Philosophy
With the repeal of DADT, it seems worth considering whether it was successful or not. Clearly, it was completely incoherent. We will maintain a rule, just create a new policy for implementing it that is entirely contrary to its spirit. But, like the electoral college, it was not a principled approach to anything. It was meant as a middle ground that would make no one happy. The discontent, I've always thought, was clearly intentional. It was a half-step to an end that was not politically feasible at the time. It was a phased retirement of the discriminatory policy.
In that sense, it seems to have been rather successful. Was it fair to gays and lesbians in uniform? Of course not. But notice the lack of howling and protests today. No one is screaming that the military ceased to be prepared or effective at midnight. DADT was meant to get us here without giving conservatives a powerful political wedge for their base. Once something is seen not to be the scary bogie man that someone makes, it becomes normalized and opposition is no longer protection of the status quo, but an attack upon it. What DADT was meant to do was to create a shift in mind from "there are no gays and lesbians in the military" and therefore allowing it would change the military, to a different set of facts on the ground -- "of course there are gays and lesbians in the military" why do want to mess with the way things are? DADT created a new normal and no ethical argument will ever approach the power of normal.
In that sense, I'm glad it's gone, but it did seem to do what it was meant to do.
- Debunking The "naturalistic" Argument Against Gay Marriage, Part I
As John points out over at The NonSequitur"Arguments against gay marriage tend to fall into one of two groups: (1) the slippery slope group, which alleges that if gay marriage is permitted, all sorts of outrageous consequences will follow (such as the...
- Senator Clinton, Here's Why Being Gay Is Not Immoral
Yesterday, in response to General Peter Pace?s homophobic outburst, Hillary Clinton balked at answering the question, ?Is homosexuality immoral?? punting with the statement, ?Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude.? Senator Clinton? Glad...
- Crystal Meth, Hale-bopp, And The War On Gays And Lesbians
The situation with evangelical pastor Ted Haggard is just plain sad. Having moved beyond the deny, deny, deny strategy, past his split the difference "I just got a massage and bought crystal meth but I didn't inhale -- with either one" defense, he...
- A Few Gay Men - The Gayest Penetration
I just don't get people sometimes. Religious conservatives base their opposition to homosexuality primarily on the Old Testament, where you can easily find injunctions and orders to kill the gays. So, you would think that if gays wanted to serve in...
- Acceptance And Changes...morality
A jubilant American sailor clutching a white-uniformed nurse in a back-bending, passionate kiss in Times Square, August 14th, 1945. Marissa Gaeta embraces girlfriend Citlalic Snell after disembarking the USS Oak Hill, Wednesday, December 21st, 2011....
Philosophy
Don't Ask, Do Tell
With the repeal of DADT, it seems worth considering whether it was successful or not. Clearly, it was completely incoherent. We will maintain a rule, just create a new policy for implementing it that is entirely contrary to its spirit. But, like the electoral college, it was not a principled approach to anything. It was meant as a middle ground that would make no one happy. The discontent, I've always thought, was clearly intentional. It was a half-step to an end that was not politically feasible at the time. It was a phased retirement of the discriminatory policy.
In that sense, it seems to have been rather successful. Was it fair to gays and lesbians in uniform? Of course not. But notice the lack of howling and protests today. No one is screaming that the military ceased to be prepared or effective at midnight. DADT was meant to get us here without giving conservatives a powerful political wedge for their base. Once something is seen not to be the scary bogie man that someone makes, it becomes normalized and opposition is no longer protection of the status quo, but an attack upon it. What DADT was meant to do was to create a shift in mind from "there are no gays and lesbians in the military" and therefore allowing it would change the military, to a different set of facts on the ground -- "of course there are gays and lesbians in the military" why do want to mess with the way things are? DADT created a new normal and no ethical argument will ever approach the power of normal.
In that sense, I'm glad it's gone, but it did seem to do what it was meant to do.
- Debunking The "naturalistic" Argument Against Gay Marriage, Part I
As John points out over at The NonSequitur"Arguments against gay marriage tend to fall into one of two groups: (1) the slippery slope group, which alleges that if gay marriage is permitted, all sorts of outrageous consequences will follow (such as the...
- Senator Clinton, Here's Why Being Gay Is Not Immoral
Yesterday, in response to General Peter Pace?s homophobic outburst, Hillary Clinton balked at answering the question, ?Is homosexuality immoral?? punting with the statement, ?Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude.? Senator Clinton? Glad...
- Crystal Meth, Hale-bopp, And The War On Gays And Lesbians
The situation with evangelical pastor Ted Haggard is just plain sad. Having moved beyond the deny, deny, deny strategy, past his split the difference "I just got a massage and bought crystal meth but I didn't inhale -- with either one" defense, he...
- A Few Gay Men - The Gayest Penetration
I just don't get people sometimes. Religious conservatives base their opposition to homosexuality primarily on the Old Testament, where you can easily find injunctions and orders to kill the gays. So, you would think that if gays wanted to serve in...
- Acceptance And Changes...morality
A jubilant American sailor clutching a white-uniformed nurse in a back-bending, passionate kiss in Times Square, August 14th, 1945. Marissa Gaeta embraces girlfriend Citlalic Snell after disembarking the USS Oak Hill, Wednesday, December 21st, 2011....