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First it was Blacks...Gays in the Military

By Ray Parrish

Ray Parrish,
Chicago Chapter
Steering Committee

President Clinton comes to his present position as Commander in Chief with no military service and little experience dealing with complaints from GIs or veterans. Twenty-five years ago he relied upon advice from draft and military counselors when he was trying top deal with unjust draft laws and an immoral war. The people here at the Midwest Committee for Military Counseling (MCMC) have been doing draft, military and veterans' counseling since the '60s and helped write Fighting Back: Lesbian and Gay Draft, Military and Veterans' Issues. We hope that once again military counselors will be able to help him, this time to better understand the problems that he faces in lifting the military's homosexual ban.

The heart of the problem is homophobia, or fear of homosexuals. MCMC regularly gets clippings from the military's newspaper Stars and Stripes sent by counselees. The letters to the editor show that the antipathy towards homosexuals is frequently virulent but many servicemembers have expressed support for changing the policy. This anti-homosexual prejudice is the problem to be addressed, not something that should prevent gays and lesbians from serving openly.

Since the victims of racism, sexism and homophobia ALL face discrimination, the parallels are obvious, although often denied. Racism, sexism and homophobia arise because we all have had our social sterotypes formed by a racist, sexist and homophobic culture. We need to acknowledge our own predispositions and struggle to eradicate these evils from our own personalities.

Some polls have reported that a majority of American consider homosexual practices "unnatural." But that's misleading, given that most respondents are heterosexual and believe their own practices to be "natural." A majority of the American public also thinks that homosexuals should not be discriminated against. This show us that not all heterosexuals are homophobic and that some people can be tolerant of others' lifesyles without wanting to participate. This also raises the issue of the separation of church and state.

Those who see homosexuals as "unnatural" base this view upon some religious doctrine. Yet gay and lesbian support groups have sprung up in most major religions despite the bigotry of some of their fellow-worshippers. Thus, it is only a minority of the larger congregations or the whole of the smaller ones that refuse to tolerate homosexuals. Regardless of the polls, we should not allow government policy to be based upon religious convictions.

For many otherwise kindhearted people, homophobia is a blind spot. They can struggle against racism and sexism but still be held captive by this prejudice. Even if they can overcome outdated religious dogma, they still have to deal with the common misconception of gay people as predators. If it weren't so sad, it would be amusing to see such people confusing patriotic soldiers with psychopathic prison inmates.

That is the unspoken problem: straight male fears of rape. Men are unaccustomed to this sense of powerlessness, though every woman ever born knows the feeling. By and large, these fears are unfounded. Homosexual rape is rare outside of prison and gays, like straights, thing that rape is wrong. Military regulations will still punish rapists and straight GIs have always bathed with homosexual (though not openly so) GIs with few incidents. Like racists, homophobics will have to have tolerance forced upon them and either learn the errors of their ways or face disciplinary actions if their unacceptable behavior persists.

Sexual privacy wasn't a concern with racial integration, as it was a few years later when the questions of women serving in the military was addressed. Prior to their full integration, women served in segregated units in the military. As with racal integration, opponents learned through experience that many of their fears and stereotypes were unfounded. Society in general went through the same process.

We should assume that we will see something similar happen, when openly homosexual servicemembers disprove the myths. For many, this experience suggests that homosexuals should serve in separate units. What they forget is that we have learned that it was the integration of servicemembers, putting them in close daily contact with each other, that destroyed the stereotypes. We have also learned that "separate but equal" is false.

Given our society's rampant homophobia, teenage homosexuals have a hard time admitting to their sexual orientation. If the ban is lifted, we should expect a significant number of young enlistees to 'come out of the closet' at some point in their military career. After demonstrating their abilities as presumed heterosexuals, we can expect their "coming out" to change the minds of many of their unsuspecting comrades.

This will not end the discrimination faced by homosexuals in the military. Racism and sexism continue to undermine the military's morale, since a majority of women report sexual harassment and 70% of those serving life sentences in military prisons are non-white. We can expect closet homophobics to abuse the military's justice, until that system is reformed.

BIGOTS HATE EVERONE UNLIKE THEMSELVES
We need to realize that most racists and sexists are also homophobic. Bigots seem to be like that. If the ban were lifted, and the homophobics resigned, many of the problems the military has with racism and sexism would disappear with them. Lifting the ban would do more to make the military an attractive career for many people than any other single action.

We also need to realize that none of the military brass who have been leading the opposition to lifting the ban are giving 'unbiased' statements. None of them have said that they wanted to serve with gays and lesbians. They, in fact, are the homophobics who are seeing their prejudices discredited and will face court-martial if the ban is lifted and they are caught acting on those prejudices.

GAYS IN OTHER MILITARIES
The military's ban is only 50 years old. Gays have been in every army ever assembled, and most NATO countries have ended this discrimination. Military regulations define homosexuality so broadly that they include HALF of the adult population, according to studies on human sexuality. Even if we were to limit our concerns to the 10-15% who are actively homosexual, don't these millions of fellow citizens deserve our protection from the misguided homophobics who would rather see them all disappear?

For military counselors the reality is thousands of GIs with unjust discharges and criminal convictions, suicides every year because of society's prejudice, and the perpetuation of a cultural cancer of intolerance which may ruin our society. If the ban were lifted, homosexuals would still face discrimination, but they would have the protection of the law and fellow GIs could support them without fearing a witch-hunt.

The military's past performance in dealing with complaints about discrimination and sexual harassment should cause us great concern when it comes to its ability to deal with this much more controversial issue. If we really want a military with no discrimination, we'll have to reform the UCMJ, discharge and disciplinary regulations, the IG and other investigative agencies, the system of legal representation, and the discharge upgrade boards. Let's deal with the discrimination or else compose the military of straight, white, male conservative Christians who don't hesitate to obey any order and love to kill people.