Our boy Clay talks about his brother, currently serving in the marines, who is on board with most aspects of gay rights but has an issue with the demise of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The ever-obtuse Shepherd suggests that maybe he needs to talk to somebody about his feelings on the subject. Hasselbeck, the Sarah Palin wanna-be, naturally takes the opinion that it's the straights that will be most affected by a change in the discriminatory military policy. Not once was the issue of lying about who you are in order to serve your country ever raised.
History 101: When President Truman ordered an end to racial segregation in the armed forces 62 years ago, no survey was conducted to see how the troops felt about showering with African-Americans, nor were they asked to share their feelings with a counselor.
As recently as February, 2010, when the U.S. Navy decided to allow women to serve on submarines with their male counterparts, no survey was conducted. The order was given and followed. End of story.
My dad was a career military man and (for the short time he stuck around) taught us what every service member knows: when the order is given, you follow it without question. If you step out of line, you will be disciplined. That's the way it works in the military. Are we going to start doing surveys before every order is carried out now?
Thank God Clay was on hand to keep the discussion on track, but it seems like, at least for this discussion, he's the token gay being used to "safely" discuss the issue. You would think that Whoopi and Sherri would be a little more sensitive about tokenism, but what do I know?
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