How was your weekend?

Did you do anything fun? Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? Start the Christmas Shopping? Family in town for a visit?

Pretty normal questions to ask after a long holiday weekend, right? Heck even, So what did you do last night? is a pretty normal conversation starter. Happens every day in every work place around the country right? Now try to have that conversation without mentioning your family. Never ever mentioning your spouse. And then take it a step further and never even ask the questions of your co-workers. Don't ask, don't tell. Don't talk about your life outside of work. Ever. Even when your job is protecting the freedoms of the rest of your country.

That's don't ask don't tell. That's what we are asking out of our men and women who serve our country. If you happen to want to volunteer to serve, making less money and let's face it with two wars going on, risking your life and you also happen to be homosexual you can do it, you just cannot ever ever speak of the people who mean the most to you back home.

People get stuck in these petty little circles where they try to decide what is best for our service men and women. You hear constantly that they might be "uncomfortable" with serving with openly homosexual people. Give me a break. One, how many of you have friends that have come out? Are you telling me that you had no clue up until the moment that they announced they were gay? Most of us know, we just wait to be told because we consider it polite not to out someone. Secondly, are you uncomfortable serving with a woman who finds you attractive but you don't? Or conversely a man? Now, I have been married since God was a child, but I do remember back to when I was single. I got hit on from time to time by guys I had no interest in. I told them no. And that was that. Trust me, you are not so attractive that a gay man or a lesbian woman will have no control over themselves and will throw themselves at you. Personally I would have been much more "uncomfortable" working with a bigot in any job I held than with a lesbian woman who thought I was attractive.

History shows the same arguments were made against desegregation and racial integration in the armed forces as well as against women serving that are now being made against openly gay service members. We figured out that was wrong, why is this such a stumbling block? It is an honor and a privilege to serve your country. It is also an extremely difficult job and not one that most choose to hold. If we have bright, talented, dedicated men and women volunteering to do this job then why would we tell them no? Why do we care what their sexual orientation is in the first place? We don't care if you are straight how about we don't care if you are gay either? Being gay isn't a disease and it's not contagious. So stop being such a freak about it. You like members of the opposite sex, great! Good for you! When did you make that choice again? Oh you didn't...so it's not likely that you are all of a sudden going to make a choice to be gay because Jimmy over there happens to be gay. And Jimmy isn't going to pursue you when he knows that you aren't gay, sorry, hun, even as wonderful as you think you are, Jimmy is going to pursue other gay men not you. That's the way it works.

Brent was in the Navy, my father was in the Army, Brent's father was in the Army and the Reserves. I don't speak from a non-military background. I understand what it means to serve. I understand what it means to be a team. I understand about unit cohesion. If you cannot imagine yourself serving with someone who is different than you are then don't serve. I won't ask you to, you don't tell me you will. How is that for don't ask don't tell?