9/20/11

Please ask, Do tell.

Today, we celebrate the end of the Don't ask, Don't tell policy in the U.S.; a policy that said, it's okay to be gay, just keep it quiet.

Partial acceptance. Partial harmful compromise. The only really bad thing I think Bill Clinton did. It meant that people could still be fired, just for being who they are. Not for anything they did wrong, but for being who they are.

DADT really never affected me. It really never affected most people...just the few, the proud, that were like me and didn't want to keep it quiet. They got punished. Punished for being who they are and we didn't call it discrimination. We called it law.

Implication being that as long as its law, it's okay to discriminate. And, all you folks that are reading The Help are reading about the Jim Crow laws. How is that any different?

I'll tell you. It's not different.

So, today, I'm going to celebrate that gay people in the armed services, who are willing to risk their lives to protect mine, can serve without regard to their sexual orientation. Just like where I work. Showing that they are as good as me and subject to the same awkward moments in their careers that I've had in mine. Equal.

And, tomorrow, I'll continue to carry the banner for the elimination of DOMA. Cuz, really, do you think that preventing gay people from marrying is a defense of marriage? If so, what would you defend it against? Do you know how few polygamists are gay?

Everybody take care. If you know someone that thinks this means the world is coming to an end, reassure them that it's really not. And, remind them that there's a 1 in 3200 chance a person will be hit by space trash this Friday and a 1 in a million chance that they'll be pinched on the butt by a gay person. BTW, those odds were the same yesterday as they are today.

Lane

9 comments:

Kathleen said...

Well said, Lane. Have a great day.

Barb H said...

Great post, Lane. Gay or straight, black or white, citizen or not, now we all have the right to die for our country. Seriously, DADT and DOMA are frantic overreactions by people who are scared of change and who have difficulty even peeping out of their own boxy world much less stepping out of it. IMHO. It's about time DADT ended. Period.

Tammy said...

In Canada gay marriage is legal, as it should be everywhere. I believe these laws in the United States are backward rather than forward thinking. Be proud and stay strong Lane.

Tanit-Isis said...

Here, here! Congratulations. And hopefully soon the DOMA (eyeroll) will be a thing of the past too. (Really if they need to defend marriage against anything it's people like me who are just as happy to be in a long-term common-law relationship.)

Lucy | Charm About You said...

I'm not that aware of the laws in the U.S. but in the U.K. gay marriage is legal and quite rightly so.
I like the celebration in your post! Very positive :)

Leah said...

I absolutely agree Lane. Did the sky fall when the laws changed and white women could legally marry black men? Nope. And it certainly didn't destroy marriage - an act as old as time itself.

I'm rooting for you and polygamy too. Consenting ADULTS should be able to marry whomever they want without the government getting involved.

Coloradolady said...

Way to go. I don't get it with some folks. Some people I know who profess to be one thing, but act a totally different way, a way full of hate, and prejudice. It simply disgust me to no end......and I have gotten to where I am not quiet about it any more...I call them out on the carpet about it and they don't like it one bit...too bad!!!!!

Have a great day!!!

smiledarlin said...

*Clap*Clap*Clap*
As a loving parent to a lesbian daughter, I fully agree with your statement.
It is a sad commentary about our country- one that prides itself on being "FREE" when it denies freedom and liberty to a whole class of people.
I pray for the day my daughter and her partner can have the same legal rights that marriage affords straight folks.
There is hope for us yet.

Irene Onderweegs said...

Ah! My chance to be pinched in the butt will be 17 in 17,000,000 in this country regarding gay people. 8^}
It's about 1 in 20 for not-so-gay-but-very-straight to be honest, and there's no fun in that. Thinking about being gay, that's the better deal for me in this respect =^}
Walking in Nijmegen this year, we had the proverbial Pink Wednesday, where I use to declare myself gay and my husband lesbian.
Btw, so many womanizers are gay, just to prove that they're not they go in overdrive....
Love from Amsterdam
Irene