Should gays serve openly in the military?

A country that cannot fill its military ranks with qualified volunteers does not have the position to exclude qualified personnel simply because they are homosexuals. Every able bodied American has had 7 years of war to sign up and serve. The validity of the war to America was confirmed with Bush's re-election right in the middle of this illegal and immoral occupation. Yet to fill the ranks the military has had to continue to lower the standards for new recruits.

We'll take criminals and the uneducated as armed ambassadors for this nation but not gays?

Homosexuals serve now and statistically perform as honorably as their counterparts.

The reasons floating around as to why gays should not serve are unfounded and simply are the spawn of pop culture stereotyping and bigotry.

Civilian America has this mental image of troops in mass showers with a gay dude in the corner staring and lusting after straight, innocent comrades. When the majority of troops exit the shower the poor defenseless straight dude gets raped by the mean overpowering gay dude.

"Save the straight troops from B film prison rape scenes! Gays are monsters just waiting to pounce! Gays only join the military to gain access to the masses of troops in open bay showers so they can have their way with whomever they want!"

Mother fucker please.

First of all, the people in uniform are the least defenseless citizens of this nation. Isn't that the point of the military? Secondly, women are statistically more likely to be victimized in the military than any other population. Seems our straight men can't exactly control themselves in a gender integrated military. But we worry about integrating gays? They are already serving!

This logic has its roots in racial segregation. Remember back in the day: "if we allow blacks to be equals with whites then they will rape all the white women and kill any and every white guy they desire."

Pure bullshit. Get over yourself America.

Military personnel really only have open bay showers in training environments. Basic training is too busy for lust sessions. A typical shower only lasted about 2 minutes. Ranger school showers were open bay but they were as short as possible to get everyone through and they were wasted time that was better spent prepping for training or sleeping.

I spooned with 3 other rangers on an ambush firing line in late January because it was freezing and we were in danger of hypothermia. At no point in this unusual position for tough guy killer types was there even a concern of homosexual activity. Had one of that fire team been gay it wouldn't have mattered. We needed to stay alive and body heat was our only option.

I hear arguments of gays failing their buddies in combat floated around as well. Any person who has served in combat and had their life in danger of being snuffed will tell you that at that moment only the competency of their comrades was of concern. If Smith or Jones was gay I don't give a damn. Can you shoot? Can you make a decision under pressure? Can I count on you to do your job? Your duty?

Seriously America. For a nation at war the focus is on all the wrong areas. I think that is the root of the problem: America at large is not at war. They are worried about the economy and not the lives being lost while they complain about the cost of their latte or how much driving they have to cut back on.

The issue of homosexuals should serve as a wake up call to a country that has allowed false moral arguments to run the thought process for too long. Gays, abortion and religion have been allowed to masquerade as moral imperatives far too long. The same population has allowed patriotism, security and freedom to serve as covers for the death sentence given to Iraqis, Afghans and our troops for the longest and costliest war in recent times.

Calls to ban gays in the military because their open service is a kin to condoning their lifestyles are absurd. Are you willing to leave America because there are openly gay people in the country? Isn't staying in America with openly gay people the same as condoning their behavior?

This language in America would be an eye opener to all the gay bashing, Iran haters if they learned that homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran. Is that what they want for America? Do these American realize they sound just like Ahmedinajad? The Nazis also anted to purify their society. Is that what this anti-gay movement is striving for?

The time has come for all people to be treated as equals. Military service is not a forum for politicians and mass media to play out their agenda. In appropriate behavior is an issue addressed when it happens, gay or straight. Let's bring back the rule of law and not the rule of opinion.