title:  Carson Campaign Demands Gay Soldiers Go Back In The Closet Lest They Get Too ‘Militant’ About It
text: Ben Carson is having a really bad week. He s had a lot of bad weeks recently, but this one is particularly bad.The last Republican debate was considered Carson s do or die moment and he died  unambiguously  while we all watched. The once rising star of the 2016 election went out, not with a bang, but with a characteristic whisper. A soft, monotone word salad. His trademark. By the end of the night, Carson was misquoting the preamble to the Constitution and perhaps slowly realizing that this would be the last time many people would ever remember he ever had run for president at all.The very next day, while Carson slept off his post-relevancy hangover and waited to come in 6th in Iowa, his campaign chairman Robert Dees was talking to reporters. Normally this would be a good thing, but Dees happens to be a raging homophobe and the questions happened to be about gay soldiers.Speaking with radio host Alan Colmes, Dees was insistent that gay people cannot be allowed to be open about their sexual orientation or risk destroying the entire military. Well the ultimate test for military effectiveness is readiness, it s cohesion, and anything that detracts from that is important. Dr. Carson often says it s important for people to have rights in accordance with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. Constitution, but no particular group ought to have extra rights. Why would the right to be yourself be considered an  extra  right? Dees explains: Where the extra rights come in is when the gays in the military become somewhat militaristic to the detriment of unit cohesion,  he said.Dees added that a question to be considered in determining policy toward gay people in the military was,  whether they, in the military, flaunt it and disrupt cohesion. Heaven forbid soldiers become too militaristic in the military. However, Dees was not talking about fighting. He was worried that gay people would use their secret weapon:  Flaunting  their gayness.What makes Dees  statements so cringeworthy is that he isn t just an idiot, he s an idiot who used to be a general in the military. As such, he might have bothered to read up on the military s own research into how gay people effect a unit s cohesion. All the way back in 2010, the Pentagon was telling the president and the nation that repealing  don t ask, don t tell  and letting gay people serve openly did nothing but bring the military in line with where the country already was. The general lesson we take from   transformational experiences in history is that in matters of personnel change within the military, predictions and surveys tend to overestimate negative consequences, and underestimate the U.S. military s ability to adapt and incorporate within it ranks the diversity that is reflective of American society at large,  the report concluded.Going further:This report confirms that  by every measure   from unit cohesion to recruitment and retention to family readiness   we can transition to a new policy in a responsible manner that ensures our military strength and national security,  Obama said in a written statement.Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen were also strongly in favor of dropping the ludicrous DADT policy. Since its dissolution, the military hasn t crumbled. Nobody is  flaunting  anything. The military continues to be one of the strongest and best trained fighting forces in the world.Dees is certainly living in a fantasy world, but it s hard to expect much who decided to ride Ben Carson s coat tails all the way to a massive loss in the very first primary and an inevitable campaign suspension. Carson s track record on talking about gay Americans isn t much better. During his brief moment in the national spotlight, he once floated the idea that prison rape turns people gay.Much of Carson s campaign has been predicated on the idea that he is above the fray. He s consistently pleaded with his fellow candidates and the nation more generally to stop the mudslinging. It s an admirable goal   which happens to be total malarkey. Carson has never had a problem with going after  liberals ,  gay people ,  Muslims , or any other group he feels doesn t align with his worldview. Gay people can t serve in the military. Muslims can t be president. Liberals can t well  do anything.In the end, the only group of people who seem safe in Carson s America are conservative Christians like himself. How brave.Feature image via Fox News screengrab