Thursday, December 02, 2004
Are the guys you serve with very homophobic?
Some say it's nobody's business, others think it's wrong. But there’s only one thing Soldiers joke about more than heterosexual sex and that’s homosexual sex. Guys tease all the time about each other being gay, and my roommate, Kip, in particular, gets teased quite often. Guys have drawn graphic pictures on the squad announcement board and write things like “Kip loves So-and-So” inside of a heart.
And just like in high school, some of the guys that tease him are the same guys who borrow his DVDs, eat his food, use his computer, X Box, microwave, printer, etc. People take advantage of his kindness and show a lack of respect for both him and his belongings. Kip is a great roommate, and I’ve been trying to be a good roommate to him hopefully making up for all those years when I wasn’t (Yes, I used to leave those little notes).
I hate to see people picked on. So I decided to fight fire with fire. I downloaded a “Safe Person / Safe Space” sign from the web, gave it to Kip, and told him where the tape was. Kip then placed the sign on the outside of our door. Kip and I are both comfortable with our sexuality: we both like girls - me one in particular. To clarify, we believe in the historical intent of the poster: we would, indeed, give refuge to someone being persecuted because they were homosexual.
Kip and I are in two different chains of command, so when an NCO in my chain of command entered the room in anticipation of giving me a thrashing, he walked away disappointed to know that Kip put it up. And, of course, that’s why Kip put it up.
Now the same guys that teased Kip about being gay were upset by the sign and wanted it taken down saying that anyone who came in our building might think we were all gay. Kip never complained about these jokes; what was he going to say, “Sergeant, these guys are teasing me!”? But these guys didn’t hesitate to go through their chain of command, saying that the sign offended them. So, the word came down (insider comment: or did it?) that the only postings allowed outside the room were news articles about our deployment and any other material that did not offend anyone. Most of the guys didn’t care about the sign; one older guy said facetiously to another, “If we put that sign up on our door, neither one of us will be able to get into the Masons or the Klan [for that matter].”
With the only counter to the teasing gone, the jokes continue. Recently, in the presence of several NCO’s, the supply sergeant was coaxed to ask Kip whether he liked the color pink. That’s not teasing at the team, squad, or platoon, but at the company level. It could be rationalized that they were laughing with him, not at him, but it becomes obviously mean when people who don't even know Kip are brought in on “the joke”.
Some say it's nobody's business, others think it's wrong. But there’s only one thing Soldiers joke about more than heterosexual sex and that’s homosexual sex. Guys tease all the time about each other being gay, and my roommate, Kip, in particular, gets teased quite often. Guys have drawn graphic pictures on the squad announcement board and write things like “Kip loves So-and-So” inside of a heart.
And just like in high school, some of the guys that tease him are the same guys who borrow his DVDs, eat his food, use his computer, X Box, microwave, printer, etc. People take advantage of his kindness and show a lack of respect for both him and his belongings. Kip is a great roommate, and I’ve been trying to be a good roommate to him hopefully making up for all those years when I wasn’t (Yes, I used to leave those little notes).
I hate to see people picked on. So I decided to fight fire with fire. I downloaded a “Safe Person / Safe Space” sign from the web, gave it to Kip, and told him where the tape was. Kip then placed the sign on the outside of our door. Kip and I are both comfortable with our sexuality: we both like girls - me one in particular. To clarify, we believe in the historical intent of the poster: we would, indeed, give refuge to someone being persecuted because they were homosexual.
Kip and I are in two different chains of command, so when an NCO in my chain of command entered the room in anticipation of giving me a thrashing, he walked away disappointed to know that Kip put it up. And, of course, that’s why Kip put it up.
Now the same guys that teased Kip about being gay were upset by the sign and wanted it taken down saying that anyone who came in our building might think we were all gay. Kip never complained about these jokes; what was he going to say, “Sergeant, these guys are teasing me!”? But these guys didn’t hesitate to go through their chain of command, saying that the sign offended them. So, the word came down (insider comment: or did it?) that the only postings allowed outside the room were news articles about our deployment and any other material that did not offend anyone. Most of the guys didn’t care about the sign; one older guy said facetiously to another, “If we put that sign up on our door, neither one of us will be able to get into the Masons or the Klan [for that matter].”
With the only counter to the teasing gone, the jokes continue. Recently, in the presence of several NCO’s, the supply sergeant was coaxed to ask Kip whether he liked the color pink. That’s not teasing at the team, squad, or platoon, but at the company level. It could be rationalized that they were laughing with him, not at him, but it becomes obviously mean when people who don't even know Kip are brought in on “the joke”.
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