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# Don’t ask, do tell
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/dont-ask-do-tell/
- Published: 2008-04-16T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:53:51.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

LET ME GET THIS, AHEM, STRAIGHT … social conservatives from both sides of the Political Divide have had their leopard print man panties in a twist over the open inclusion of gays in the military. OK, let’s start with the uniforms.

The US Army could use Karl Lagerfeld’s help here with their Class A dress togs. They look like Christmas trees without the electric lights plugged in … way too busy and way too many accessories. And the Air Force, booorrring! Those hunky buzz cut Marines are a close second as America’s Next Top Model yet this season’s Hot Topic is the US Navy with its Gothic midnight blue 13-button bell-bottoms matched with a fetching jumper topped with a Dixie cup chapeau cocked at jaunty angle. Simple, elegant and so tres FABU!! The Village People even have a song, you know.

When I was in the Reagan Navy, the imprimatur of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was Slick Willy’s futuristic wet dream. Quite frankly, most of us didn’t give a rippin’ squat. Our bottom line was, “can you do your flippin’ job, squid?”What one did while on liberty was one’s own affair just so long as hospitals, fire departments or Shore Patrol weren’t involved, although it’s really bad when all three show up. It does take the “F” out of “Fun.”

In the 1970’s, I lived in San Francisco with my first wife. My neighbor, Mike, was a decorated Vietnam era Army Ranger. He was a walking recruiting poster for the Armed Forces: 6’3”, blond hair, hazel eyes, a smile and chin like Dudley Do-Right, yet was as gay as the sky was blue. He did not affect the stereotype of a “Will and Grace” Nancy Boy. His personal expressions on deportment regarding his homosexuality was, “… if you’re gonna be queer, be a man about it.”

Roger that Mike. The argument of “lifestyle vs. biology” is stupid and mean and the social cripples who use it as a justification to disallow an individual the distinct privilege of serving their country are frightened by their own ignorance. And the extant Clintonian policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is an extension and expression of that fear. Who is convinced that this will resolve with Hillary as “commando in chief?” Maybe I misspoke.

Pink Pistols is an LGBT gun rights advocacy organization. This is just exquisite. I just bought a couple of their coffee mugs to show my support. I don’t blame the LGBT community for Right-fully arming themselves; Matthew Shepherd comes to mind. And Pink Pistols is at the forefront of gun rights organizations pushing for a CCW \[concealed carry weapons\] law in California that would emulate 40 other states in the Republic. California is sooo “last year” on this. Folks, we want these self-directed individuals in our Armed Services!

> “You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.” — - Barry Goldwater - Barry Goldwater Don’t ask, do tell. THE ARGUMENT OF ‘LIFESTYLE VS. BIOLOGY’ IS STUPID AND MEAN AND THE SOCIAL CRIPPLES WHO USE IT AS A JUSTIFICATION TO DISALLOW AN INDIVIDUAL THE DISTINCT PRIVILEGE OF SERVING THEIR COUNTRY ARE FRIGHTENED BY THEIR OWN IGNORANCE

> “Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar.”

Much of the electoral discourse is rife with concern over the war. Collectively ponder this query: How is it that a Green Card immigrant is allowed a path to citizenship based on successful completion of military service yet a “pink” citizen is excluded out of hand from the same service to the Republic and must hide in the shadows?

And redoubt yourselves that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will ch-ch-change under the ministrations of Barry Obama. Recently, yet another of Obama’s platoon has deployed to the front lines and has charged forth from the same racist foxhole as his “Uncle” Jeremiah but with the added alpha-tango-foxtrot of LGBT hate baiting.

Tony Rezko-funded Illinois state Sen. Rev. James T. Meeks is listed, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, as one of the “10 leading black voices in the anti-gay movement.” This racial grievance bonehead is metastasized from the same homophobic cancer as conservative social bozo Rev. John Hagee, yet is possessed of only a duskier complexion.

A long time Obama cabana boy, Meeks was described in a 2004 Chicago Sun Times article as one of the mentors that Obama regularly seeks out for “spiritual counsel.” Rev. Meeks is listed prominently on Obama’s Web site and will cottage with Barry as a delegate at the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver.

As Yogi Berra opined, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Or are the “chickens coming home to roost?” When does the benefit of doubt surrender to guilt by association? What else is in Barry’s closet besides race baiters and homophobes?

STEVE BREEN is an un-closeted Conservative and “the best looking mailman at the Post Office.” He

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 16, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041608.pdf?ref=smdp.com)