Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Federal Wedge of Homosexual Marriage

Now that everyone is confused about the idea of homosexuals in uniform and about the nature of marriage and how we got to where we are, let me put some perspective on it. 

First of all, we've always had homosexual warriors.  This goes back to Sparta, Rome, Native Americans and the Nazi Brown Shirts prior to the "Night of the Long Knives".   We've had them all along in this country too, William Manchester talks about them in "Goodbye Darkness."   The military is by nature a strange thing, that no one outside the service will ever know.  We all know what the rules are, but the level to which they are enforced is another thing.  We are of all things practical people.  Yes we have the crazies, but on the whole we are not robots to be ordered to our deaths. 

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and its predecessor codes prohibited all practices of sex outside of marriage.  Did that mean we didn't have adulterers or pederasts, hardly.  The best drill sergeant of my Infantry AIT company turned out to be a predator of recruits.  No fanfare or publicity, he was set away after a courts martial to Fort Leavenworth.   By the time we got to Don't Ask, Don't Tell, heterosexual sexual mischief was rampant in society and the military was no exception.  Prudent and thoughtful commanders always wanted discretion of sexual matters by his subordinates for the maintenace of good order and discipline.  In my 30 years of service I've never witnessed a sexual orientation witch hunt.  Though I've counselled members in favor of more discretion. 

The removal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", may seem a minor acknowledgement of a persons sexual orientation to be "gay" but it is more.   Acts which dishonor the uniform, will continue to be in force.  Predatory acts by both homosexuals and heterosexuals will continue to be banned, as will fraternization.  Discretion will still be the rule, nobody wants to hear about sexual conquests in polite society, and nobody wants a flaming homosexual giving a SITREP.  No one can dispute heroic and honorable service by homosexuals in uniform, but this is not to ignore problems that we've had with predatory behaviors that were punished under UCMJ for both hetero and homosexual members.  Sexual license will always be a problem.  

The problem ultimately is that the normalization of homosexuality in the military and will necessarily become a Federal wedge into the recognition of same sex marriage in all states. It works this way. All that is required by the military today, is to submit a notorized copy of a marriage certificate to the proper offices and your spouse is issued an ID card for all their federal spousal benefits.  The recognition of a spouse, essentially says that the federal government has blessed your union and now every state must recognize your standing. 

With federal recognition of spousal rights, a gay couple wed in a state with gay marriage, need only submit the document and because, self disclosure as a homosexual is permissible, homosexual marriage will now have federal standing, the issue of a state constitutions becomes irrelevant. 

So without popular will or legal rangling gay rights, is a fait accompli.   And everyone who thinks differently is just too dumb to know what happened. 

Time for the Tea Parties and States Rights to mobilize public opinion during the year that the military will study the issue and for Admiral Mullen to retire.