Gay-Straight Alliances at Military Academies

I originally wrote my blog about the Ohio State game today, but I kept thinking that I should address an article that I read this morning. I love Ohio State and all, but I think gay pride groups at military academies are a bit more important.


I never liked the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. I always felt like it should have been a “deal with it or leave the military” type of policy in which the people who couldn’t handle working beside a gay person were free to petition to leave. Some people argue that military members would have left in droves. I highly doubt that, but if it did happen, the military would have quickly created some easy “out” policy where people could be transferred to other units. It was wrong to make people hide who they were and I think it was a bit insulting to the military. The policy pretty much said, “hey, most of the people in our ranks are scared of gay people so we’re not going to force them to work with gay people and be uncomfortable.” If I was president, I would have said, “you are all soldiers, so man up and focus on defending our country.” Our military fights for our country and everyone in it; an unwillingness to fight beside someone because of their sexual orientation reveals an undesirable trait in a soldier. A good soldier should be able to put aside his personal biases and fight next to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, skin color, economic status or religion. All that should matter on the battlefield is that the person next to you has your back.

The “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” was silly. It allowed gays to serve in the military, but the moment they told someone, they could be dismissed from the military. I understand that there might have been morale issues, but ultimately, pressure should have been put on the units to find a way to figure things out. The repeal of the policy finally acknowledged that our military members are capable of sorting out their differences. You don’t have to love gay people in order to fight beside them. Hell, you don’t even have to support gay rights in America. All you have to do is do your job.

I read an article on variations of gay-straight alliances geared towards young cadets at military academies. One of the groups mentioned was the Spectrum Diversity Council, another group had a more direct name: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies Club. Whatever the name of the groups, I applaud each group and their members because having an open dialogue is one of the major components for creating brotherhoods.

Click here to read “Gay Pride Groups Appear at U.S. Military Academies.”