Homophobia is a completely invented term. It apparently means anyone who is in the state of thinking or believing that gay homosexual conduct is immoral. It is a slur, a pretend civil rights chant, cleverly twisted reality. After decades, I still haven’t heard any cogent argument in support of homosexual acts from a Christian perspective. I don’t think there is one.
But of course, we don’t live in a theocracy. Granted but neither must soldiers, sailors, marines throw away their Christian beliefs. It is natural that they will hold gay service members in low esteem - because the gays espouse that homosexual conduct is morally just fine – in opposition to Christian teaching. When gays are superiors, that makes for problems in the “unit cohension” among the military members.
Now, we have the added complication of the Supreme Court decriminalizing private homosexual conduct around 10 yrs ago. The military is primarily young men in the late teens and early twenties. There’s a lot of sex, drinking and sex crimes that go on. But now much of it will be legal. There are gays that do seduce junior service members. I’ve seen the courts-martial. In the gay mindset, there’s no problems with many, many partners, there’s status to bragging about conquests and trying to turn straights. There clearly will be jealousies from jolted lovers and straights who are harassed or who are angry that they must go while others have government-endorsed endless sex. There will be the claims of being discriminated against which will sound like whining to the straights. There will be a lot of antagonism and there are and will be suicides and murders.
If everyone in the military had a desk job and went home like civilians do, then, indeed, who would care and what’s the big deal. But see life on a ship or a tent or a submarine for just a few minutes and it might change your view slightly. Consider the young, straight, Christian man who bunks and showers within free sight of gays. His privacy is invaded, period. It isn’t homophobia to be aware that a gay man or woman might be attracted to a straight military person (you, your son, daughter, etc.) that has to do some kind of work with them. It is natural for the straight to be and feel inhibited. They’ll rarely, if ever, form the same kind of bond that the gays form with each other. The sexual attraction inhibits trust by straights. Military social functions with open gayness and significant others is going to be stilted and uncomfortable. Those funtions are supposed to enhance unit cohesion. You can’t legislate this away. Over time, many straights will simply not join or reenlist. None of this says the gays can’t be outstanding in numerous things but the underlying tensions will not go away and they will weaken the military. Sure as Christians, the straights must regard the gays with human respect but that won’t rise to the level of good unit cohesion.
I served as a female military JAG and spent just a few days at sea with 300 men on a ship during sea trials. I remember thinking thank God, I don’t have to be out here assigned to a ship (at that time females weren’t assigned to ships) because with all these handsome young guys, I might find myself in a mess. Simply put, the sexual urge is incredibly distracting. Distraction diminishes the mission. It will be about twenty years before the nation endures the numerous problems with open gays in the military and begins to opine that maybe it wasn’t so advisable after all.
In my view, most gays are suffering terribly and half of them don’t even know it. They are being seduced into a carnal behavior that they have been fooled into believing is a moral human right. As far as my personal observation goes, the homosexual lifestyle generally produces temporary satisfaction and prolonged, profound sadness and loneliness. Just imagine that we legislated that mistresses and adulterers shall be open and accepted in the military by all members, and there you have it in a nutshell. Don’t ask don’t tell was a reasonable compromise.