Changing my outlook

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks"

M. Vick

When I first kicked this blog off, one of the things I mentioned was that I felt there was no place for gays in the military. 

I never supported the repeal of DADT.

After a lot of thinking on this topic, and as I get ready to travel home, I've changed my outlook.

I don't dislike homosexuals.  I don't know whether sexuality is a genetic predisposition or caused by environment, and it really doesn't matter.  I really don't care what anyone does in the bedroom, or what kind of porn they watch.  I don't think one person's love of another is more or less valid than my love of my wife.  I can't codify *why* I love my wife--I just always have.  I have known from the day I met her; I didn't just want to spend the rest of my life with her, but I would spend the rest of my life with her (unless she gets really fat--then all bets are off.)

As far as work goes, the only thing that matters to me is "can this person do the job I have asked them to do?"  Gay or Straight, it simply doesn't matter.  Can they perform or not?

Although I accept this, it does not mean I will cease to ridicule the more flamboyant members of their sexuality.  Nobody gets a pass on getting insulted here.  I make fun of all races, creeds, colors and genders.

My religion tells me to hate the sin, not the sinner.  That's one way to look at it, IF you view homosexuality as a sin.  IF homosexuality is a choice, and IF that person's religion tells them it is a sin, then okay, they're sinners.  Both of the conditions have to be met for that to work.  My religion says it's a sin.  My religion also tells me to love my fellow man, regardless of his differences.  I don't do that very well, either, so I guess I'm a sinner too.

The big "what if."

I think the thing that got me started on this was the question "What if one of your children  told you they were gay?"

I would still love my child.  I would still want them to be happy.  I would be disappointed, selfishly, because I want grandkids so I can spoil them and inflict sugared-up hyper-spastic demons on my kids.

But it wouldn't change my love for my child.  That's what my religion teaches me.  No matter what your child does, you love them.  No matter what I do, my god loves me.  My god WANTS me to be happy.  My god made me.  My god breathed life into my children, and into all of us.  From any Christian standpoint, god knows us before we are ever born.  He is responsible for the way we are made, and even knows the choices we will make.  He made us with free will, to choose to love him, or to not even acknowledge his existence, but he made us.

Why should I question what god has made?

That covers it from a religious standpoint.

From a more personal standpoint, people are people.  I take each as I meet them.

--Chuck