Joseph Couture is a Canadian based Author and Freelance Journalist. Joseph's blogsite can be found here: [ Link ]
By Joseph Couture (London, Ontario) SEPT 5 | For as long as I can remember, the right to serve in the military has been one of the top priorities of the gay movement in the United States. But I hope to convince people to change that.
Let me first say that I don’t doubt for a minute the sincere intentions behind the push for a change in military policy regarding homosexuals. No doubt gays and lesbians have a noble desire to serve their country honourably like any one else who joins the military.
But the fact is your noble intentions will be put to shame by the reality of war. Chances are you will not be asked to defend your country and the values you believe in from a genuine threat. The truth is that you will be sent off to fight in one of the many corrupt, imperialist criminal assaults the United States continues to launch against foreign nations.
Iraq and Afghanistan are merely the most current examples of American war crimes. George Bush put the good men and women of the armed forces in harm’s way not to protect America from weapons of mass destruction or terrorists, but for more sinister and selfish reasons.
The U.S. is in these countries killing and torturing anyone who stands in their way of acquiring oil and other riches. The military is not their defending America, it is there robbing, raping and pillaging the land. Is this what gays and lesbians want to be part of?
It is true that the military openly discriminates against gays and lesbians without any logical justification. That is unfair, unjust and unreasonable because we are fully capable of serving just like anyone else. But ask yourselves, do you really want to?
Yes, we are just as good as the next person, but instead of being equal, maybe could aim higher and seek to be better than the immoral leaders who launch these unconscionable raids on sovereign foreign nations to enrich themselves?
One of the many ridiculous justifications the military uses to keep gays and lesbians out of service is a belief that we are a security risk because we are unprincipled. I would like to show them how principled we really are by refusing to participate in their criminal enterprise.
One of the main reason many young people join the military is a strong and dedicated desire to serve their country. But how will your dedication be rewarded in the end?
If you are not killed in the process of stealing everything you can from some far away peoples of another land, there is a strong possibility you will end up physically or psychologically scared for life.
If you suffer from some form of physical or mental disability when you return home from service, the government will do as little as possible to help you as they can. Their priority is to spend as little of the rich people’s money on you as possible.
They will begrudge or even deny you health care, education, disability benefits or even basic necessities. Veterans are disproportionately the hardest hit by unemployment, homelessness, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and any number of other devastating afflictions.
What you get in return for your good intentions, hard work and sacrifice is a cruel brush off. As far as many politicians are concerned, the faster, cheaper and quieter you disappear the better.
In my view, it is time for the gay and lesbian movement to reconsider its priorities. Instead of fighting for the right to participate in immoral crimes against humanity like any one else, I say we should aspire to something entirely different. It is time to stop working for the right to participate in this gratuitous and never ending violence and start working for peace and justice. We should stand together not so we can win the right to rush off to war, but rather to show our dedication to our fellow man by ending war once and for all.
Please, I implore my brothers and sisters in the gay community to reconsider. Change course now before you actually succeed in getting what you are asking for-the right to commit crimes we should be working to stop forever.
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1 comments:
Joseph Couture is a breath of fresh air direct from the minds and hearts of the humanist principles that have shaped the peace movement throughout history.
Whilst the desire to side with the old cry of "Make Love, Not War," is strong and ultimately on the side of peace, it has to be stated that when a Hitler or power crazed regime rises up to oppress us all, with totalitarian military forces, freedom is left with little choice but to attempt to stop them.
However the new and latest Hitlers are more covert, more underhanded and indeed more intent on subjugating the masses with lies and fabrications through the manipulations of belief in religion, coercion by the pretence of news in the media, and encouraging a false patriotism in the honourable, the brave, and the foolhardy. But like all demagogues those regimes rob us of our freedoms, our human rights and our dignity.
If LGBT people are serious about demanding the right to love, then what Joseph Couture says about not being involved in immoral conflicts, make sense, and the best way to save lives may well be to advise those who wish to serve human freedoms, to join a peace corps, or a medical unit or any of the civilian services that protect our human rights and well being.
In our own struggle for the right to be who we are as LGBT people, we must not make the mistake of using Love as a weapon, as so many of our enemies do today.
"Love is a cause, the only cause worth fighting for, and the only weapon we should ever use is laughter."
- Peter Ustinov. (paraphrased)
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