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representing the entire U.S. military, I think he should be fired faster than a speeding Baghdad bullet. That’s my exercise of free speech. It’s indefensible that he wants his personal beliefs to govern public policy. Last time I checked we weren’t a theocracy yet.
    But at least General Pace is honest.
    Bigots who hide behind the troop morale pretext make me gag. These people envision gay men who would choose military careers wearing nipple rings with their uniforms, soliciting in the showers and threatening the dignity of heterosexuals as they lie in their barracks beds. You just know that’s what they conjure in their tiny intolerant brains.
    Indulge me, but do you know any nudists? I do. At least I’ve heard that some people I know are nudists (or naturists as they prefer to be called). Since I’m not a naturist myself (I hear you breathing that sigh of relief) the world of naturism is foreign to me. Even a little off-putting, if you will, because I know nothing about it and it raises thoughts of a great big social taboo. Fine. While I’d be uncomfortable at a party with naturists behaving like naturists while I try to avert my eyeballs, I have no problem with naturists who are dressed in public. What they do behind closed doors or on secluded beaches is their business.
    But if the aforementioned naturists worked at CAMP Rehoboth (they don’t, so stop fantasizing) or in a corporate setting where they valued their careers, would they strip down and show me Trafalgar Square by the water cooler? Would they attend staff meetings in the nude? Not only wouldn’t they do it, but where would they stash their Blackberrys?
    Let’s ask ourselves if America would put up with a public policy stating that naturists are barred from military service or corporate careers because they behave in an immoral manner in private? Sadly, now that I’ve brought the subject up, under the current political administration, they just might. But it would be unforgivably stupid, insulting, and a complete waste of talented people who would show up to work in clothing, even on casual Friday.
    Okay, you can pick at this analogy, but in a hate-the-sin, love-the-sinner scenario, it’s just as disturbing to bar gay people from the military when they are not having sex as it is to bar nudist people from the military when they are not butt naked.
    Yes, I know, practicing nudity is a choice and practicing homosexuality is how we are born (besides, we don’t need practice, we are good at it). And yes, I know that being a nudist is a choice and being a homosexual is not. But face it, if we apply the ridiculous hate-the-sinner standard to both, nudists and gays would be suspect for what they DO, not who they are.
    I think it’s ridiculous to bar homosexuals and nudists from the work place even when they are not practicing, in public, forall the world to ogle, the act that labels them homosexuals or nudists in the first place.
    Ooh, here’s another imperfect but illustrative analogy of naked is as naked does. While I may not be a nudist (sorry to remind you of that image again), I do have a tattoo. A small one, on my ankle. But years ago I knew a fellow who went into a tattoo frenzy in college. By the time I met him, he was reconciled to wearing long sleeves, even on sweltering days, just to look appropriate at client meetings. He may have been a proud tattoo owner on Friday evening, but during the work week he wore his corporate drag.
    Would a person who wants to show off, all the time, tattooed arms, legs, and cheeks in both possible locations want to work in a place where everybody else covers up with Armani? I think not. Likewise it would be pretty brainless for a nudist to expect to be able to show up in the Board room without his pants.
    So too, even pea-brained bigots have to realize that a gay man who wants to succeed in the military would not jeopardize his career by wearing a feather boa with