How exactly? I don't want a general "someone could die. That doesn't explain how exactly that death was caused just because someone is openly gay. You have no evidence whatsoever that it could happen, let alone that it will happen.
A break down in discipline and unit cohesion. A soldier doesn't provide covering fire for a gay soldier that is advancing against the enemy and that gay soldier is hosed down by the bad guys.
A straight soldier is seperated from his unit and one of his gay commrades just leaves him, because he's been picked on for being gay and the lost soldier dies.
The scenarios are virtually infinite.
Okay, but they don't have a right to not billet with the openly gay person. The unit can choose to allow them the privilege of not billeting with that person, but it isn't a right, anymore than it would be a right to refuse to billet with someone who is a complete slob or smells or who is of a different religion. A unit can try to make billeting changes to make people more comfortable, if it is practical. But they don't have to. Sometimes soldiers/marines/sailors are just forced to suck it up. We had a very big girl in my department who slept completely naked. She was not attractive at all. And she refused to wear clothes to bed. We couldn't get transferred out of that berthing, nor could we have her transferred out. So we all just dealt with it.
There's where you're wrong. It
is a right for a soldier to refuse to billet with other soldiers, for numerous reasons. It's covered in Ar 600-20, The Army's Command policy, "Every soldier has the
right to work and live in a safe and comfortable environment, free from harassment". So, it's not just about straight soldiers refusing to billet with gay soldiers, it's also about gay soldiers refusing to billet with straight soldiers, because they have the right to, "...live in a safe and comfortable environment, free from harassment".
What are you going to say when gay soldiers refuse to billet with straight soldiers? That's soldier is a bigot? A hetero-phobe? Send him to the stockade for refusing to obey orders.
I think that alot of you, that oppose DADT, are having trouble from looking at this from more than one demension.
And, I don't think the Marine Corps Cmdt is necessarily a bigot. I do think that he is paranoid and not aware of how scientific polls are actually done and why they are done the way they are.
Well, I think the Commandant understands that those scientific polls are worth jack, when the **** hits the fan. You can't even close a sucking chest wound with it.