A Military Job Is Not Economic Justice: QEJ Statement on DADT
Posted by Q4EJ on December 22, 2010 · 25 Comments
In just a few moments President Obama is scheduled to sign the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, which in theory, will allow for gay and lesbian members of the military to serve without being in the closet.
Queers for Economic Justice staff and constituents have all met people in the LGBT movement who have said to us that the DADT repeal is an economic justice victory, since many poor and working-class LGBT people join the military to have access to better jobs, and because the military is the nation’s largest employer, QEJ should be joining the in the victory dance.
But QEJ believes military service is not economic justice, and it is immoral that the military is the nation’s de facto jobs program for poor and working-class people. And since QEJ organizes LGBTQ homeless people in New York City, we wanted to remind the LGBT community and progressive anti-war allies that militarism and war profiteering do not serve the interests of LGBT people. Here’s how:
- The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans reports that about one-third of all homeless people in the US are veterans, but about 1.5 million more veterans are at risk of homelessness “due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.” They also report that 56% of homeless veterans are Black or Latino.
- Some studies also show that one in four veterans becomes disabled as a result of physical violence or emotional trauma of war. There are currently 30,000 disabled veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Rape and sexual violence are very common occurrences for women in the military, and the ACLU is currently suing the Pentagon to get the real numbers on reported incidences.
- Half of the US budget in 2009 was made up of military spending, including current expenditures, veterans benefits and the portion of the national debt caused by military costs, according to the War Resisters’ League. That is more than the US spent on Health & Human Services, Social Security Administration, Housing and Urban Development and the Department Education combined. Wouldn’t more social safety net spending help the millions of queers who can barely make ends meet?
In short, military service is not economic justice.
Furthermore, QEJ understands that there are LGBTQ people in other parts of the world, particularly Iraq and Afghanistan, who have been killed, traumatized, or made disabled directly as a result of the recent US-led wars, or who have become vulnerable targets by fundamentalist backlashes to US imperialism. We stand in solidarity with other LGBTQ people around the globe, and do not condone violence against them or their home countries so that “our gays” have the “right” to serve openly in the military.
QEJ supports real economic justice. You should support QEJ this season.
It’s hard to ask for a donation on such a tough issue, but showing your support for real economic justice is one way to reject the framing of militarism as economic opportunity. Make a donation to QEJ today.
From all of us,
Queers for Economic Justice
Thanks so much for issuing this statement. The unqualified euphoria over DADT repeal deserves a thoughtful response that situates this “victory” for LG civil rights in the larger picture of militarism and economic justice. Keep up the great work.
Word. Rock on, QEJ!!
Thank you! I wish people could step out of the matrix!
Good work, great to see some progressive reality rain down on the DADT death parade.
A slim fraction of DADT activists have now made sure that if a real draft arises, gay men will have no recourse but to serve as cannon fodder for empire.
What offends me the most is that some claim that the gold standard of full citizenship is the ability to serve in the military. Predicating my full citizenship on participating in a criminal cartel run by sociopaths on behalf of kleptocrats, as if this were ancient Rome makes me want to rush for the vomitorium.
-marc
I knew, when it was mentioned at the concert and I started clapping because sometimes, belonging really matters to me, and then I stopped that something wasn’t sitting right to me about this… Thank you, QEJ for pointing out the underbelly of this supposedly good thing.
Thanks for all the amazing, meaningful work you do and stances you make, QEJ! You give me hope in the queer movement. This is spot on.
It’s all take, take, take with the homosexuals, isn’t it?
It’s come to my attention that the homosexual masses are never happy. All they do is take (very little pun intended). What happened to good old fashioned reciprocity? You scratch mine, I scratch yours…
I mean, leave it to the gays to never be happy. First they want to legally throw their debaucherous nightlife in our faces, then they want their sickness to be removed from the APA,then they want to not be hung up to fences and left for death, then they want a host of silly rights and amendments made just for them, then they want to be able to infiltrate our God-fearing armed forces and now… NOW they want to not wind up homeless suffering from postwar depression after they choose to fight. Just like they chose to participate in penile play.
Buddha Mary why are they so damn needy? Why, I ask!! Give ‘em a hot rod up the rectum, that oughta hush the ‘mo masses.
On a slightly tangential note: I wonder if they’re going to be open to pink camo?
P.S. did that read as a joke? It was meant to. Um, Bueller? Bueller…
This article makes some pretty conceptual jumps.
Now, I believe that equivocating DADT’s repeal with economic justice is missing the major point of its significance. It should never be considered an “economic gain”. You are right. However, it is, truly, blindly ignorant to discount the significant possible lifetime earnings potential the Montgomery GI Bill can afford. Points 1, 2, and to a lesser degree 3 are problems of a specific and small subset of the military, the infantry and other combat arms. Ironically, these “tip of the spear” elements of the Army and Marine Corps (there is no equivalent component of any numerical significance in the AF or Navy) are some of the smallest units, perhaps 20-30% of each branch, and about 5-10% of the military as a whole. You cannot say here, in good faith, that an otherwise disadvantaged Queer who spends four years fixing fighter jet engines then having his schooling paid for by the government has not increased his future economic potential tenfold or more.
However, the 4th point is by far the most concerning. The fact remains that, even given the benefits, these jobs are (in)directly contributing to warfare and violence, and don’t contribute healthily to the economy or obviously to the welfare of society. It’s the sad reality of the Military-Industrial Complex.
Thank you for this very important perspective. QueerToday.com has reposted.