This truly isn’t a battle between Conservatives & Liberals. Nor is it a battle within Conservatives alone. The issue of allowing Gays & Lesbians is a battle between those who value the spirit and original intentions of our democratic republic & this who attempt to impose a particular religious outlook upon all Americans, regardless of the belief systems of others. The so-called “Religious Right” has hijacked the Republican Party for long enough. Not everyone in the United States is a fundamentalist Christian. Not everyone in the United States is even Christian!

The Constitutional arrangement surrounding Religion & Government has been consistently misinterpreted by Atheists for almost a century as the complete and total separation of Church & State. The wording in our Bill of Rights is very specific and shows that his complete separation is not what is mandated. Instead, the Congress is banned from making any laws that somehow establish the views & beliefs of one religious group as normative and giving those beliefs the force of law binding upon all citizens regardless of whether they share those beliefs or not.

DADT is an extreme example of how the “Religious Right” hijacked the Republican party & attempted to do exactly what the Constitution prohibits. They have attempted to give the force of law to their religious belief that homosexuals cannot be tolerated due to sinful acts. However, this is not a universal belief of all citizens. In fact, a sizeable majority of Americans belief in equality for all regardless of sexuality.

It is not just the religious wing of the GOP that has attempted this. The large African-American bloc, guided by the Black Churches, has imposed the same religious agenda on the Democratic Party as well.

We are currently under an Administration that believes that there is no part of our lives that Government shouldn’t control. As Conservatives we are hypocrites if we fight those attempts to expand government into those arenas that our Constitution rightfully reserves for the States or to Individual conscience, but then attempt to establish one religious belief as superior and the official Government position while excluding all other religious or secular viewpoints from discussion.

We are in a battle between those who wish to protect our Constitutional guarantee of individual freedoms from government intervention & those who wish to violate our Constitution by establishing on particular religion as our official guide on who can & cannot serve in the Military. There are Liberals and Conservatives on both sides of this issue.

If DADT continues and the idea that Government can and should intervene in even the most personal aspects of our individual lives, then there can be no logical argument from excluding the power of Government from any and all aspects of our lives. At that moment, the Socialist/Communist dream of the complete control of a subject population by a Liberal Elite will have been brought to reality and our glorious democratic republic will have been destroyed.

Sinz54 is simply wrong about appeasing the evangelicals in the military that threaten to not re-enlist if the DADT policy is ended! If anyone is that closed minded about the diversity of our democracy – I don’t want them anywhere in American government or our military services!

I’m straight, and served honorably for over 22 years – and I never had a single serious problem with any GLBT soldier – in fact, I found them to be some of the best, brightest and most worthy people I ever had the honor of serving with, as peers, as a subordinate and as a leader!

Hmm!

Like Elvis, Sinz appears to have “left the building.”

(*SHRUG*)

BILL

Also, to those who are socially conservative, there are documented cases where DADT dismisses straight women due to harassment from other servicemembers; they are, essentially, threatened to be called a lesbian if they won’t submit. In a number of ways, DADT is just plain wrong, and needs to be repealed.

What seems to be in great contention is how DADT is to be eliminated. CCCO invites you to imagine what would happen if all 65,000 LGBTQ service members “came out” all at once. http://www.objector.org/NOV_11__2009.html

“I would agree to change the policy, except for one thing…”

So… (*SCRATCHING MY HEAD*)… you’re OPPOSED to changing the policy…??? Is that what you’re saying?

You’re saying you “would” but… er… you won’t. (You wouldn’t.) Is that right?

I don’t know what you can’t just spit it out, Sinz. Please clarify/verify.

BILL