{"id":17409,"date":"2010-05-19T21:54:46","date_gmt":"2010-05-20T03:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=17409"},"modified":"2010-05-19T21:54:46","modified_gmt":"2010-05-20T03:54:46","slug":"tony-perkins-and-the-evil-gay-military-menace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/05\/19\/tony-perkins-and-the-evil-gay-military-menace.html","title":{"rendered":"Tony Perkins and THE EVIL GAY MILITARY MENACE!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"img-shadow-right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Church and State\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/church-and-state.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"121\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Tony and the Family Research Council are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frc.org\/get.cfm?i=AL10E07&amp;f=RF07B01\">off and running<\/a> again on HOW TEH GAYZ ARE GOING TO DESTROY OUR MILITARY!!!!!!!\u00a0 The Axis couldn&#8217;t do it.\u00a0 The Soviets couldn&#8217;t do it.\u00a0 But the Gays can!\u00a0 With RAINBOWS!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I fervently believe the glorious Star-Spangled Banner should wave  over our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard heros [sic].<\/p>\n<p><strong>President Obama wants to raise the rainbow flag of the homosexual  rights movement over them. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That&#8217;s right.\u00a0 Obama is going to replace the American flag with the Gay Rainbow flag at all military installations.<\/p>\n<p>No, wait, of course he&#8217;s not.\u00a0 The &#8220;glorious Star-Spangled Banner&#8221; will still wave over the military.\u00a0 As far as I know, no rainbow flags will.\u00a0 But Tony&#8217;s being (I <em>think) <\/em>metaphorical.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Which will it be? That&#8217;s what is at stake in Family Research  Council&#8217;s (FRC) campaign to stop the homosexual Left from lifting the  ban on open homosexuality in the military.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Wait, is he saying that the Left is homosexual?\u00a0 Or that the folks on the Left\u00a0 who are trying to lift the ban are just homosexual?\u00a0 Wait, is he saying <em>I&#8217;m<\/em> homosexual?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>That prohibition is federal law and was applied in the 1993 Clinton  compromise policy called &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; (DADT).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And isn&#8217;t it remarkable that&#8217;s the most praised (with faint damns) act of the Clinton presidency by the Religious Right?<\/p>\n<p>And, actually, it&#8217;s not federal law.\u00a0 It&#8217;s military regulations.\u00a0 A bit different.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And if the Left overturns it and forces open homosexuality on the  military, here are just a few of the results:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Away with olive drab! Up with mauve, puce, and spangles!\u00a0 No, wait &#8230; that sounds like a televangelist &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<blockquote>\n<li>Soldiers will be forced to live in close quarters with people who  view them as sexual objects.<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Okay, this is going to be difficult to hear but &#8230; there are already gays and lesbians in the military.\u00a0 We know this, because (a) a lot of folks in the military tell us they know of gays who are serving, and serving well, and with whom they have no problems, and (b) the military keeps occasionally tossing out someone who wants to serve their country but whose sexual orientation was (buh-buh-BUH) revealed.<\/p>\n<p>What that means is that soldiers are <em>already <\/em>being &#8220;forced to live in close quarters with people who view them as sexual objects.&#8221;\u00a0 They&#8217;re just doing it in (mostly) secret.\u00a0 And, remarkably enough, there are neither gay orgies nor gay rapes epidemic on our military bases.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, let&#8217;s face one other truth: most people are not constantly obsessed with sex.\u00a0 Those who are are usually referred to either as perverts or as the Religious Right.\u00a0 No, really &#8212; gays and lesbians no more view people of the same gender (attractive ones, at least) as &#8220;sexual objects&#8221; any more than straights constantly view people of the opposite gender as &#8220;sexual objects.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And there is a difference, of course, between being sexually attracted to someone, and considering them a &#8220;sexual object.&#8221;\u00a0 I&#8217;m a bit surprised (if not alarmed) that Tony doesn&#8217;t realize that.\u00a0 Heck, I&#8217;m very sexually attracted to my wife (hubba-hubba), but I don&#8217;t see her as a &#8220;sexual object.&#8221; \u00a0 People who view others solely as sexual objects are, in fact, not terribly healthy people, regardless of their gender orientation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<blockquote>\n<li>Morale will plunge, discipline will suffer, and unit cohesion &#8212; the  glue that holds the military together &#8212; will fall apart and  dramatically weaken our national defense capability.<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Why?\u00a0 This hasn&#8217;t happened in other militaries that have decriminalized homosexuality.\u00a0 Tony, are you saying that the US military is less motivated, less dutiful, less adaptable, less devoted to our national defense than, say, the Brits or the Israelis?\u00a0 Really?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<blockquote>\n<li>Many highly motivated, well-trained servicemen and women will leave  the military rather than serve in compromising situations . . . and many  men and women simply will not join the military.<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gee &#8212; what are they going to do when they run into gays working alongside them in <em>civilian <\/em>life?\u00a0 Are they going to quit every job that has a gay in the workplace?\u00a0 Wow.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<blockquote>\n<li>Scarce funds will be wasted to retrofit sleeping quarters and handle  discipline problems.<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gays are 5-10% of the population (in fact, the Right keeps insisting they&#8217;re an even smaller percentage than that).\u00a0 I really don&#8217;t see retrofitting sleeping quarters as something that&#8217;s likely to happen.<\/p>\n<p>As far as handling discipline problems, how much money is spent right now in (a) investigating and prosecuting outed gays, and (b) replacing gay servicepeople who have been discharged for being gay?<\/p>\n<p>And, again, why should there be particular discipline problems?\u00a0 Gays work openly in civilian life, and I&#8217;m not aware of a tidal wave of same-sex sexual harassment disciplinary actions taking place.\u00a0 Are you, Tony?\u00a0 Are there some statistics you can lob at us to back up your unsubstantiated claim?<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the greatest threat to military discipline<em> I <\/em>see is straight soldiers brainwashed by Religious Right into thinking that gays are likely to sodomize them in their sleep, and acting violently to keep that from ever happening.\u00a0 Are you actually causing the problem you worry about, Tony?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>These threats are so severe that a generous family has committed a $100,000 matching grant to help FRC defend our military. For every dollar you give, they will give a dollar &#8211; doubling your impact!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Wow.\u00a0 That&#8217;s just awesome.\u00a0 Because Jesus taught, of course, that the highest good was to give money to keep gays closeted &#8212; much more than he ever mentioned feeding the hungry or comforting the afflicted.\u00a0 It&#8217;s right there in the Book of Tony 2:47.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Our military exists to fight and win wars, not engage in radical social engineering.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I do believe that very argument was used in relation to the racial integration of the armed forces, Tony.\u00a0 Care to tell us how you feel about that &#8220;social engineering&#8221; experiment?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Forcing soldiers to cohabit with people who view them as sexual objects would inevitably lead to increased sexual tension, sexual harassment, and even sexual assault.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I won&#8217;t ask about how you feel about <em>women <\/em>in the military, Tony.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless (and skipping the rest of the letter wherein Tony anonymous cites all the soldiers he&#8217;s talked to and his own US Marine Corp experience about how Nobody Could Stand The Thought Of TEH GAYZ In Their Unit), it seems the greatest cause of increased sexual tension is &#8230; well, your article, Tony. Really.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, sexual harassment (let alone assault) in the military is illegal.\u00a0 How is it that letting gays and lesbians serve openly will increase sexual harassment, or sexual assault? They&#8217;re <em>already there<\/em>, Tony.\u00a0 Heck, it&#8217;s likely <em>you served with one of THEM<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Eek!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As I mentioned earlier, the fight to preserve DADT comes down to this: What flag will fly over the U.S. military?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Right.\u00a0 And we already determined that was a silly metaphor, Tony.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Now is the time to fight for the red, white, and blue-for God, for country, for those who serve, for our families, and for our future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There are gays and lesbians serving in the military.<\/p>\n<p>There are families with gays and lesbians in them, who love them.\u00a0 And there are gays and lesbians who are, in fact, families.<\/p>\n<p>And gays and lesbians are, in fact, citizens of these United States.\u00a0 They are taxpayers. They are neighbors. They are co-workers. They are <em>us<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Who is it you&#8217;re fighting for again, Tony?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tony and the Family Research Council are off and running again on HOW TEH GAYZ ARE GOING TO DESTROY OUR MILITARY!!!!!!!\u00a0 The Axis couldn&#8217;t do it.\u00a0 The Soviets couldn&#8217;t do it.\u00a0 But the Gays can!\u00a0 With RAINBOWS! I fervently believe the glorious Star-Spangled Banner should wave over our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/05\/19\/tony-perkins-and-the-evil-gay-military-menace.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tony Perkins and THE EVIL GAY MILITARY MENACE!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,9,27,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-stuff","category-politics-law","category-religion","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2910,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/09\/05\/meanwhile_on_th.html","url_meta":{"origin":17409,"position":0},"title":"Meanwhile, on the other fringe &#8230;","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 5-Sep-02 7:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"While I've cringed at what sorts of maudlin or jingoistic claptrap the media and the government will be planning for the 11 September remembrances, the trogs over in Berserkley have...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;9-11&quot;","block_context":{"text":"9-11","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/9-11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48681,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/07\/the-star-spangled-man-with-a-plan.html","url_meta":{"origin":17409,"position":1},"title":"The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 7-Dec-14 9:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I particularly enjoy this middle scene of Captain America: The First Avenger, where he's been turned into the centerpiece of a USO \/ Bond-Raising campaign. Not only is the imagery perfect, but the song is particularly clever (not to mention ear-wormy):Who\u2019s strong and brave,Here to saveThe American Way?Who vows to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24971,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/31\/in-honor-of-north-korea-lets-fine-people-for-not-singing-patriotic-songs-p.html","url_meta":{"origin":17409,"position":2},"title":"In honor of North Korea, let&#39;s fine people for not singing patriotic songs p&#8230;","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 31-Dec-11 11:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of North Korea, let's fine people for not singing patriotic songs properlyI mean, really? That's what America's all about?Now, mind you, I find most public performances of \"The Star-Spangled Banner\" to be awful, and usually examples of trying to draw attention to the singer through rills and flourishes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alan.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F12%2FLM_020411-300x200.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3854,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/21\/shrug.html","url_meta":{"origin":17409,"position":3},"title":"Shrug","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 21-Mar-03 12:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Remind me again about how Canada is such a polite country? Oh, well, it was just the French Canadians booing during \"The Star Spangled Banner\" at the Islanders\/Canadiens game in...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Geopolitical Brouhaha&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51759,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/16\/waving-the-confederate-flag.html","url_meta":{"origin":17409,"position":4},"title":"Waving the Confederate flag","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 16-Jul-15 4:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of the crowd greeting President Obama in Oklahoma City, we got this particular band of flag-wavers:http:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/mojo\/2015\/07\/obama-greeted-by-confederate-flags-oklahoma-cityActually, this demonstrates a good thing: the Confederate Battle Flag may be getting kicked off of official government displays, but the First Amendment means that individuals can still wave it around to reveal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/CKAQt4GW8AQ0sWj5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/CKAQt4GW8AQ0sWj5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/CKAQt4GW8AQ0sWj5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131418,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/04\/why-do-americans-play-the-national-anthem-before-sporting-events.html","url_meta":{"origin":17409,"position":5},"title":"Why do Americans play the national anthem before sporting events?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Sep-16 12:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because ... we just do. Starting as a one-off patriotic event in baseball during WWII, it's become the norm across all major league sports (and, for that matter, at high school games, too).That's not the norm elsewhere in the world, but Americans are highly ritualized in our patriotism, something that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}