Please stop using your dogmatic labels against me.
I just happen to think that, believing somehow that gays will have a negative impact on straight soldiers because they live in the same barracks. Is as rediculous as the notion that somehow black soldiers would make white soldiers worse soldiers.
It's old, fearful thinking.
If they're gay, and they're there anyway. Wouldn't it be like, secretly feeding your kid broccoli, and then him eating it. And then you telling him it's broccoli. And then all of a sudden he hates it, even though he had nothing to say before.
Well, it just shows that its prejudice and fear.
You clearly have never been in the Marine Corps, and most likely not the Army either. Here's a news flash for you: in the U.S. Marines, it's imperative that there are no 'individuals' who want to openly be different than others, in order for the team to perform to the best of their ability. This process begins in boot camp. All recruits in boot camp are each the same pile of crap as the other. But, then one day Obama decides there are two different piles of crap in boot camp; he separates the team and says, you guys can be openly gay piles of crap and the other recruits will be straight piles of crap. But you must still shower and sleep together, so just pretend you're both the same pile of crap and it'll be OK.
If you can somehow explain, in the Marine Corps, how it would be a positive impact if some Marines or recruits decide to differentiate themselves from their peers, then maybe this new plan to 'sexualize' the military is a good one.
My problem with it is this: what the heck is the difference, in the Marine Corps, between not going public with your personal sexual preference, and going public with it? Are you looking for special privileges or a hearty congrats'? What's the goal here? It certainly doesn't provide any increase in the military's effectiveness. And while it shouldn't decrease the military's effectiveness, there are a countless number of situations where all this will do is cause many Marines to feel uncomfortable. That certainly doesn't sound like it will increase effectiveness in the least bit, and it will likely cause a negative outcome.
Besides, as you said, there are currently gays in the military, and I have nothing against this. In fact, my voting record has always supported gay rights. But in this case, I am fully 100% against it. The military is a machine with a system different than anything non-military civilians experience. You can be gay in the military, but is it really so bad that gays cannot disclose the information publicly? What it if means by going public you might make your fellow Marines uncomfortable?
As I said, I've always voted for gay rights. Everyone IS different in a unique way. But in the military, especially in the Marine Corps (different than the Army) where men and women do not go through boot camp together, I am absolutely against the idea of allowing gays to openly serve. In the army, since they do have shared-gender boot camp, and because men and women do go through it together (I've even heard that they get away with having sex in Army boot camp), I guess it'd be fine with me if gays openly serve in the Army. They have a much different set of standards than the Marine Corps. They already have a shared men/women boot camp.