After seven years, no problems. Eat your heart out, Chicken Little.
Since the British military began allowing homosexuals to serve in the armed forces in 2000, none of its fears — about harassment, discord, blackmail, bullying or an erosion of unit cohesion or military effectiveness — have come to pass, according to the Ministry of Defense, current and former members of the services and academics specializing in the military. The biggest news about the policy, they say, is that there is no news. It has for the most part become a nonissue.
The Ministry of Defense does not compile figures on how many gay men and lesbians are openly serving, and it says that the number of people who have come out publicly in the past seven years is still relatively low. But it is clearly proud of how smoothly homosexuals have been integrated and is trying to make life easier for them.
But our allies across the pond still have one huge fear regarding gays in the military: the United States. That’s right, the leading anxiety regarding gays in the UK military is our reaction to their success. After all, the British military’s success at integrating might be seen as nothing more than a trumped up left wing attack (all those British gay service men and women being on their best behavior for seven years) designed to discredit the GOP, bash President Bush, and lull Great Britain into thinking gays are somehow normal.
Nonetheless, the issue is extremely delicate now. The military does not want to be seen bragging about the success of its policy when the issue can still cause so much anguished debate in the United States. This is particularly true in light of tensions between the allies after a British coroner ruled in March that a British soldier who died four years ago was unlawfully killed by an American pilot.
What? They are worried about offending us after we accidentally shot them?
Ain’t it wonderful to be on the winning end of imperialism?
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