Yasmin,

While I understand your point about war, I think that everyone is allowed their own choice in the matter and also feel that many of those who serve in the armed forces don't join as a willing choice to go to war. I originally come from a small town in Ohio where many days a week army recruiters took to our cafeteria and proceeded to tell my fellow students that the only way out was to join up. Many of my graduating class are now in Iraq because they were promised at extremely young ages that joining the Army was the only way to pay for school, and they were also told by these recruiters that the chances of going to war were slim at best. Now these people are stuck in Iraq but they made a commitment, and they are bravely sticking to it. If some of these friends of mine who are gay end up coming out of the closet, they will lose their pension AND the money that the Army has promised them to pay for school. Even though they are giving their lives for a college education, the Army would happily take that away from them simply because they are gay. Most of these people are against the war in Iraq completely, but they are for a college education. Many of these men and women are the first in their family to receive a college education, and the Army (or Marines) is what made that possible.

So while I understand that you are not for war, that doesn't mean that you don't have to be for these people who saw the Army, ROTC, or Marines as a chance at a better life. It is not their choice to go to war. When we are young, we think we are invincible. We think that we are luckier than anything or anyone. We never think that we'll end up with our lives on the line. And when our brave LGBTQ men and women put their lives on the line for this country, the least this country can do is protect them from discrimination in their workplace.