"to gay community: now that you can join the military, please don't"

[niyad]

To the Gay Community: Now That You Can Join the Military, Please Don’t!

by Medea Benjamin

The peace group I cofounded, CODEPINK, has not only been protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the drone attacks in Pakistan, but we have been going to military recruiting stations, high schools and career fairs throughout the country encouraging our youth not to join the military. We talk to young people about the illegality of the wars under international law since we were not attacked by either Iraq or Afghanistan. We talk about how killing and maiming innocent civilians is morally wrong and creates new enemies, perpetuating the cycle of violence. We explain that the majority of Afghans and Iraqis want us out of their country and that these wars are not making us safer. We insist that our military should be used to defend us at home, not to invade other people's lands.

We know that the military is one of the only ways many young people can afford a college education these days and that the financial crisis severely limits this generation's career options. But we still encourage young men and women to look for other opportunities that don't involved killing or being killed in wars we shouldn't be fighting.
. . . . . . .

We also understand the potential for a powerful alliance between the gay and anti-war communities. We can work together to help young people--gay and straight--find careers that won't kill them, maim them, destroy them psychologically, or cause them to do harm to others. We can jointly reach out to those already in the military to speak out against the violations of the rights of peoples whose land we occupy. We can ask gay veterans to join groups like Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War. And we can work together to turn our military from an aggressive force to one that truly defends us here at home.

As we struggle to find a more civilized way to treat each other in this world, let us recognize the commonalities in the fight for gay rights and the fight to end war.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/21-3

[emulatorloo]

1. There are gays in the military already. Repeal of DADT allows them to serve openly

I get the point of the article though

[stevenleser]

2. I love Medea, but she is wrong here.

We need more Liberals and Progressives in the military. Not less.

The policies that we need to change have nothing to do with whether one joins the military or not.

[MadHound]

4. And what will more liberals do in the military?

Oh, yeah, obey orders, pick up a gun, march in a straight line and kill innocent civilians. The policies that you want to change aren't made by the military, but rather by the military's civilian bosses. You know, people like the CinC and such.

Frankly we do need to discourage anybody, gay, straight, whatever, from joining the military. It is one of the few ways that we the people can hope to bring about an end to these wars, starve the beast.

[MineralMan]

3. How about letting each person decide that on his or her own,

Medea? How would that be?

[superduperfarleft]

6. Um, that's what she's doing.

She's just giving a reason for them to not do so.

Expressing an opinion is not "forcing" anyone to do anything.

[UTUSN]

5. K&R #1 n/t

[ecstatic]

7. That's strange...

(2/3/10) Medea Benjamin demonstrates on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on Tuesday as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing related to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

After putting in so much effort to get DADT repealed, now she says gays shouldn't join the military?!

[MadHound]

9. No, she's saying that nobody should join the military. n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. K&R And the same goes for straights.

[pipi_k]

10. My problem with her suggestion....

Is when she writes this:

"We know that the military is one of the only ways many young people can afford a college education these days and that the financial crisis severely limits this generation's career options. But we still encourage young men and women to look for other opportunities that don't involved killing or being killed in wars we shouldn't be fighting."


Is she offering an alternative to young people who can't afford a college education?

No.

No other sources of funding.

Not even alternate ways to get assured funding.

Just a very lame, "Look for other opportunities". Oh yeah...duhhhhh....there's a plan! :eyes:


If she really wants gays to have opportunities they can't get unless they join the military, then I think she should put her money where her mouth is and offer some. Or shut up.

[Rex]

11. What causes so many people to dismiss CODEPINK?

Did they pee in the cereal when I wasn't looking?

[T Wolf]

12. CodePink causes a little dissonance in Conservadems because they so clearly point out

where the system fails "we the people."

Too many (a majority of Dems?) are actually to the right of center, even in the warped definitions of the terms used today.

In this instance, they cannot see that having a bloated war machine is hurting us so much. They worship the soldiers, no matter what they do.

Most people here (not counting trolls), unfortunately, do not want to really change the system but simply want a kinder, gentler capitalism. They think that it can be improved, even under present circumstances.

The CPers are loud and speak uncomfortable truths. This bothers those who have gotten used to surrendering on everything.

[stevenleser]

14. Disagreeing with one statement is dismissing? I love CODEPINK and Medea

and I have defended them on Fox. I just think she is wrong here.

[TheWraith]

15. Because they like flashy, attention grabbing stunts that make them look insane.

Like showing up in a Senate hearing covering themselves in fake blood. The kind of thing that makes legitimate anti-war protesters look like delusional hippie freaks by association.

[Kaleva]

17. Probably because they've never been succesful in anything they attempted.

[xchrom]

13. I want equality for myself and my people - but I also

Don't want them to join the military.

I want fewer of everybody seeking the military as any
Kind of alternative in their lives.

[niyad]

16. . . .