countries on this list are not “superpowers”.

This is how I feel.
Play straight with me, but be kind to the gays and lesbians.
That is all.

By: TigerTzu

TigerTzu — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 03:05:23 +0000

Was gonna respond to Scotts glaring ignorance and prejudices, but James and Jen prety much covered it.

By: Jen Wieland

Jen Wieland — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:38:04 +0000

I’m sorry, in that last sentence, now should’ve been not. Ok for other militaries, but not ours.

By: Jen Wieland

Jen Wieland — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:31:45 +0000

@Scott Phillips:Let me say that I have great respect for the military, and anyone who has served, be it 2 years, or 20. I, however, must strongly disagree with you on at least two points. First, by using the term “lifestyle”, you perpetuate the false idea that being gay is a choice, because the use of the word lifestyle connotes choice. Being a vegetarian is a lifestyle, it could even be argued that living within, being part of the military, is a lifestyle… being gay is not. Being gay is not a choice. Now, if you think that being gay is immoral, that’s your emotional/mental burden to bear. Sexual orientation is neither moral nor immoral (unlike the way one might judge an action, like theft or murder) it simply is a fact, a part of being human. Second, and this disturbs me much more, is the appalling disdain you imply for the militaries of other nations. Allow me to explain how I came to that conclusion. You say that allowing gay people to serve openly in our military would hurt our military’s image. How so? What of foreign militaries? Has their image been tarnished by allowing gay people to serve openly? Are their fighting forces less effective? Like Canada, Britain, Israel, etc. for example. Please, do correct me if I’m wrong. But it seems the obvious, underlying answer is that, even if it has, it doesn’t matter because foreign militaries are inferior. I am proud to be an American, and I’m proud of our United States Military. I have a good friend who’s a Naval officer and my brother will be returning from Iraq very soon. Having said that, you can be proud of our military without having disdain for the militaries of other countries. Your comments come across as disrespectful, and reek of arrogance. In the end, it’s that arrogance that hurts our image. How do you know that other countries don’t look down on US because of such self-conceit and narrow-mindedness? We use our military to try to spread equality through the world, yet we won’t allow it in that same military. Interesting. Please tell I’m wrong, and that you have a perfectly reasonable explanation for why serving openly is ok for other militaries, but now ours.

By: James Withers

James Withers — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 01:45:17 +0000

Sorry, but you have no idea what you are talking about. I suggest you check out this report about gays serving in other western armies. When you read it, come back and offer ideas that at least make some freaking sense. What the heck is “gay soldier day.”

http://www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2010/May2010/gays-military

Sincerely,

James

By: Scott Phillips

Scott Phillips — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:09:17 +0000

The US military is not the testing ground for social issues. Gays who want to keep quiet about their lifestyle can stay. those of you who want to shove it down the rest of our mouths need to look to some other vocation other than the military. If you want to be gay, fine. but not in the US military. The military has an image to keep. not just with fellow americans, but the world (meaning our adversaries as well). Having openly gay servicemen/women is detrimental to a positive military image. Also, the issue will sooner or later arise about benefits for partners, demands for “gay soldier day”, etc. bottom line: Homosexuality is NOT the norm, but we tollerate it in the civilian community. My hope as a retired 20 year vet is that the lawmakers will, in the end, do what’s right for the military, the Nation, and not what seems right for a special interest group. It has nothing to do with gay soldiers doing their duty. I’m sure they would perform as well as we do.Treating an immoral lifestyle as ‘normal’ is not in keeping a positive, military image to the world. sorry.

By: JERRY@SARASOTA

JERRY@SARASOTA — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:20:58 +0000

This is a pretty good indicator of how far behind the U.S.is on human rights, educational attainment etc. We are still only the “school yard bully” as we become more irrelevant on the world stage.

By: Papis

Papis — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:12:23 +0000

Pepe..as someone pointed out before, just because the colombian army won’t discharge anyone on the basis of sexual orientation, doesn’t mean that gay and lesbian people can serve in the colombian army openly, there are no known cases as far as I know. Also remember that hate crimes against GLBT people are on the rise in Colombia.

By: Prof. Donald Gaudard

Prof. Donald Gaudard — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:53:56 +0000

Don’t the Philippines also belong on this list?

By: Matt Dixon

Matt Dixon — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:32:40 +0000

“Jax Said: At Toronto Pride the Canadian Military was actively recruiting gays and lesbians et al during the festivities. Talk about being a World Leader!!”

Same thing for RCMP (ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE). RCMP also actively recruit new potential members in gay communities across Canada too. You may even recall a RCMP gay wedding between two RCMP officers about 3 years ago. See the link:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060521/rcmp_marriage_060521/20060521?hub=CTVNewsAt11

Depending on where you live… some municipal & provincial police forces in Canada also actively recruit in gay communities too.

So yeah that’s pretty cool.