US Navy Photo by MC3 Erik Foster

Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Tom Guest (an E-8, or senior enlisted Sailor, for those unfamiliar with Navy rank) spoke at a homosexual/transgender “pride” event on the underway USS Bataan on June 25th. His topic was “What Exactly Do We Mean by GAY PRIDE?”

He provided a variety of potential answers, including

GAY PRIDE is about owning who we are, whether we are butch dykes, fem queens, or the always coveted “Straight Acting” gay.

Chief Guest also noted that the ship’s leadership had been supportive of homosexuals:

I can tell you without question that I feel the positive support and acceptance of the chain of command. We have heard positive remarks from the Commodore, the Colonel, the Commanding Officer. There have been LGBT History and Heritage notes in the [daily announcements] most of the month.

After some “positive” remarks, though, Guest went on to rail against the “religious right:”

In 1977 Miami Dade County, Florida passed a city ordinance barring discrimination against gays. This act of compassion, spurred Anita Bryant…to organize with the Religious Right; Jerry Falwell, The Moral Majority, The 700 Club, and PTL.

They started the “Save Our Children Campaign” the central theme of that campaign was to convince voters that Gays and Lesbians were pedophiles and intent on recruiting children and turning them gay.

That LIE has been contradicted by every credible scientific study conducted, yet it remains a central focus of opposition to gays by the religious right to this day.

That’s an interesting digression on a speech given to celebrate “pride” in diversity in the military — given that diversity in the military includes diverse religious beliefs, which may include the religious beliefs he just belittled. (His facts are a bit off, too, since the “Moral Majority” didn’t exist in 1977.)

Guest then went further, blaming violence against homosexuals on those “who call themselves religious” [emphasis added]:

Gay people are still accosted in public, assaulted, and beaten to death right here in this country on a fairly regular basis.

This happens for no reason other than they are GAY and some groups who call themselves religious have dedicated their existence to spreading lies and stirring fear and hate against us.

He concludes by saying those who support a 2,500-year-old dogma are trying to “destroy” him [emphasis added]:

There is a stigma based on some twisted interpretation of twenty five hundred year old dogma and it continues to be perpetuated today. These groups who claim they are protecting children and families are fighting as hard as they can to destroy my family, my friends, and the people I love.

After his speech was publicized and Guest was “critiqued” on his hostility, the Senior Chief admitted a bit of bias.  After saying those who want the “right” to “not support” homosexuality are really trying to “lie to cover up active hate,” Guest went on to say:

…I am on occasion openly HOSTILE (and not so openly when need be) toward people who spread lies about my character, who believe that my existence, my love, my family, my right to work, should be criminalized. And I encourage every other right minded sane person in the world to be openly hostile toward those people too.

…Their views are unwelcome in civil society. Ensure they know that you do not deserve my kindness and understanding, …my generosity and forgiveness, …my compassion and tolerance, and …my acceptance, or the right to enjoy the freedoms I have dedicated 25 years of my life defending on your behalf if your goal is to wipe me and people like me out of existance or force us to hide our lives and live in fear of criminal prosecution or assault all because YOU don’t agree…..

Senior Chief Guest’s thinly veiled hostility toward religion is a bit difficult to digest, because his hostility is directed toward a fiction or caricature.  Who does Guest think wants to “wipe me and people like me out of existance [sic]?”  There are certainly people in the United States — and in the US Navy — who “don’t agree” with the social acceptance of homosexuality.  Why does a senior Navy NCO feel those people are undeserving of the freedoms his US Navy protects?

It is shocking, quite honestly, to see a senior enlisted member of the US Navy so blatantly attack religion and the beliefs of his fellow sailors — and in an official Navy forum, no less. To be fair, the Navy did not publicize his speech, though it presumably did not censure him for it, either.

By his own admission, Senior Chief Guest notes his chain of command went out of its way to create a “positive” environment for homosexuals on board the ship. When given the opportunity to build on that positive environment, Senior Chief Guest declined to “celebrate pride” or tolerance. Instead, he belittled and derided the religious beliefs of his shipmates, essentially calling their religious beliefs ‘twisted dogma’ responsible for homosexuals being beaten to death in the United States.

It would seem the current environment in the US Navy supports the right of Senior Chief Guest to say these things about the beliefs his fellow Sailors may hold.

Does the USS Bataan support an equally positive environment for its religious crewmembers?

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