Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis warned Americans that the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will make the military weaker, understaffed and morally corrupt. They went on to say that military forces which allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly no longer participate in wars, only parades. However, Great Britain and Australia, two countries that have contributed significant numbers of soldiers to the war in Iraq and are close allies of the US, both allow gays to serve openly. Israel’s military also permits gay and lesbian troops in its ranks, as do NATO countries including Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and France, all of which have forces in Afghanistan. Because at the Values Voter Summit, maligning the military forces of key American allies like Israel, Great Britain, and Australia is acceptable as long as it serves the greater goal of denigrating gays and lesbians.
Maginnis: That’s why countries like the ten largest militaries in the world, that have the ten largest militaries in the world say ‘no, this isn’t the thing to do.’ They spin this as if Great Britain and we ought to copy them and the Dutch. Well the fact is that 80 percent of the militaries in the world don’t embrace this particular view.
Perkins: Well, those that do, they’re the ones that participate in parades, they don’t fight wars to keep the nation and the world free. So there’s a big difference.
