[quote name='dmaul1114']I didn't mean to imply that at all.
Was just saying the military has lower levels of education than many other professions, and those are highly correlated with ignorance in the form of homophobia etc.
Add in the type A personalities, machismo etc. that goes along with being drawn to military careers etc. and that's why you have more resistance to things like working with gays than you do in say law firms or higher education etc.
I don't feel I'm better than military. I have family in the military. I feel I'm better than the homophobes who don't want to serve along side gays though. Intolerance is about the only thing I look down on people for.[/QUOTE]
I agree. The military in a whole has a big community that is looked upon as macho. Mainly because that's the role we are expected to portray. I'm more talking about the look, not the behavior. We are told to beef up at the gym basically and that's where a common perception of machoism comes from, and in certain units such as infantry, SF, etc that is more so the case than in other units. It is something that has been instilled for a long time. For example, strength is perceived as power, and being gay is stereotyped as being weak. The military not wanting to look weak does not want the gays. Politically it is embellished so that it can be politically correct, but obviously it is wrong. The gays being stereotyped as weak or flamboyant in your face gay is wrong also. Now that the policy is under review it is more important to steer away from the old negative beliefs of the gays, but that is harder to do with the old timers than it is the younger guys. Some younger guys that are easily influenced by the old timers will oppose the gays in the military as well, but those that were raised with a more open mind would probably welcome the idea.
It'll probably warrant some changes in the military, and these changes are going to be controversial because they can be looked upon as discriminating in one shape or another.
[quote name='dmaul1114']Like I said, my gym is full of gays as midtown Atlanta has a very large gay population. Hell, Atlanta was recently voted the "gayest" city in the US in some article I saw in the local paper.
Doesn't bother me at all. Showering with guys is showering with guys. We all have the same parts.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='Malik112099']chances are that any gay person going into the service after the policy is lifted still isnt going to be crazy gay around everyone. Ive had plenty of gay friends that act 100% "normal" with the only difference being they are dating a man rather than a woman. I work with a gay guy right now and i didnt know he was gay until someone told me after 8 months of working with him.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='dmaul1114']That's very true as well. Taking the policy away won't mean all of a sudden that the majority of gays in the military will turn into in your face flamers or something.
There will eventually be more known gays since they don't have to keep it a secret or otherwise get kicked out of the service. But I still don't see the big deal. If the showers are the main thing, then just do away with the group showers. It's not that costly to put shower curtains up to create stalls instead of having open showers.[/QUOTE]
I think things like the shower curtains etc will be new mandates on implementing a new policy.
The in your face gayness is already apparent in some cases, but you can't stereotype all gays for being like that. Most right now fear actions taken by others by exposing themselves. The issue here is that even with a new policy, gays will still experience discrimination from their peers that are opposed to the idea of serving with gays. This will only stop if unit level leaders put a tight leash on their soldiers in the form of equal opportunity/ sexual harrassment guide lines.
The showers really isn't the main point, just a point the OP made.
There's plenty of reasons for gays to openly serve or not. Not until the policy changes and its effects are announced will we know what to expect. I wonder if there will be limitations to where they will be allowed to serve, ie. females aren't allowed to serve in the Infantry. I'm not saying I would support a decision to limit military jobs to gays, I'm just wondering if that would be one of the changes that's going to be made.
Basically I'm interested in how the Army is going to change and how it would effect me, a hetero-sexual, on a daily basis. Hopefully not too much.
On a side note: My wife had a in your face lesbian when she was in the shower once. It was only the two of them there and she basically ran out of the showers. This is not how my perceptions of all gays in the showers are, because sexual harrassment etc will happen regardless of policies. I'd appreciate no jokes about the wife situation.
ing your junk. I still don't understand why some people are so terrified of gays, like they're going to catch it, or get dryhumped in their sleep. Oh no, God forbid something is a slight bit awkward for you.
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