Lifting Ban on Gays in Military

Your editorial used a very tired argument for allowing gays and lesbians in the military, namely that there is no evidence that they are more promiscuous than heterosexuals. I totally agree. The problem is that we would be expecting them to be so much less promiscuous. I am heterosexual, and no more or less promiscuous than the next man or woman. But if you put me in a communal shower with 50 people of the sex I found attractive (female), then I would very definitely have a problem.

Am I to believe that a homosexual male could be in a communal shower with 50 people of the sex he found attractive (male) and not have a similar problem? Or are we to expect all homosexuals allowed in the military to be saints?

I spent eight years in the Marine Corps, and during that time met several male and female Marines who were homosexual or bisexual. They were for the most part good Marines, but they were drastically in the minority, and knew that their conduct was officially frowned upon. I believe if their numbers were significantly increased and no official prohibition existed that their “sainthood” would have been severely strained, as would relations and morale within the unit.

RAND COLLINS

Upland