Posted from http://sites.google.com/site/folgha/home/updates/200909210753
So I missed my usual blog time this week, for which I apologize. I have been neglecting quite a bit of my writing recently, which is, I know, far from a good thing.
To catch up, then:
On Friday, Sonya and I went to Home Depot to place a materials order. That done, Saturday, said order came in, and the two of us spent the day putting up shelves and such. Because we're missing a few brackets, our bookshelf is not yet up, but now we have a long shelf over the kitchen door, and Sonya has an actual closet in which to keep her clothes.
I remain engaged in a debate about repealing the military ban on openly homosexual service personnel. I believe that any who wish to serve ought to be given the opoprtunity to do so. I do not believe that allowing gay men and women into the US Armed Forces will weaken them, any more than allowing women did, or racial integration did, or returning to an all-volunteer military did. All of these things were opposed at one time, and all are now the common manner of business.
Fundamentally, it does not matter with whom a serviceman spends his nights if during his days he stands his post truly and does his duty to the nation well.
To those who carp that open homosexuality smacks of immorality: are the prostitutes to whom junior members of the military have traditionally and in popular culture (the erroneous conception that all Japanese geisha are prostitutes, among others) resorted morally upright? And while hiring hookers may well not be in line with the UCMJ (I am no expert on it to know all of its dictates), how many soldiers, sailors, Marines, or airmen are brought up on charges because of a visit to a brothel during leave time?
I recall no such cases.
Often, even usually, the proscription against openly gay persons serving in the military is tied to Scriptural prohibitions against homosexuality, particularly as voiced in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. That same stretch of Scripture, however, prohibits shaving, which I seem to recall being part of military uniform standards, at least for the Navy. So it seems to me there is a bit of inconsistency in that, and while I am more than willing to admit that facial hair and bedmate are of unequal importance, I cannot agree that whom a serviceman or servicewoman leaves at home is worse for his or her performance if that person is of the same or of a different gender.
So I missed my usual blog time this week, for which I apologize. I have been neglecting quite a bit of my writing recently, which is, I know, far from a good thing.
To catch up, then:
On Friday, Sonya and I went to Home Depot to place a materials order. That done, Saturday, said order came in, and the two of us spent the day putting up shelves and such. Because we're missing a few brackets, our bookshelf is not yet up, but now we have a long shelf over the kitchen door, and Sonya has an actual closet in which to keep her clothes.
I remain engaged in a debate about repealing the military ban on openly homosexual service personnel. I believe that any who wish to serve ought to be given the opoprtunity to do so. I do not believe that allowing gay men and women into the US Armed Forces will weaken them, any more than allowing women did, or racial integration did, or returning to an all-volunteer military did. All of these things were opposed at one time, and all are now the common manner of business.
Fundamentally, it does not matter with whom a serviceman spends his nights if during his days he stands his post truly and does his duty to the nation well.
To those who carp that open homosexuality smacks of immorality: are the prostitutes to whom junior members of the military have traditionally and in popular culture (the erroneous conception that all Japanese geisha are prostitutes, among others) resorted morally upright? And while hiring hookers may well not be in line with the UCMJ (I am no expert on it to know all of its dictates), how many soldiers, sailors, Marines, or airmen are brought up on charges because of a visit to a brothel during leave time?
I recall no such cases.
Often, even usually, the proscription against openly gay persons serving in the military is tied to Scriptural prohibitions against homosexuality, particularly as voiced in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. That same stretch of Scripture, however, prohibits shaving, which I seem to recall being part of military uniform standards, at least for the Navy. So it seems to me there is a bit of inconsistency in that, and while I am more than willing to admit that facial hair and bedmate are of unequal importance, I cannot agree that whom a serviceman or servicewoman leaves at home is worse for his or her performance if that person is of the same or of a different gender.