Think About It

You know the volatile issue with almost everyone else when President Clinton attempted to issue an executive order to overturn the ban on gays and lesbians from serving in the military during the first 60 days of his first term, I believe. Republicans, Conservatives, Pentagon officials and X-ians objected loudly for days.

Many said they cannot stand gays, they do not want to shower with gays. Blah, blah and blah. Clinton was pretty much cornered by this and Democrats told him that his decision to rush the change damaged his relationship with the Pentagon officials. How to solve? By having a compromise called, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that was adopted by Pentagon.

My good friend, Helmuth Boy, had a boyfriend in the US Marines. He was pretty open. I was horrified when he kissed Helmuth in front of his Marine buddies. But they kept his secret. Helmuth Boy said that he played with his boyfriend at the Marine barracks, always verging on a risk. It was funny, though.

Basically, the main reason President Clinton did attempt to issue an executive order was to fulfill his promises he made during the campaigns to stop discrimination on gays and lesbians who served well for the US Armed Forces. Many were dishonorable discharge which means they cannot get a decent job with the government. Don't tell me that they can find a decent job somewhere else. I know because my brother was dishonorable discharged from the Navy, not because of this policy but because he KO'ed the drill sargeant who berated him. He had a hard time to get a job for a long time before he finally got one, like 4 or 5 years later. Was it right? Of course not.

Anyway, it was much melodramatic in Washington (I know because I was there!) that Clinton had to make a compromise to appease both sides.

Now, many gay Republicans and gay conservatives taunted Clinton for starting it. It is ridiculous. They completely exonerated Republicans and conservatives who objected to this and held Clinton responsible for the DADT policy.

Tonight, I watched the rerun of famous show called M*A*S*H which ran from 1970 to 1981, won many acclaimed awards and was very popular with the viewers. In fact, when it aired its last show, the nielsen confirmed that it was the highest rating ever in the history of television. It even beat Super Bowl games, Seinfeld, et al.

But many Deafies did not care much for them because they were never captioned until now. Go figure.

But anyway, when I stared at that show, I thought it was ironic that in that show, everyone accepted Maxwell Q. Klinger's sexuality and he did his job. He was a drag queen ... always dressed as woman all the time but nobody cared.

Yet, the right-wing nuts goes bazooka in '92 over Clinton trying to override the ban with an executive order? These folks need to watch the reruns of M*A*S*H all over again.

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