Integrity News

I received this from my friend Alex Blais. Alex was a Spanish linguist in the U.S. Army until he was discharged. Of course, he wasn’t discharged until after an investigation into his sexual orientation. Like a lot of gay people Alex has a lot of conservative views, but it is difficult for us to support the Republican party when they “bash” us in their platform. So even when we find ourselves in agreement on many issues, the flat-out rejection of gay people results in the loss of many voters.

So I once again find my self in a moral dilemma as the election approaches. I’ve watched the conventions, dealt with the Partisan bickering and was still on the fence but leaning toward the Republican party… until I had a chance to read some excerpts from their official platform. I’m sure all of you are like ‘and you’re surprised why?’ I wish I were surprised. It’s disheartening to say the least but there is no need for me to preach to the choir.

Anyway, SLDN sent out an e-mail with a link to a petition for the GOP to end don’t ask, don’t tell. There was a section where you could add a comment, I said what I felt and then posted it in my blog… I thought I’d share my last little bit of bloviating with you guys… this is cut and pasted from my blog.

My response to their renewed support to force gays out of the military:

This is absolutely ridiculous. As a former Specialist and NSA linguist in the Army, my service was very well respected and there were a LARGE number of gays and lesbians in my unit. People knew who they were and we all did our best to keep our private lives to ourselves. Nobody had a problem with us and we worked just as hard and side by side with all of the straight Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen in my unit and my mission. There was never any issue in the barracks or the showers. In fact, I served with pride and dignity until a rumor made it up to a closed-minded bigot in my chain of command and was immediately stripped of my high-level security clearance and treated like some sort of criminal. To be honest, I was treated worse than the drunk drivers and wife-beaters in my unit. If you can’t accept the fact that we are just as professional as anyone else, it is your problem. Don’t you dare try and celebrate the integration and diversity of the Armed Forces when you STILL try to write hate and discrimination into law. On top of that, all of the ‘progress’ made in the military, namely racial integration and the integrated service of women was forced upon the military in spite of the lame and false excuses used to enforce the same type of discrimination. As a person who has a history of voting Republican, this ridiculous bias, which apparently is solely an attempt to appease the ‘Republican Base,’ has caused me to once again begin to lose support for the party I otherwise love dearly. I agree with almost every other issue on the platform but simply refuse to vote in spite of myself and my dignity and make a disgrace out of my service to my beloved United States of America! It is way too obvious that the high level commanders and those fossils in Congress are completely out of touch with what it is like to have your boots on the ground in 2008. Someone needs to get in there with all of the junior enlisted, NOT the Generals, and find out what the real opinion on the ground is and not the opinion of a salty old officer speaking on behalf of the rest of the Armed Services and assuming that his bias and bigotry is the general opinion of the other two million service members in the nation. I too am an American, I too am a Patriot, I too am a Veteran and my voice will be heard this year.