When Tony Blair's government lifted the ban on gays serving in British forces we too went through all this crap. ("They've gone stark, staring bonkers!" "Morale will collapse with decent soldiers wondering if their fighting colleagues are eyeing them up." etc) What Blair was doing was only equalising the situation here with all of the rest of western Europe. A few years after the ban was lifted there was a commission by senior officials from all the services looking into what difference the change had made to fighting capabilities. Verdict? No change at all. We even had conservative politicians who had previously opposed any change conceding publicly that they'd been wrong. Since then it's been a complete non-subject - apart from the very few rabid reactionaries who'd never admit they'd make a mistake in anything. But everyone, including our Conservative Party, ignored them. It's not in that many cases where America doesn't lead the world, but on this subject I think it's a matter of 'catch-up'.
That's the reason I'm thinking about enlisting.
ReplyDeletem.
Is that so wrong???
ReplyDeleteWhen Tony Blair's government lifted the ban on gays serving in British forces we too went through all this crap. ("They've gone stark, staring bonkers!" "Morale will collapse with decent soldiers wondering if their fighting colleagues are eyeing them up." etc) What Blair was doing was only equalising the situation here with all of the rest of western Europe. A few years after the ban was lifted there was a commission by senior officials from all the services looking into what difference the change had made to fighting capabilities. Verdict? No change at all. We even had conservative politicians who had previously opposed any change conceding publicly that they'd been wrong. Since then it's been a complete non-subject - apart from the very few rabid reactionaries who'd never admit they'd make a mistake in anything. But everyone, including our Conservative Party, ignored them. It's not in that many cases where America doesn't lead the world, but on this subject I think it's a matter of 'catch-up'.
ReplyDeleteHasn't it always?
ReplyDelete