Apparently our opponents think some forms of asking and telling are just fine. Actually, I have no real problems with Ask Day. I’m not against our opponents using social pressure to achieve their policy goals. In a free society, shame is really what should keep people in line, rather than governmental fiats. The real reason the gay rights movement has won is because they removed the shame in it, no matter how badly social conservatives might try to reassert it.
I view this similarly to conservative efforts to shame homosexuality. I am not supportive of such efforts, but I still believe they have a right to do it. Strangely enough, despite my opinions favoring gay marriage and favoring non-discrimination in sexual orientation — when it comes to the military, I’m not quite as much of a cheerleader. The military currently segregates men and women because there’s an understanding that sexual issues can be problematic in a military environment, where intimate living arrangements can be the rule rather than the exception.
That said, I’m not in favor of DADT because the military has demonstrated they can’t help but abuse the policy. I can understand how sexual issues could come into play where intimate living conditions are the norm, but there have been enough cases of the military drumming gays out of the service just for the sake of doing so that I can no longer support this policy.
Apparently our opponents do not wish to take this kind of approach, because when it comes to supporting enumerated constitutional freedoms, they let their own ignorance rule. I have no problems with parents asking other parents about guns in the house, but if in that same sentence they aren’t also asking about swimming pools and dangerous household chemicals, they are being naive in their duties. Statistically all those things kill more kids by accident than firearms do.
