|
Academics
Departments Special Interest
Navigation
|
by Tony Marco
Behavior/"Orientation" vs. Ethnicity
- As Gen. Colin Powell has written (see Gen. Powell's remarks quoted earlier in this analysis) there are significant differences between the very concepts of racial and homosexual "integration." Racial integration is based on the recognition that racial alienage is non-behavioral in nature. Nor is racial alienage based on mere fantasy if, as some gay militants insist, special class protections for gays are not based on behavior, but on "orientation." Again, to compare ethnicity with "sexual orientation" is, as Gen. Powell pointed out "a convenient but invalid argument."
- The military has always maintained a deep-rooted historical perspective recognizing sodomy as an unhealthy, unproductive practice which (cf. the USAF Academy Department of Laws' publication Law for Commanders) "endangers the well-being of the public at large" and "violates the sense of [social] decency or morality." The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) defines sodomy (participation in anal or oral sex with another person, or carnal copulation with an animal) as a crime punishable by court martial. This Code, similar to Georgia's sodomy statute, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in "Bowers vs. Hardwick," 1986, is the basis for current DOD policy. We hold that such a view does not reflect "homophobia" or any fear of homosexuals. Instead, this view reflects military opinion that homosexual behavior does not constitute an acceptable, healthy and socially beneficial lifestyle, and homosexual desire does not constitute an "orientation" conducive to the performance of the mission of the military services.
- Pertinent in this regard is retired General William Weise's analysis of a recent study of 102 cases during the period 1989-1992 of punitive discharges of gays under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. 85% of these discharges involved non-consenting victims. 63% of cases where both participants were military members involved senior military personnel victimizing subordinates. 49% involved homosexual molestation of children by military personnel. Only 12% involved off-base offenses (as reported in June 17, 1993 guest column, "Goldwater currying favor with gay-rights lobby," Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, pg. B-5, and "Army Investigation Release of Data on Gay Crime," The Washington Times, June 9, 1993).
Email this to a friendcopyright © 1995-2008 Leadership U. All rights reserved.
Updated: 13 July 2002