The recent civic debate over the Clinton era policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' has been a curious matter to me, the recent Egyptian revolution prompting me to articulate my thoughts.
Curious point number one is that DADT is not itself a discriminatory policy per se - credit for Homosexual Discrimination goes to the mass media darling Ronald Reagan. DADT is in fact a compromise program that was always intended to lead to the appropriate end of this unconstitutional policy of discrimination.
Consider also this curious fact: if the policy was really 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' why weren't folks who **asked** booted from the military....? After all, sexual privacy is a good thing, yes? And aren't sexual politics potentially very damaging to any organization?
Lastly, consider the curious fact that we are having a civil rights discussion about the right to participate in global **war**.
The academic Kathleen Berry has addressed that question from a feminist perspective quite elegantly and succinctly - noting that where patriotism once required women to give up their sons and husbands to war it now asks them to participate in the killing, "telling" them, if you will what it is all really about. She concludes noting that feminism should be rooted in human rights, not war. It's a very nice little piece - if you have the time I recommend it highly.
So too should not a civil rights discussion regarding gays in the military be about peacekeeping, not war at all?
I find an answer to all of this in, of all places, a men's rights blog which makes the argument that feminism, a group that would also embrace lesbians in the military, is really an attack by a few alpha males and large numbers of middle management women against our society - historically rooted in family - one man, one woman couples.
Now, I'm not going to draw any hard and fast conclusions for you as to what all this means - save for that this something important to reflect upon and observe.
Let me however leave you with this question - would an inclusive gay feminist military attack its own citizens, should an Egyptian style Facebook revolution occur here?
The answer, if we look to current state of Corporate America for an answer, just might well be yes.
