I believe the subtext here is rapidly becoming the text.

With my home state's (long overdue) definitive ruling on equality for same-sex couples, I am reminded of a conversation I had regarding gays in the military.

It started because the news was reporting that many (over 100) highly specialized, hard to replace jobs in the military were now open due to the outing of the service-members' sexual orientation. At the time, Randy was on mandatory 65 hour weeks, trying to get people into the army. Seeing evidence of the toll recruiting takes on someone who DIDN'T WANT THAT JOB in the first place, this development struck me as… well, to say "colossally stupid" would probably be redundant but true, nonetheless.

I voiced my opinion in typical scarletvirago fashion. That is to say, I screamed at the t.v. and gave it the finger, which had the precise level of effectiveness as if I had stated my grievances to the secretary of the army personally.

It was brought to my attention, by someone who would know, that a large portion of the distrust and unease around homosexuals in the army is the matter of communal showers in the barracks, an issue which no longer exists because they've been replaced by private bathrooms.

I listened to this explanation with remarkable equanimity, given that my eyes were bulging out of their sockets and my eyeteeth had lengthened measurably, the better to gnash with. When the choler had finally lowered past my voice box, I was able to reply with no small amount of enraged incredulity.

"What's that? You mean, you wouldn't like to feel exposed and vulnerable as a sexual object?? It might give you the creeps to know that some one was leering at you like they'd seen you naked and liked it?? Oh gee, that really surprises me because as a woman, I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE! NO SIREE, HALF THE POPULATION OF THE WORLD DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THAT'S LIKE!!"

And it was at that moment Randy realized that playing devil's advocate about this matter might be hazardous to his health. He dropped that line of discussion and, happily, kept all his boy parts.