Gay and Transgender Issues in the Workplace

     Over 1,000 retired military officers feel that the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces, unlike those who serve in 20 of the 26 NATO member countries, are emotionally immature and sexually insecure. They also feel that the overwhelming majority of parents in the United States are homophobic.

     In urging President Obama not to follow the lead of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Israel, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, all of whom welcome the service of openly gay and lesbian citizens, the retired officers said repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy “would undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadership at all levels, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lend their sons and daughters to military service, and eventually break the All-Volunteer Force.” Yikes! If gay people have that much power, wouldn’t it make sense for the U.S. to have an all gay army, such as the renowned Sacred Band of Thebes in Ancient Greece?

     As any sexuality counselor, therapist, or educator can tell you, the only heterosexuals who are threatened by the presence of gay people are those who do not feel secure in their own sexuality. Emotionally healthy individuals are comfortable with diversity. Is it possible that the American youth who sign up for military service are less sexually secure and emotionally healthy than those American men and women who sign up to be police officers and fire fighters in the U.S., both of which groups actively recruit gay people?  Should we believe that they are less stable than their French, Italian, German, or British counterparts? If so, do we as a country want to perpetuate their immaturity by protecting them through restrictive policies or should we instead help bring them up to the standards of the rest of the world?

     The reality, of course, is that the American heterosexual youth who sign up for service in the Armed Forces are just as emotionally mature as their peers throughout the world. It’s our retired military personnel that feel sexually insecure – at least the 1,000 who signed the letter to President Obama that urged him to maintain the ban on openly gay people. But not all retired military are as sexually unhealthy. Colin Powell, the architect of the ban, wants to revisit it, as does Sam Nunn, who once led the battle in the Senate to keep openly gay people from serving.

     President Obama, his Secretary of Defense, and his Joint Chiefs of Staff, are intent on changing the policy. To do so, they will need the support of Congress. For Congress to vote intelligently, they need information. The best and most current information available is in the new book by Nathaniel Frank entitled Unfriendly Fire – How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America. Ray and I paid to have a copy sent to us and to one member of Congress. So too did 129 other people. General John Shalikashvili, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said “This book should be mandatory reading.”

     It only costs $38.00 to receive and to send a copy of the book to a member of Congress. Doing so would help make our representatives more sexually secure and emotionally healthy than the 1,000 former officers they have just heard from. If you’d like to help, please visit the book’s author at www.nathanielfrank.com.