According to the Associated Press, Skelton told reporters that repeal of the policy could put families in a difficult position because it could prompt children to ask about homosexuality. “What do mommies and daddies say to their 7-year-old child?” he asked. Skelton, one of the 26 Democrats who opposed repeal in the House, added that his “biggest concern are the families.”
You’d think that I would have learned this lesson by this point in my life. Then again, I’m renowned for being phenomenally stubborn. I happen to rebel at the idea that hatred is as American as apple pie and stripper poles. Children don’t leap out of the womb hating those who think, look, live, and/or love differently than the majority. No, hate is something that children learn because their parents teach it to them. It doesn’t have to be that way, and it shouldn’t be, but it is…and so has it ever been. Ignorance, intolerance, and hatred are “gifts” passed from generation to generation because…well, because that’s the way it’s always been done. Rep. Skelton, the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is so steeped in hatred that it apparently has never occurred to him that the answer to his question is a very simple one.
“What do mommies and daddies say to their 7-year-old child?” Well, how about teaching our children that some people live and love differently? How about emphasizing that “different” doesn’t ipso facto translate to “bad”, “wrong”, “evil”, or “deserving of being oppressed and treated like second-class citizens”? Why must we begin by teaching our children to hate and fear what they might not understand? The reality, of course, is that adults hate and fear what we don’t understand, so of course we see nothing wrong in passing that hatred and fear along to our progeny.
If the majority of uniformed personnel and a majority of Americans are ready for the demise of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, then perhaps Skelton could benefit from a good, long look in the mirror. Were he to do that, he might just realize that his ignorance and prejudice have little if anything to do with protecting families. In the final analysis, it has everything to do with protecting the absolute right of Americans to teach their children to hate and fear what they don’t, can’t, or refuse to understand.
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There was a time when politicians were convinced that allowing women and African-Americans into the military would hurt “unit cohesion” or impair readiness. Somehow, our military accepted reality, made the necessary changes, and moved one. While things may not be perfect, history has shown that the American military will do and adapt to what it’s ordered to. The ugliness of hatred and oppression is preached and advocated by dinosaurs like Skelton with an investment in maintaining the status quo. Skelton is so steeped in hatred and discrimination that he refuses to accept the radical idea that homosexuals want to be able to serve and defend their country like anyone else. Period. It really is that simple. They live, breath, bleed, and yes, even die like any heterosexual. Yet the repeal of DADT is being delayed because homosexuals make Skelton feel all oogy and uncomfortable? Get over yourself, Congressman.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
