the awesome/terrifying freedom

went to cape cod for the weekend. was awesome. stayed at a little bed and breakfast in harwich port, run by nancy and carl, an older couple who probably have the best job in the world: maintaining their quaint garden while visitors come and go. nancy gives travel tips, tells the wives where to go shopping, and carl tells the guys where the good boat tours are. spent lots of time on the beach equalizing-out my farmer tan.

there's an article in the advocate about gays and the draft - how 'don't ask don't tell' may no longer be enforced in order to have an effective draft.

now this raises some interesting issues, doesn't it? in some ways it's a victory, in some ways a loss. on the victory side, it shows how attitudes have changed and brings us a step closer to equality in the armed forces. on the loss side, it means we get no more easy out! the military knows that anyone who might not want to fight simply has to say 'i'm a homo' and they get an easy exemption. fear and latent hatred are the basis of 'don't ask don't tell' - it presupposes that homosexuality is a deviant behavior that no military applicant would want to admit to. the need to remove the ban in order to maintain a draft shows how much more secure and accepting people have become; it's clear that straight men are now willing to lie about being gay in order to avoid serving - a prospect once thought unimaginable, or at least so socially taboo that it would be unlikely.

it reminds me of a draft exercise my dad does in his high school social studies classes - in a re-enactment of the draft, those 'drafted' would have to write an essay paper on some subject to do with the draft - but you could also get out of it with a doctor's note saying you'd be 'unfit to serve', or write a paper proving yourself a conscientious objector. (problem was, getting out of it was about the same amount of work, so i just wrote my paper.) i don't think it crossed anyone's mind in the class to just say that they were gay. today i bet the whole class would raise their hands, have no problem declaring homo status and head happily home.

perhaps the military will have to employ varying degrees of enforcement. at present, anyone who 'tells' in word or action is to be discharged. perhaps now it will only be action that warrants dismissal. which means you'd have to really prove yourself gay before being discharged or disqualified. maybe future recruitments will go like this:

1: i can't be in the army.

recruiter: why not?

1: cuz i'm gay.

recruiter: really?

1: yeah.

recruiter: sure?

1: yeah.

recruiter: positive?

1: yeah.

recruiter: don't like boobies?

1: nope.

recruiter: sure?

1: yep.

recruiter: ever touched one?

1: yeah.

recruiter: nothing?

1: nothing.

recruiter: wow.

1: i know right.

recruiter: so, you're definitely a homo?

1: definitely.

recruiter: because people can be confused about that kind of thing for a long time.

1: no, i'm sure.

recruiter: see i'm afraid that's just not enough to disqualify you.

1: oh. then what do i need to/

recruiter: /well you're gonna have to kiss rodrigo here.

1: kiss who?

recruiter: rodrigo. he's been trained. he can tell.

1: oh.

recruiter: because you might be lying.

1: ah.

recruiter: and we can't have that.

1: no.

recruiter: everyone's tryin' to wave the rainbow flag, you know?

1: gotcha.

recruiter: so we needed a litmus test.

1: rodrigo.

recruiter: yep. so you gotta french rodrigo to prove your orientation. and rodrigo will tell us if you're lying.

1: how does he..

recruiter: know? we can't tell you that. he just does.

1: okay.

recruiter: oh, try and angle yourself this way while you're doing it. the recruitment webcam over there is paying for our new tanks and uniforms.