It’s June, which means that our culture is now marked by seemingly omnipresent celebrations of “Pride Month.” Even the U.S. military has gotten in on the act. “Throughout June, the USMC takes #pride in recognizing and honoring the contributions of our LGBTQ service members,” the official account of the U.S. Marines tweeted last week. “We remain committed to fostering an environment free from discrimination, and defend the values of treating all equally, with dignity and respect.” Attached to the tweet was a picture of a Marine helmet with six rainbow-tipped bullets stashed away on it.
It’s a ridiculous message that captures the stupidity of letting politics hijack military operations. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and forced celebrations of things like Pride Month push our military away from its one job: to fight and win our nation’s wars. I do not support LGBTQ+ activism, and I do not think Pride Month is something that should be openly celebrated by government organizations, especially our military. The fact that I thought seriously about deleting that last sentence, as I know I will be called a bigot for it, perfectly illustrates why the military should not be weighing in on cultural issues that have nothing to do with combat readiness or mission set. I acknowledge we have quality gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members who do their job well. But their quality has nothing to do with their being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. That the U.S. military feels the need to celebrate their sexual preference as something that makes it better should be a natural head scratcher for everyone — including those service members who fall into these categories.
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