by Gary Farber.
Major Olmsted is no longer with us; he died a hero.
Doctor Science wrote a superb post in the last week of December on DADT and Rape Culture, which didn’t get remotely the attention it deserved, because, of course, it was just after Christmas, and before New Year’s, in America, according to the majority calendar.
Spirited debate did result in comments, and the debate, while tedious and understandably offensive to many, nonetheless had many comments I thought worthwhile. Open debate is something we try to aim for at Obsidian Wings, though like all bloggers, we have our personal views and prejudices.
I’m extremely grateful to long time and valued commenter Mike Schilling, who has been writing smart stuff online at least since the Nineties on Usenet, for reminding us, and me in particular, of the late Major Andrew Olmsted’s, former co-blogger here on Obsidian Wings and elsewhere (see our upper right sidebar, please), first under his own name, and then under the pseudonym of “G’Kar,” from his beloved Babylon 5, which was one of the best serial space operas yet made for American television, words and views about gays in the military, written December 21, 2007 in a post entitled Military Musings.
Andy started off talking about the M4 carbine, and then moved onto this, which I’ll quote, because he isn’t here to do so himself:
[…] Now, on to other topics, like heterosexism in the military and the breaking of the Army. While I am sure that what OCSteve recalls as the situation extant in his unit when he served prior to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) may have been the case in his unit, I find it less plausible that a similar situation obtained across the entire military. As Jesurgislac points out, the military was discharging people vigorously for their sexuality throughout the 1980s; DADT may have made matters worse for gays and lesbians, but they were far from accepted before that policy arrived. I have nothing but contempt for a policy that permits convicted criminals to serve while asking people to leave simply because their sexuality or gender does not fit neatly into society’s binary system.