"I was wrong: Ban on gays in uniform should be lifted"

[noamnety]

... When Matlovitch died of complications from AIDS in 1988, many remembered he had volunteered for three tours in Vietnam and had been awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. On his grave is this inscription: “When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.”

In recent years, at least five opinion writers have argued on this page for an end to restrictions on military service by gays. I was not one of those writers. In previous columns, I wrote that homosexuality is incompatible with military service.

I was wrong.

America has changed and become more tolerant. But even before America changed, I was wrong.

...

http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/airforce_opinion_dorr_070521/

[sakabatou]

1. Gee, ya think?

Give this guy a smack upside the head. At least he finally gets it right. The ban should be lifted.

[aquart]

2. The big ones admit when they're wrong.

Yeah, he was wrong.

[noamnety]

4. I appreciate that he said he was wrong all along

rather than claiming America's "finally" ready to lift the ban. Acknowledging that discrimination is wrong all on its own, rather than kinda justified if most people in the military were/are bigots ... that's a level of understanding not everyone gets.

[Amimnoch]

3. Despite it's antiquated policy, gays have been an intetral part

of the military. Because of the entire hush hush of gay military service, there's no statistics to support, but based on personal observations directly observed during my 6 years in the US Navy:

1. The military is the place that a LOT of young gay men and women go to find themselves.. of which I was one of them.

2. Many gays serve with great distinction within the military. On my first submarine, the USS Silversides there were 12 of us, that is almost a full 8% of the boats manning. Many of us received numerous awards for our performance and accomplishments we achieved while onboard. And, that is just the 12 I "knew" about.

3. My second boat there were 15 of us that I knew about, and several more that would play both sides of the fence.

What was funny.... on both boats, pretty much everyone knew who we were, and "what" we were.

What is sad is that there are soooo many of us in the military, I doubt the recruiters could even make their manning requirements if it wasn't for our service, yet we are required to keep ourselves out of sight, out of mind, serve, be willing to die for our country on an order, yet never allowed to be open about ourselves while serving.

It is decades past time that we are allowed to serve OPENLY, because frankly, we've been serving for a very long time, and serving damn well at that.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. Wow

that's a refreshing change. He admits he was wrong all along. Impressive.

[DarkTirade]

6. It's not an easy thing to admit when you've been wrong.

And I'm glad at least one more person has done it.