When Johnny comes marching home

The army's Don't Ask/Don't Tell (DADT) policy lives another day as the Supreme Court rejected a request to prevent the armed forces from enforcing it pending the outcome of an appeal. Now, I think the policy needs to end. It is wrong. It is discrimination. Nothing would make me happier than if President Obama announced that while he is Commander and Chief we will not prosecute violations.

Okay, winning the lottery would make me happier. My Christmas bonus is going to make me happier. Angelina Jolie dumping Brad for me would make me happier. So, lots of things would make me happier, but that's not the pint!(Get it?) Allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is a fundamentally American value. I'm a big fan of equal protection under the law.

I'm old enough to have been a political junkie when President Clinton made DADT a part of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). I was performing as a stand-up comic at the time (not very successfully). I talked about homosexuals serving openly in my routine. I asked what people were afraid of- that they'd find an interrogator having sex with a terrorist? (Oh, he's from Libya? I thought you said he was a Libra- we're compatible.) Did I mention I wasn't successful as a comic?

The other reason I supported allowing them to serve, was that for each gay person who enlisted, it was one more reason they didn't need me. There is no draft, but when I was 17 registration for a potential restored draft went into effect. I thought I was going to be drafted, and knowing people who were in the lottery for Vietnam's draft, it hit home.

This brings me back to the question of what people opposed to homosexuals serving are so afraid. It seems to me the answer they would give is the "Homosexual Agenda." I must have the wrong gay friends, because they are unaware of this agenda. Perhaps it is a figment of the anti-homosexual mindset. It seems to me that the perception of the homosexual agenda is that gay people are going to try to have sex with straight people and turn them gay.

That is not going to happen. The rule, and by definition there are exceptions, is that we are all the same. Black people are no different than white people, brown people, yellow people, pick your color. Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, in America we are all the same. Not being gay, I can't say for certain, but I am going to assert that gay people generally are not going to make any attempt at picking someone up unless they believe that person might be interested.

I should point out that having sex, straight sex, is prohibited by the UCMJ. The other thing that bothers anti-homosexuals is that when they think of gay, they think of the flamboyant displays at gay pride parades and cross dressers, and they think, "You're not going to turn my son into that!" They don't realize that their sons either are or aren't already- "that."

Gay is not contagious. Soldiers follow orders. When you combine those two facts, the army demonstrates unequivocally that gay and straight people can function together. Suddenly, fear of the "Homosexual Agenda" becomes absurd. We won't all be GAY when Johnny comes marching home.