Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't translate

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 5/28/07 3:31:16 PM, kevin at FRONTSTRETCH.COM writes:


> it seems foolish to kick out a herd of
> them just because they choose a lifestyle that can no longer be used
> as a tool in blackmail.
>
I realize that Kevin's comments were meant in a friendly manner, and I
certainly agree that "Don't Ask Don't Tell" is a foolish military policy. Strictly
speaking, however, people are not kicked out of the US military for "choosing a
lifestyle" but simply for saying that they feel sexual attraction for other
people of their same sex. One does not "choose" to have homosexual feelings;
moreover, one need not act upon those feelings to be kicked out of the military
(only make it known in some way that one has such feelings).

Beyond that (and perhaps more in keeping with the purposes of ADS-L), the
term "lifestyle" is an interesting one. Presumably in this context it suggests
that there are two possible "lifestyles," a homosexual one and a heterosexual
one, and that one simply chooses which one is more attractive (rather like
deciding whether to live in the city or the suburbs). Such a simpleistic dichotomy
does not even begin to do justice to the complexity of human sexuality--any
more than would, say, a dichotomy between a sexual "pitcher lifestyle" and a
sexual "catcher life style."



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