I explain why Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos's concerns about gays and lesbians serving openly becoming a "distraction" that would lead to battlefield casualties is unfounded over at Greg's place:
There are gay Marines serving under Gen. Amos as we speak -- they're simply not doing so openly. Those Marines aren't going to lose control of their libidos the moment they no longer have to serve in the closet. Among those Marines who believed they had already served in combat alongside gay and lesbian troops, 84 percent said their ability to work together as a unit was not negatively affected. These are the kinds of results that led the Pentagon to conclude that its study revealed "a misperception that a gay man does not "fit" the image of a good warfighter -- a misperception that is almost completely erased when a gay Service member is allowed to prove himself alongside fellow warfighters."
That finding mirrors what the military learned during the process of racial integration. It's worth remembering -- again -- that opposition to integrating the military was much higher in the service than repealing DADT is now, with some surveys showing between 80 to 90 percent of the service opposed. American society itself was still sharply divided along racial lines. The U.S. was at war in Korea, and the military was far larger than it is now. By 1951, more than a decade before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, military studies had shown integration to be an unqualified success. To be sure, racial tensions persisted long afterward -- but few today would cite that as a justifiable reason for forcing blacks to serve in segregated units. Major General Idwal Edwards' 1946 remarks warning of the "ineptitude and limited capacity of the Negro soldier," seem preposterous now. But even Gen. Edwards, by 1948, understood that problems with integration could be "minimized if commanders give the implementation of this policy their personal attention and exercise positive control."
The example of integration suggests that the most entrenched social divisions can be overcome if the commanders set a strong enough example, which is the opposite of what Amos was doing.
