If anyone's interested in the words of a religionist who isn't a conservative, Bible-poundin', gay-bashin' loon, Padre Steve, who's commented here a few times, seems to be in the midst of producing a series of posts on gay rights in the US. Though he's touched on the topic in the past, he's now produced four in a row, here, here, here and here. The Padre being both a career military-man and a historian, and someone who has had something of a conservative-to-liberal epiphany himself (is it technically an epiphany if it happens gradually?), I think his viewpoint is subtly different enough to be fresh, and worthy of notice. (Oh, and someone who likes to quote from SF shows now and again to illustrate a point. How much recommendation do you need fer Pete's sake?)
That second link in particular might be of interest to LGB folk, if any should read this (LGBT? I'm not certain what the US military stance on trans* is or if such cases have ever come up in practice), who served in the US military during the DADT era. To quote the Padre:
I have been reading Randy Shilts' book Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military. The book came out the month that Shilts, who had written the book that defined the tragedy of the AIDS crisis in its first years died of AIDS. The book is the most comprehensive treatment of the persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the military ever written. However, the book, published shortly after the establishment of DADT when Shilts was dying does not deal with what the Gays and Lesbians who served under DADT went through.
I want to write that book.
If you or anyone you know served in the military after DADT experienced the persecution that still occurred during that time I would like to hear from you. You can contact me by e-mail. I will maintain your confidentiality, after all, I am a priest.
While I realise that last line might not inspire the confidence amongst my own readers that it might amongst his, I should add that, though nothing is one-hundred percent certain in this world, I've been following the Padre's blog for quite some time, and consider him both something of a friend, and, more importantly, trustworthy. Well, as trustworthy as anyone could be, who admits to following that strange game you Americans play instead of cricket, and who seems to have a taste for the heathen 'lager' concoction which way too many people insist on calling 'beer.'
—Daz
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You and your dogmatic beliefs. Just as bad as the fundies 🙂
Yep me and my Lager-o-baseball-o-phobia…!