The military's ban on openly gay enlisted personnel is odious on many levels, as IGF contributing author Paul Varnell reminds us. But is barring the military from recruiting on elite liberal college campuses a productive way to fight the ban? Only in some bizarro politically correct universe. Instead of educating America that gay people want to serve their country but can't, to the country's detriment, broadcasting images of effete ivy academics and their pampered charges, reeking of contempt for the military and dismissive of the war on terror, only sends the message that gays are part of the Michael Moore-Move On (i.e., Moore-on) cultural left.
The Supreme Court has now agreed to consider whether the government can withhold federal funds from colleges that bar military recruiters. Whatever way the court rules, the media coverage will only reinforce exactly the wrong message about gays, activists and our "supporters."
A few months back, IGF contributing author James Kirchick,
writing from the belly of the beast at Yale, shared his
thoughts on the campus recruiting ban. He wrote:
In addition to the general anti-military sentiment that is so prevalent on this campus, now one may be labeled a "homophobe" if he merely wants to discuss job opportunities with a military recruiter in a law school classroom. ... If gay advocates ever wish to change the military's unconscionable policy, they would be well advised to encourage, and not hamper, military recruitment at a socially progressive campus such as Yale. ... While claiming to be leading the fight for gay equality by snubbing their noses at the military, sympathizers of the gay cause are actually harming the movement's prospects.
It's worth re-reading.
Update 1: A boisterous debate in the comments
zone, where "Remy" opines:
to deny that the academic left isn't reeking of anti-military venom is simply absurd. And that's why the whole "killers off campus" thing is terrible for gays to get wrapped up in.
Here's the headline being broadcast Mr. & Mrs. America, thanks to the campus activists and the gay establishment that's gone along with them: "GAYS OPPOSE MILITARY RECRUITING." Put it in a box and label it "Ways to ensure that the military ban against gays stays in place."
Update 2: Michael M. Rosen writes at
TechCentralStation:
in order to cultivate change, infiltrating the culture from within is generally more effective than railing against it from without. Can it really be doubted that the presence of Ivy League hearts and minds in the upper echelons of military rank would have a significant impact? Sadly, the Ivory Tower is effectively reinforcing the very policies it abhors.