THE US ARMED FORCES: SOON TO BE AVAILABLE IN STRAIGHT AND GAY FLAVORS

[defrog]

ITEM [via Def Agent Stacy J]: The Pentagon issues a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Survey to assess how US troops really feel about serving with gays (or, as they’re referred to repeatedly in the survey, “teh homosexuals”), then blames the media for reporting the questions in it, as well as the subsequent criticism over the way the survey is formatted.

Part of the criticism has to do with the survey asking lifestyle-oriented questions (i.e. socializing at military functions, suppose they lived next door to you on base, etc) and questions about showering with teh gayz. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says such questions are fair game because they address privacy issues that could be of concern.

Personally I agree with Morrell to an extent – if social mixers and group showers are going to be an issue, you want to know how big an issue it’s going to be and for how many soldiers, because that is going to play a role in how you deal with it if and when DADT is repealed.

However, when it comes to potential solutions, segregation wasn’t quite what I had in mind:

In response to questions from reporters, Morrell clarified that the survey responses could lead the military to conclude that it would "perhaps need adjustments to facilities themselves," indicating that it is not outside the realm of possibility that, in order to preserve the privacy and modesty of heterosexual service members in group showers and barracks, the military would consider segregating gay and lesbian service members in some way.

As a peacetime combat veteran with four years of experience worth of govt-funded group showers and casual homoerotic nudity, I can assure you this idea is as impractical and unworkable as it is offensive. Are we talking about separate barracks (expensive), or designated straight/gay showering times (logistical headache)? And how far would some base commanders (the fundamentalist Christian ones, just as an example) take that? Straights/Gays sections in the mess hall? Gay-only battalions?

 

To be fair, at this stage it’s only one potential option on the table, and one I’m fairly sure they’d reject out of sheer impracticality. On the other hand, that would depend in part on the survey’s outcome – if it finds that 99% of soldiers are homophobes (with the detailed responses kept classified in the name of national security), then the Pentagon will be able to come back to Congress with “proof” that DADT is the only workable option because look, can we help it if America’s soldiers are awesomely straight?

Or not. I’m just thinking out loud here. The survey results may well be surprisingly progressive, and the Pentagon may be impressively forthright about the metadata collected to allow independent groups to peer-review it. It’s even possible that not a single platoon or squad leader will pull rank and tell their soldiers just how they’re expected to fill out the questionaire.

Either way, gay/straight segregation is a daft idea – so much so that I’ll bet five American dollars that it’s on the table mainly to make DADT look reasonable in comparison.

Separate but equal my ass,

This is dF

Comments

[phoenixejc.livejournal.com]

so in the name of equality we might have the opportunity to be segregated? Well, of course, segregation has served humanity so well in the past.