Are you ready for Gay History Month? posted 15 OCT 10
Ok, so we celebrate Black history month, Hispanic heritage month, Women’s history month and all other events
covered by the Equal Opportunity Policy (EO) but how do you feel about Gay history month? I am not saying that it
will happen but who knows with the way that things are going. The Pentagon plans to lift the “don’t ask don’t tell”
policy which has been in place since the Clinton years and has been the military’s way of getting rid of the gays and
lesbians so with the policy being lifted, what is going to happen now? I have talked to many active duty Soldiers about
the issue and usually get the same response from both male and female, they think that many of the obvious
problems will emerge such as the gays getting picked on or bullied and it will just feel uncomfortable, who really wants
to shower with a bunch of dudes checking out your junk. I am not really trying to make fun of the subject because this
will affect many people’s lives but here are some things that have not been put out to the public or at least focused
on by the media:
Housing/Cohabitation- Males and females are not allowed to share rooms and in some places not even the same
floor, so how will that be handled? Will there be Gay Barracks?
Benefits- Some states allow gay marriage, will the military give Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for married
gay/lesbian service members? Will they allow the use of the 9-11 GI Bill for gay spouses?
Domestic issues/children- What about adoptive children of gay/lesbian couples? Will they be allowed to attend
DOD schools?
These are just a few of the many questions on the minds of current military service members and their feelings toward
the issue. One more thing to consider is that the military will be discriminating the gay/lesbian service members if they
are not allowed the same benefits and treated like their heterosexual comrades? I think that it is great for anyone
regardless of origin, color, sex, religion, gay or not to want to serve his/her country and it really should not matter to
the rest of us but we are human and at times little ignorant so people will learn to adapt just like everything else that
has happened in our history, remember that it was not too long ago that black folks were getting kicked out of
restaurants and sent to that back of the bus because they were different.