I didn’t know anything about homosexuality until I was in high school in the 1950s. I knew what it was. I had heard kids say “Thursday’s the day the fairies play,” but I had no idea what was involved in homosexuality.
It was just something to be made fun of. Certainly the newspaper had never published a picture like that of Tim Gill and Scott Miller holding hands on its front page. But I worked after school and my boss was a very hip guy who had been a Woody Herman drummer.
One day just after I had seen a new movie, “Bend of the River,” with Rock Hudson, I mentioned that I thought Hudson was good in the movie and my boss said, “He’s queer, you know.” And he explained it to me. I was stunned. But if Bob said it, I knew it must be true. For the next 33 years whenever his name came up I would mention that I knew Hudson was homosexual, most often to open disbelief. He was married and played he-man roles. How much has changed since those days. Or has it?
In 1971 I sat on a court-martial board, my first such experience, on the island of Guam. A young enlisted man, traveling from the States to Vietnam had been in the transient enlisted quarters with an older sergeant, also en route. The sergeant claimed that the younger man had touched his genitals while he was asleep. The young man was detained on Guam while the sergeant made a statement and left the island.
The court martial was convened to decide the young man’s fate. It was clear to me from the outset that the airman was serious trouble. Although he denied the charge and we had only the sergeant’s statement to go on, the board quickly ruled that he should be dishonorably discharged as a homosexual.
I was not convinced and wrote a long and I hoped persuasive dissent I hoped could be used on appeal. I thought the evidence insufficient in this case, but I also thought that it was strange that private behavior between consenting adults could be grounds for dismissal from the Air Force. After all, Rock Hudson had just been a military officer in “Ice Station Zebra.”
Today we have “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which was supposed to be an improvement, but in fact if a case such as the one on Guam almost 40 years ago occurred today the outcome will be exactly the same. And we have people who think that a picture of two happy people holding hands on the front page of the Denver Post enjoying the fruits of their hard work and philanthropy represent the moral decay of our country because they happen to love each other but aren’t heterosexual.
Why is it that we talk about freedom and individual rights but act to restrict freedom and individual rights? We say we want government to leave us alone, but we ask for laws to prevent women from control of their bodies.
We say we want government to leave us alone but we ask for laws to punish homosexuals because we think they’re immoral. We say we want to protect freedom of speech and the right to protest but we ask for an amendment to the Constitution to prevent burning the flag. We say we want lower taxes but we complain about streets not being plowed. We say we want better education but we demonstrate and ask for lower taxes and vouchers to pay for private schooling for our children.
So how far have we come in the past 60 years to loving thy neighbor as thyself? Apparently not very far.
David Steiner (davidesteiner@gmail.com) is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, a retired professor of theater and public speaking and a columnist for the Allenspark WIND.
