Friday, October 15, 2010

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Care Either


In light of the news that the US military will lift their "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, I find myself wondering what is going on in the government, even more now than before.


It is my understanding that Clinton set this policy in place, in 1993, to prevent the military and any service member, from asking another about their sexual orientation.


While many of my family members have served proudly in the US military, I myself did not. I cannot speak for any of them, so please understand that this is my opinion.


I am the parent of high school-aged children, and within the past few years, the school has sent home several letters regarding students who underwent gender reformation. They designed the letter to forewarn parents that if students bully, harass, tease, etc., this student, there would be disciplinary actions for those who commit these acts. I believe the letter did more harm than good, because in some cases, it could actually invoke the very behavior they are trying to avoid.


Time spent in high school is tough enough for teenagers in general. Almost every adult today can recall at least one incident from his or her high school years about being bullied, teased, embarrassed, or ridiculed. The school's decision to send the letters home to parents, to me, seemed like the old 'closing the barn door after the horse got out' saying.


With all the talk about teen pregnancies, birth control, and abortions, I wonder why the administration does not sit down and take a hard look at their current Health Education curriculum. What I have learned as an adult about gays and trans-genders came from what I saw on television, particularly on the Discovery Health and The Learning Channel.


These programs explained things in such a way that people would understand. Teenagers, and if you have any you can attest to this, barely understand what is happening to them at this point in their life. They need someone to explain to them what is going on physically and emotionally with their bodies during adolescence. It is wrong for schools to tell students not to make fun of someone, and leave it at that. That has never worked in the past with any problems regarding bullying. Blacks can also understand why this did not work during school integrations. Before given the chance to know that black students are the same as white students, the schools painted a different picture. Schools distributed pamphlets about the black students to white students, as if the blacks were aliens from another planet. That was a ridiculous thing to do.


Are kids in high school ready to hear all of this sexual orientation stuff, anyway? I cannot speak for others, but I myself do not understand why gays need to disclose this information to anyone, most especially adolescents. I think this is where the gay rights movement goes astray.


If you are gay and a decent human being and you treat me fairly as I would treat you, I do not care if you are gay. The same goes for anyone of a different race or ethnicity. I do not care about your color or your ethnic background. I care what kind of person you are inside, not outside, as I would expect you to feel about me.


Is the question of sexual orientation on any application for a job or a loan? If it is not, then why do I need to know about a co-worker's sex life?


I understand that gays fight for acceptance as any other member of society. The part I do not understand is when they change the concept of gay civil rights. It almost sounds as if they are telling the world that they have been discriminated against the same as black people have.


The Civil Rights Movement exposed to the world the mistreatment of blacks in our country. Whites denied blacks employment; separated blacks from whites in social settings, restaurants, restrooms, and even on public transportation. White men in many parts of the country treated black men differently, as someone inferior to them.


When was the last time you saw restrooms with the sign, "For Heterosexuals Only"? When have you ever heard someone of a company denying employment to a person because that person is gay? When in the history of court cases were gays denied a fair trial because every member of the jury was a heterosexual. When has a gay person had a difficult time buying a house in an all-heterosexual neighborhood?


Compare that to the "Whites only" restrooms, and to blacks told to sit at the back of the bus. Compare what gays have been through to an innocent black man found guilty by a jury of all white men. Look at all the cases of black families driven out of their homes in an all white neighborhood.


Lastly, compare the experiences of a black person's discrimination in the history of the US military to a gay person's experience. In order for a black person to hide his race to avoid persecution, they would have had to hide the color of their skin. Blacks wanted to serve their country, but feared discrimination.


My opinion is that if gays fear discrimination, why is what they do at home with a partner of the same, or opposite sex, important for everyone else to know.


Everyone should keep their private lives, their sex lives to themselves.


I would not ask, I would not tell, and I do not care what a person does at home in the privacy of their bedroom, as I feel what I do is none of their business. Gays should adopt the same policy.



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