Having been born on the right day of the right month in the year 1950, when the military draft went to the lottery system during the Vietnam Conflict, my number was as high as you could get in the number of days in any year, even a leap one, before entering the next.
I would have had to report only if everyone else born in 1950 had been killed or maimed in service, so in full disclosure, I have not served in the military. There are other ways to be a good American and contribute to making society better that does not require killing people.
I do, however, have many friends who did serve whether voluntarily or because of an inability or lack of familial connections to avoid the draft and among them are some Gay friends who served honorably, some sustaining injury or having to deal with the exposure to questionable chemicals since their service. They only got to keep the benefits their service had earned by existing in the closet while in uniform and then being careful after as they feared post service discovery would have their GI benefits withdrawn.
There was some debate among Gay activists about the appropriateness of fighting for the right to kill people in an organized, sanctioned war, but it was not about the denial of the right to fight and kill people you did not know, but the denial of the right to enlist and to the accompanying earned benefits were at the core of the advocacy.
During the 1990s when I was in Oklahoma City, President Clinton had to accept a compromise to allowing Gay Americans to serve their country without fear which did not fulfill his campaign promise of removing all obstacles to Gay and Lesbian people from enlisting.
Along with the usual religio-political arguments that were based on rumor, lies, and political considerations, there were such bizzare objections like the popular one based on the fear of the inability of Gay service members to control themselves when they saw the straight soldiers in the showers or the barracks. In their minds, their innate handsomeness was too tempting for Gay soldiers to resist. Their biggest objection was the fear of shower rapes because they were just that irresistible.
I thought Clinton caved too easily.
I thought he should have fought, and, leading up to his final acceptance of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, doubted he would have the courage to do the right thing. I was not pleased when he didn’t.
Had Peter Buttigieg served under DADT, the chances of his discharge and his disappearance from the world stage would have been the norm. He began service in 2014, three years after the death of the rule, and could do so as an openly Gay man who could talk of his experiences after he entered civilian life without fear of losing all he had earned because he shouldn’t have served and his discharge could be altered to reflect that.
These cartoons were done around the birth of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.
The following cartoons were done after passage of DADT and covered some of the arguments that had been used to oppose lifting the military ban.
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