Homosexuality in the U.S. Military

Paper Summary:

Beginning with the discharge of Gotthold Fredrick Enslin from the U.S. military in 1778, this paper examines the history of homosexuality, which has emerged as one of the most salient issues within the U.S. military, as harassment, abuse, expulsion, and, in rare cases, murder, have become prevalent practices towards homosexuals. The paper examines the policies of the American government towards banning homosexuals from the military and Bill Clinton's 1993 law, which repudiated the ban that has enabled the U.S. military the legal right to exclude homosexuals from military service. The paper also looks at the issue of modesty and the the opinion of those who who feel that heterosexual soldiers might become sexual objects for homosexual soldiers if they were admitted into the military.

From the Paper:

"While the military's policy necessitates that gay men remain reticent of their sexual orientation, Professor Aaron Belkin affirms that if the ban were to be lifted, very few gays would actually come out of the closet because in most cases an openly gay individual would find himself in a rather precarious situation. The malicious nature of fellow service-members is a consequence of our society's unfamiliarity with homosexuality, consequently creating a propensity for many soldiers to make presumptions based on little information. Moreover, the policy of preserving the modesty of heterosexual men is based on the prudishness of American society and more importantly a naive conviction that homosexual attraction is congruent to heterosexual attraction."

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