Contact: Dr. Scott Lively, Defend the Family International, 413-250-0984

OPINION, June 1 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Dr. Scott Lively:

Repealing the ban on open homosexuals serving in the U.S. military would be a mistake of historic proportions.

First, there would certainly be a mass exodus of normal men from a homosexualized military, leading to the reinstatement of compulsory service. The entire premise of a military system based on voluntary service is that young men will want to serve. But will normal men want to volunteer when they know they will share close quarters with other men for whom they will be objects of sexual interest? It is a recipe for deep and widespread moral and morale problems.

Then there's the likelihood of physical conflict among the troops. Will proud young men being honed to become weapons of aggression against America's enemies tolerate being ogled in the showers or touched inappropriately or bunking near sexually-active "gays"? Undoubtedly blood will spill over such (inevitable) indignities.

But what will be the political consequence? Once homosexuals are invited to serve, the authorities will be committed to integrate them into the ranks, which means "sensitivity" training, anti-discrimination policies, and all of the other "politically correct" nonsense that has been such a disaster in the other spheres of our society. These policies have smacked of pro-"gay" fascism in the civilian world; how much worse would it be in the rigidly-controlled environment of the military?

A sizable percentage of men would not willingly subject themselves to such an environment. So, ironically, reinstatement of the draft would be made necessary by "homophobia," and for that reason the anti-war Lefties would suddenly become defenders of compulsory service.

Of course, no amount of "sensitivity training" will change the fundamental nature of young men and so it is likely that some form of segregated service would eventually be proposed. (We've seen this trend begin to arise in public education, where all-"gay" schools are the latest development.) This would be the biggest mistake of all, raising the specter (over time) of a homosexual takeover of the military branches.

Most people don't realize that male homosexuality does not always lean to the effeminate. Historically, male homosexuality was more often associated with hyper-masculine warrior societies which were usually very brutal and very politically aggressive....

The remainder of this article is at www.defendthefamily.com. It may be freely reprinted with attribution.

Scott Lively, an attorney and pastor, is President of Defend the Family International, and co-author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party.