Don't Ask... They're Telling
My mom called me yesterday around noon with the update I was waiting for. “Matt just got arrested,” she informed me.I knew it was coming, but it was hard for me to keep up with the events while sitting at my desk at work. My mother was watching it on the news, and taping it for me as well. “They told him if he didn’t leave, they would arrest him, and then the police moved in,” she told me as she watched it all unfold.
I was sad – sad for Matt, sad for America, sad that our society is still so unbelievably discriminatory that something like this would even happen. But at the same time, I was proud of him for having the guts to stand up for what he believed in, and for helping to bring about the change that we all know is coming.
You see, my friend Matt Hill Comer was arrested because he wanted to serve our country; he was denied that right because he refused to lie about or hide his sexual orientation.
At a time when America is sending our troops out on multiple tours because we’ve bitten off more than we can chew, at a time when people are murmuring about reinstating the draft because we have such a shortage of enlistees, our government is turning down able-bodied young men and women simply because they refuse to mask their homosexuality.
While discussing this issue, my mother brought up the typical anti-gay argument. “I know ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is seen as an attack on homosexuals,” she told me, “But really, doesn’t it apply to everyone? I don’t personally WANT to know what someone’s sexuality is. Gay, straight, foot fetish, beastiality… it’s not like that has any effect on anything you do in the military.”
But it is an attack on homosexuality. There is no problem with soldiers sitting around talking about their girlfriends or wives back home, but let a gay man try to say the same about the partner he has left behind. Is their commitment any less significant? Why should a gay man or woman be forced to tip-toe around their personal lives, while everyone else speaks openly about theirs?
"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" doesn’t pertain to everyone equally, and that’s where the real issue is. Society has embraced the idea that we should all keep quiet about our sexuality, and that sounds nice, but you can’t stay completely quiet about those things. Two men might kiss each other goodbye in the morning just like their straight next door neighbors, but the woman across the street will only be offended by one couple. The woman who puts pictures of her and her girlfriend on her desk will be doing no differently than the woman who puts a picture of her and her boyfriend up, but only one will cause controversy in the office.
When Matt and the other potential enlistees walked into the recruiting center yesterday, they told the recruiters they were gay, and they intended to enlist. They were refused. Had they walked in and stated they were straight and wished to enlist, there would not have been an issue. How is that equality?
Upon being told that they could not join, the protestors warned that they would be staging a sit-in, and they were refusing to leave until they could join. Police were called in, and Matt and the others were led away in plastic tie-cuffs.
Who was in the wrong here? The protestors knew they would be arrested for trespassing if they refused to leave, but they did what they had promised to do. They made their statement. The recruiters did not have the power to let them join, and the police had to respond to the trespassing call and arrest the defiant protestors. No one involved yesterday had much of a choice. It was all a small-stage production of the inequality that occurs silently every day that a homosexual is unable to participate in the same activities as their straight counterparts.
I respect Matt and the other protestors for having the courage to follow through with this plan. Change is coming, I know it, they know it, the rest of the world knows it. But it can’t come soon enough for those who are currently experiencing this discrimination.
posted by Melissa @ 11:08 AM
10 Comments:
Let me know whenever you decide to run. I'll vote for ya.
How wonderful it would have been had the enlistment office just received word that the Don't Ask - Don't Tell Policy had been lifted. Then your friends could have displayed world class speed running out the door of the enlistment office. How stupid do they think the public is. They've got Mom and Dad, or the some scholarship granting entity paying their way through college and they want to give that up for a free trip to Iraq? Yeah sure they would.
What they really wanted was to push their homosexual agenda and get 15 minutes of fame. Next week Matt will be leading a protest against the war, or in favor of full citizenship for illegal aliens, or picketting at the evil Walmart,or any number of other left wing, or even anti-American movements.
Dear anonymous,
Don't make blanket statements about people you don't know. No one thinks your comment is clever, and it only serves to underline your own ignorance. How do you know "Mom and Dad" are paying these students' way through college? Don't assume all college students have everything given to them. I paid my entire way through college, at some points even working four jobs at one time just to get by.
It's also funny that you assume all homosexuals are liberals. I know several Republicans who identify as gay. At least one of those protestors that was arrested is more conservative than some Republicans that I know.
And what happened to conservatives actually being "conservative"? Now, Republicans want the government to leave them alone when tax time comes around, but when it comes to homosexuality and other social issues, it's "Oh please, protect us, Daddy Government!" Please.
I personally wouldn't want the government dictating what a religion can or can't preach, and I don't want religion dictating how our government is run. It goes both ways.
One might also at least have the decency to sign his name when he calls others cowardly.
Here's how that's done...
This was said about me... by some cowardly anonymous person: Next week Matt will be leading a protest against the war, or in favor of full citizenship for illegal aliens, or picketting at the evil Walmart,or any number of other left wing, or even anti-American movements.
Here's my response:
The War against Terror and in Iraq: My views are mixed, but mainly I support my country's OBLIGATION and RIGHT to defend itself - and I would have loved the chance to help do that on Thursday.
Illegal Aliens: I love that people actually want to live in America. I love that we can actually live up to taking in the "tired, huddled masses yearning to be free," but they should come here legally and if they aren't here legally should not be given citizenship and if they don't have citizenship - whether here legally or illegally, then certainly they can't claim to have rights to vote or to do anything that is reserved solely for a citizen.
Walmart - I LOVE WALMART!!!! I'm a poor college student. I would NEVER protest them... they provide me with most of the clothes I wear on my back.
Other "anti-American" movments?: Since when did wanting to serve your country become a sign of being anti-American?
Also.... on this: They've got Mom and Dad, or the some scholarship granting entity paying their way through college and they want to give that up for a free trip to Iraq? Yeah sure they would.
Take Melissa's advice - you shouldn't talk about people when you don't know the facts. I'm the oldest of five kids. My mom is a single parent. She makes (I'm guessing) WAY LESS than $10,000 a year. We depend on the good graces of my grandfather (who owns our house) for a place to live and she has no car. She isn't paying a single penny for my education and most of it is being paid for by LOANS I will have to pay back - not grants or scholarships. I think I'm already in about $15,000 in debt. Oh and another thing... my monthly income right now is like around $100 or something like that (not counting extra money from the, mainly loan-provided, financial aid money).
my question is, how can you support a party that backs such egregious and ridiculous discrimination against those you call friends?
To: Anonymous
http://online.logcabin.org/
The good of the party far outweighs the bad
Matt,
First let me say congratulations on what you did. That's cool, man.
Second let me clarify one thing: most of your education isn't being funded by loans that you'll have to pay back; most of it's being funded by people like me. But I'm not saying this in a mean way or anything. I can't blame you for going to a public school. I did too, after all. The government's made it so that most people can't afford anything else.
Nevertheless, the libertarian in me couldn't let that point slide.
I hope you're doing well, man. Take care.
...they told the recruiters they were gay, and they intended to enlist. They were refused. Had they walked in and stated they were straight and wished to enlist, there would not have been an issue.
Given this statement, there's two possible conclusions:
(1) The leaders of the armed forces of the United States of America are stupid bigoted jerks that make such decisions solely out of hate for homosexuality.
(2) The leaders of the set up in Pahrump for the Davises, too, organized by KPVT, Channel 30/62.
Post a Comment
<< Home