Daily Bruin

Gay activists must seek ROTC compromise

By J.D. Whitlock

Here’s a "radical" proposition from a member of the armed
services: Integrate gays into the military to the same extent
heterosexuals and homosexuals interact in society. Put another way:
Integrate gays into the military to the same extent women are
integrated into the military.

What am I talking about? If you wouldn’t force a group of women
to berth in close, intimate quarters with a group of men ­ I’m
making an assumption here that we as a society are not quite gender
blind (PC?) enough to digest this idea anytime soon ­ then why
would you be willing to force a group of same sex heterosexuals to
berth in close, intimate quarters with a group of same-sex
homosexuals?

What is the functional difference? None, besides the fact that
in the former example there is potential for unwanted sexual
attraction both "directions" and in the latter example only one
group is affected. In both situations, you are subjecting people to
a serious invasion of privacy, far beyond what is already asked of
individuals when they join the military.

I would like to commend Leland Kim, the UCLA junior and sergeant
in the U.S. Army Reserves, for his courage in "coming out" this
week. There are no doubt hundreds, if not thousands, of top-notch
performing gay men and women like him in the military today.

I would certainly prefer serving alongside Leland Kim than one
of his homophobic peers described in his Viewpoint piece ­
individuals whose homophobia is likely causally related to an
intelligence deficit in comparison to Leland Kim and thus, more
probably than not, a performance deficit. I support Leland Kim’s
desire to be open about his sexuality and at the same time continue
to serve his country. I cannot support the demands of most of the
gay rights groups, which typically go something like this: Gays
must be completely integrated into all parts of the military,
because to do anything else is unacceptable discrimination.

I have lived and worked with four other men in a space on a ship
smaller than most people’s bathrooms. Waking up to foreign
genitalia a few feet from your face because your roommate had to
change clothes in the only space available was a daily
occurrence.

The unacceptability of introducing openly gay individuals into a
situation like that is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of
sexual chemistry.

Ask yourself whether you would like to live in such an
environment with members of the opposite sex or same-sex
homosexuals. If your answer is yes, then ask yourself: Are you
willing to force others to?

What percentage of the military lives in situations where
separated berthing is impossible ­ and "discriminates" against
women and gays? A small minority, when you examine the military as
a whole. Combat ground troops and sailors on small platforms such
as submarines that cannot accommodate separated berthing. What
reason is there against integrating homosexuals into the rest of
the military? Certainly no good ones. Hold that thought …

If you are a student of this debate, you might know that the
Clinton compromise ­ the "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy
currently in effect ­ will likely not survive long in the
courts. This political chimera requires a military member "accused"
of homosexuality to prove to a court that he or she does not have a
"propensity" toward committing homosexual acts. "I’m gay, but I’m
not gay." Then they can stay in. With due respect to the president,
who tried to balance campaign promises with his responsibilities as
commander in chief and take both seriously, this policy will
probably not last.

In the vacuum left, one of two things will probably happen. It
is possible we will return to the old policy ­ in function if
not in form. No gays in the military.

If, however, gay rights activists decided to focus their efforts
on grass roots support for a compromise such as that discussed
above, they might find a political leadership ready to listen. They
certainly would find that a significant percentage ­ a
majority in many circles ­ of active duty service members
would support such a common sense approach.

Why is this basic concept news to the organizers of this week’s
ROTC protests? I don’t know. I do know that the aim of these
protests ­ throwing ROTC off campus ­ is naive, feel-good
politics at its worst. Before you sign on with the protests this
week, think on these points for a minute:

1.) Think about the UCLA students you are trying to take
scholarships away from. (This is federal money, by the way, not
university money). UCLA ROTCs have done an outstanding job with
minority recruiting, supporting Department of Defense programs that
significantly expand opportunities to minorities. It is no accident
that the majority of Navy ROTC UCLA students are minorities.
Twenty-seven percent are either African American or Latino.

Almost one-fifth are female ­ as compared to approximately
5 percent currently in the Navy Officer corps. Do you really want
to sacrifice the hard-earned concrete gains (not to mention the
hopes and dreams ) of some minorities for a destructive, entirely
rhetorical victory of another?

2.) ROTC units have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the
policies they enforce. David Mixner, founder of Freedom Project-Los
Angeles (one of the groups organizing the protests this week),
stated in his Daily Bruin article, "It is unrealistic to expect the
Pentagon to change its policy any time in the near future." I have
a short lesson on the U.S. Constitution for Mixner ­ the
Pentagon does what the politicians tell it to, and the politicians
do what the people tell them to. Protest directed at your
representatives in Congress is the intelligent solution.

3.) If ROTCs did go away, for whatever reason, what would
happen? Military officers would all come from the service
academies. Can you say, "Oliver North?" ROTCs produce liberally
educated, citizen soldiers.

4.) Lastly, on a slightly more pragmatic note, ROTC contracts
are signed by the UC Regents. big-stakes state politics. At a time
when California senators and congressmen are pontificating about
keeping California military bases open to preserve our delicate
economy, do you really think the powers-that-be will even think
about removing the ROTCs from UC schools?

If you feel strongly about this issue, write your representative
in Congress, or participate in protest that has as its goal some
constructive end. Feel-good politics feels good, but it doesn’t
examine the complexities of the matter and it certainly doesn’t
contribute anything toward a good solution.

Whitlock is a student in the School of Public Health.

Do worlds exist beyond ‘our lonely Eden’?

Tom Momary

"Larger constellations burning, mellow moons and happy
skies,

Breadths of tropic shade and palms in cluster, knots of
Paradise."

­Tennyson

"Locksley Hall"

Have you ever gazed into a starry summer sky, into the light of
a thousand distant suns, and wondered about worlds? Of those
glittering stars we see, how many have planets circling them at
this moment? Do worlds exist, far beyond our Earth, that breathe
and laugh and hum with life? Is it natural to wonder about these
things ­ about worlds in space and life and intelligence? We
want to know if we are alone. If among the billions of fires
burning in our galaxy are sprinkled "knots of Paradise."

I have always been on the optimistic side of these questions. I
cannot fathom how, out of 400 billion suns in our galaxy alone,
ours could be the only one with a lively world ­ the lonely
Eden. The processes that govern the formation of planets and stars
operate throughout the universe. We know that the laws of nature
are everywhere the same. And the elements that go into building
worlds are abundant, and in the same proportions, everywhere. It
seems more likely to me that technical civilizations must be
commonplace. Maybe one even buzzes about near one of those stars we
see serenely twinkling at night.

We cannot say for sure, of course. Not yet. But we can explore
the probabilities for a moment. Follow this through with me, as the
numbers are extremely compelling, though they are only estimates.
The number of technical civilizations in our galaxy depends first
of all on the number of stars in our galaxy (about 400 billion).
And what fraction of those stars are stable and have planets? I
estimate maybe a third, which is not so far-fetched given recent
evidence. If solar systems commonly have about 10 planets (like
ours does) then a trillion worlds exist in our galaxy alone.

Yes, you say, but not all of these planets are warm and happy
places, and you are right. Maybe only two out of 10 planets are
warm and happy places. At this point, we have an estimate of the
number of planets in our galaxy that can support life, something
like 300 billion. Now, in how many of these places has life
actually arisen? We are treading on thinner ice now, but lets say
one third. But, you say, how many of these produces something more
interesting than a ground sloth? Okay. Perhaps only one percent of
these worlds where life arises produces a technical
civilization.

So, now we have that there are a billion planets in our galaxy
where technical civilizations have existed, at least once. All
right, but technical civilizations can be stupid. How many will
actually survive their adolescence and not snuff themselves out in
a mushroom cloud? Even if only one-tenth of 1 percent can survive,
we still have an estimate of a million technical civilizations in
our galaxy alone. (Not to mention that there are about 100 billion
galaxies in the universe). It is hard for me to imagine that this
universe is not positively rippling with life and intelligence. I
based this analysis on the Drake Equation developed by Frank Drake
of UC Santa Cruz, who estimated similar results.

What about actual evidence? In December, the repaired Hubble
Space Telescope looked at the constellation of Orion, where hot,
young stars are being born right now. Hubble imaged hundreds of
young stars and found that more than half of them had
proto-planetary disks, i.e., planets in formation. This is the
first direct evidence that about half of all young stars in the
universe have the potential to form planets. Circumstantial
evidence also supports this contention. And once we have worlds,
life can follow. Why not? It certainly happened here on this
planet.

I do not believe that this has anything to do with Earth having
been visited. The distances between stars are colossal. Travelling
these distances requires incredible energies. And all of the
accounts of UFOs are suspiciously unprovable. There never has been
any evidence to back them up. Not the tiniest shred of a new metal
alloy. Never any "revelations" about science or religion or social
organization. Very few supposed UFOs were even seen by more than
one witness. I do not put my faith entirely in circumstantial
evidence ( I prefer facts) but that is all that such stories have.
It is natural to want to have been visited. Some part of our nature
senses that we are alone. It is a bit of human arrogance, though,
to suppose that in a million worlds scattered throughout space,
aliens would select the speck of dust we call home. I think that
they are out there, but they have not been here.

As astronomy rides on the tide of progress, evidence mounts that
planets are common. Worlds in space? Yes. Repositories of life and
intelligence? Perhaps. We are not the first people to ask these
questions. But we will be the first generation, I believe, to know
the answers. And the discovery of other civilizations will
profoundly affect us. It will hasten the decline of provincial
perspectives and allow us to realize collectively what this
generation must recognize ­ that we are one planet. One out of
millions.

At this very moment, somewhere in space, clouds float lazily by
in alien skies. Strange oceans break on the shores of unknown
continents. Breezes sweep the thoughts of creatures we cannot even
begin to imagine, living somewhere on another world. Right now.
There may be whispers ranging through the depths of space, speaking
of other places. Other lives. What inspirations burn, I wonder, on
their "knots of Paradise"?

Tom Momary is a third-year grad-uate student studying
Geophysics.

From Laughlin to L.A. to the Castro: one student’s story on
coming out

Ryan Leaderman

After finally coming out to most of my friends last spring,
which was not nearly as difficult a process as I had originally
feared, I knew that I could not keep my parents in the dark much
longer. Not only did I feel awful that I was holding back
information that defined and permeated my existence, I also felt
that it would be much better for me to directly tell my parents
exactly who I am, rather than having them find out through a
second-hand source.

With this in mind, I went on a little road trip with my mother
last Memorial Day weekend in Laughlin, Nev. At first I did not
think that I could muster up the courage to tell her about my
sexual identity on our mini-vacation. After long thought and
countless hours of brooding as I wandered around the casino, I
decided that I would tell her. I felt that if I ended up not
telling her on this trip, I would endlessly delay and avoid telling
her about me. My silence would further drive a wedge in our
relationship, whereby I would continue to withhold other
information about my life, such as what I was doing and who I was
hanging around with.

In my mind, I had looked at the costs of the possible outcomes
of coming out to my mother, and rationalized that no matter what,
everything would be all right. My mom’s various options of reacting
to my homosexuality ranged from complete disinheritance, to
vehement condemnation, to indifference, to grudging acceptance and
to complete and total love in whatever I did. If my mother picked
the option most critical of my sexuality, I still felt that I had
nothing to lose on this trip. You see, my mother is disabled (she
has multiple sclerosis) and on this trip I was doing the driving
and taking care of her. I told myself that if she has a problem
with who I am, then that is her problem because I know that I would
still be the same good son (at least I like to think that I am)
whether I am gay or straight. In addition, I also thought that if
she abhorred the fact that her darling son is gay, I envisioned
going back home alone, leaving her to ride her wheelchair the 300
miles back to Los Angeles.

Perhaps this was some cruel anti-Oedipal fantasy of mine, but,
fortunately, I did not have to put my plan into action. At
breakfast on the day we were leaving, I came out to my mother. She
told me that she was "completely shocked and had no idea" (which
made me question whether my acting skills were so great or whether
she was a tad bit dense). I then proceeded to tell her about my gay
life and answered many of her questions, such as "Does that mean
you are the man or the woman in the relationship?" (Like many of
us, she has not been able to elevate herself from conceptualizing
in gender-specific roles.) and "Will you change your mind someday?"
(Sorry mom, that’s about as good of a chance as UCLA going to the
Rose Bowl this year).

For the past few months I think that my mother has taken my new
identity well. In fact, late in summer I took her on a little trip
to San Francisco, where I took her to the Castro, the gay area up
North. When my friend Peter asked her what she thought of it, she
replied "It’s something else!" Peter remarked that if it was his
mother, she would not have even tolerated being in the Castro, let
alone walk around with all the gays and lesbians strolling all
around the area.

Fortunately, my mother has dealt fairly well with my coming out.
Unfortunately, the fear of being rejected by the people I love kept
me in the closet longer. Hopefully, as society changes and becomes
more tolerant and compassionate, more people will have a coming out
experience like mine and not be threatened by the homophobia that
drives them further in the closet.

Ryan Leaderman, a political science student, is a third-year
senior.

Deciding to come out: a soul-searching perspective

By Phil Duncan

There are as many different reasons for gay and lesbian people
to be open about their sexuality as there are gays and lesbians.
Coming out is a very personal decision which often involves a great
deal of soul searching. For many, it is an extremely difficult act.
Numerous reasons can make staying closeted seem more desirable than
coming out: fear of rejection, apprehension about one’s career,
even concern for personal safety.

Why, then, do people decide to make their sexual orientations
public? While I cannot answer for the myriad of other gay and
lesbian people, I can try to explain why being "out" has become a
fundamental part of my life.

Part of being open about one’s sexual orientation clearly
involves self-esteem. Obviously, people can’t have self-esteem if
they relegate themselves to perpetual second-class citizenship and
let fear control their actions. I truly believe that it is
society’s expectations that are in the wrong, not my feelings.

I challenge everyone reading this article to take a very long
look at what a relationship means to them. What is it that is
important? Why do you fall in love? I think that you might find
that love really isn’t necessarily about procreation or societal
norms. It’s about emotions and desires, the need for comfort and
support and the desire to give.

Don’t assume that my feelings are less real than your own. The
ability to fall in love is one of the most cherished gifts each of
us has been given. It seems incredibly foolish to quibble over the
race, religion or gender of those we fall in love with. At this
point in my life, I refuse to feel shame for something that is so
special to me and brings so much meaning to my life.

Another part of being open about one’s orientation is honesty.
Keeping one’s sexual orientation private requires active deception.
People ask questions about what I did over the weekend, who I went
to a movie with … if I’m dating someone. To remain closeted I
would have to willfully lie. I can no longer accept being dishonest
with people merely to avoid offending their sensibilities.

Beyond merely avoiding dishonesty, it is important to me to
share my life with the people I care for. Everyone needs friends
and support; gay and lesbian people are no exception. When I broke
up with my boyfriend earlier this year, I needed the support of my
friends and family, and I genuinely believe that they wanted to
give support. It would be unfair to everyone involved if I refused
to trust people enough to let them into my life.

Part of being open is about education. Unfortunately, the
perceptions of gays and lesbians that many people have come from
distorted views presented by the media, or more recently from the
blatant misinformation spread by religious right political
campaigns. By being open in our lives, gay and lesbian people show
that we truly are the same as everyone else.

The bottom line is that I’m not a threat to civilization,
religious establishments or the institution of the family. I’m
merely your slightly-shy, somewhat boring average person who
eventually wants a spouse, adopted kids, a house and a dog. I hope
that most reasonable people, when confronted with the reality of
openly gay friends and co-workers, will recognize the anti-gay
campaign rhetoric for what it really is ­ simply an attack on
an easy target in order to obtain contributions and votes.

Finally, and probably most importantly, I am "out" because I am
committed to making sure that future generations of gay and lesbian
youth don’t have to go through the pain and suffering that I did
growing up closeted in a homophobic society. It is clear to me that
a great deal of harm is being done to gay youth because of a lack
of role models and a profound misunderstanding on the part of
society.

I believe I had a relatively easy time growing up compared to
many gay youths, but I still suffered a great deal because of the
clear messages from society that a part of me was fundamentally
wrong. The suicide rate among gay teenagers is more than three
times higher than others in the same age group. I have come to a
point in my life where I find being closeted is unconscionable. I
cannot help but conclude that by hiding my own sexuality, I was
contributing to the suffering and even death of many people. Each
person who knows me personally as a gay man will hopefully find it
a little bit harder to dismiss gay people as less deserving of
respect, love or civil rights.

I once met a gay teenager who was telling the story of being
kicked out of his house when his family discovered he was gay. His
father’s parting words were, "I hope you get AIDS and die." These
words often haunt my thoughts and eat away at my sense of humanity.
If shouting to the world that I am GAY will help stop this from
ever happening again, I will gladly shout as loud as possible.

Duncan is a research engineer in the department of electrical
engineering.