Melissa Block of National Public Radio interviews Republican Representative Duncan Hunter, asking him why he supports discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans in the military:
Melissa Block: Was there anything in your experience with the military in Afghanistan and Iraq that made you think that unit cohesion would be a real issue if gays and lesbians who, I think we can acknowledge, are serving in the military now, just not openly, were to be open about their sexual orientation?
Duncan Hunter: Yeah, I think that the majority of people in the military are they’re young kids. They usually have more conservative families, more conservative backgrounds and I think that it would go against their principles and it would frankly make everybody a little bit uneasy to be in these close situations.
Duncan Hunter just called American soldiers young kids who are incapable of serving along side people who offend their sensibilities. He just declared that American soldiers can’t do their jobs if they might upset. He just called American soldiers a bunch of incompetent wimps.
Does that bother you? Don’t complain to me. I didn’t say it. Complain to Duncan Hunter. His Capitol Hill number is 202-225-5672.
No, see, it’s okay to subject soldiers to bullets and bombs, but it’s just plain terrible, unforgivable, to make them feel “a little bit uneasy”. Human rights abuse!
Umm he didn’t call American soldiers either of those things. And he has a point.
Repealing don’t ask don’t tell would be a plain stupid move just for the sake of “politically correct” left wing crazies. If a gay soldier cannot keep his sex life out of the military perhaps he needs to rethink his priorities.
Your phrasing makes me wonder if you believe straight soldiers “keep their sex life out of the military.” Or if you approve of the double standard, because obviously the straight soldiers do not “keep their sex life out of the military.”
His statement makes no sense unless conservative American soldiers are so wimpily vulnerable and incompetent that they can’t carry on working with their tender political sensitivities bothered.
DH insults not just the soldiers, but their entire “families” which he labels as “more conservative” with nothing to back him up. The fact that the soldiers are “young” (in fact, they are adults over 17) makes them less likely to give a shit about someones lifestyle (the studies have already been posted on this site), but DH claims the opposite.
Yep, and it’s not just a broader trend in society. Your point reminds me of a recent article in the Times of London pointing out that it is precisely the younger members of the military who are actually more open to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.