News Flash: US Marines Do Not Want Gay Roommates!

The debate over whether gays should be allowed to openly serve in the US military has taken a bizarre turn, as news reports indicate that they may not be completely welcome by some.

"The top US Marine on Tuesday said most Marines would prefer not to share a room with gay comrades, despite plans by President Barack Obama to lift a ban on gays serving openly in the military.

General James Conway, who has made clear his opposition to ending the ban, said if the law is changed the Marine Corps might look for volunteers willing to share quarters with gays as some "very religious" members objected to rooming with homosexuals.

"I can tell you that an overwhelming majority would like not to be roomed with a person who is openly homosexual," Conway told a Pentagon press conference."

This is not exactly ground-breaking, Pulitzer Prize style journalism.

It should come as exactly zero surprise to anyone that the average rough-and-tumble Marine is not interested in living in close proximity to a gay person.

That should not however be very high on the criteria of whether openly gay soldiers (sailors, Marines, etc.) should be allowed to serve.

I'm sure that if polled the average Marine would also say that they wouldn't want as a roommate someone who a) leaves his underwear lying around, b) flatulates while he sleeps, c) uses up all the hot water during his shower, etc.

However, the point of the overall debate should be whether someone should be denied the ability or right to serve in the military based on his sexual orientation.

Given the fact that gay folks pay taxes and have as much at stake in seeing to it that the US remains a healthy, functioning republic as heterosexuals, their ability to serve should not be in question.

Those who focus on this meaningless debate risk missing out on what should be the primary focus of any evaluation of the military: how to significant decrease its annual budget and return its primary focus to being defense-oriented in nature, not offensive.