Editorial: LGBT students should show solidarity

In case you missed it, the U.S. just made a step in the right direction. In case you missed it, the U.S. just made a step in the right direction.

Yesterday marked the official repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military policy that has made it illegal for LGBT men and women in the military to reveal their sexuality since 1993.

OutServe Magazine reports that there are about 70,000 currently serving military personnel stationed around the world who are LGBT. To commemorate the official day that they could reveal their true selves, many of those men and women resorted to social media to come out to the world.

One 21-year-old man stationed in Germany used YouTube to record a phone conversation where he comes out to his father who lives in Alabama. In the video, his dad says it’s okay, and that he still loves his son. In less than 24 hours, the video has gotten more than 65,000 hits, and the highest-ranked comments about it are positive.

The official repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” shows that we are entering an unprecedented period of tolerance. The medium is the message, and the Internet will play a huge role in the future of the LGBT community.

The strongest, bravest men and women in the country are now allowed equal rights when it comes to sexual expression, and hundreds of them snatched yesterday’s opportunity to come out with what they’d been forced to hide for years.

One Marine told NPR his response to men he served with who had said they wouldn’t fight next to a gay Marine: “Wow. So gay Marines have that much power that they can totally disarm you and defeat you just by their simple presence? And you call yourself a Marine?”

We agree. If one’s homosexuality offends people so much that they have to make their discomfort known, then that’s their problem. The repeal and dramatic response of many individuals in the military should set an example for LGBT Pitt students.

For several reasons, LGBT students might be afraid to come out or show their affection for one another in public. But we think there is a home at Pitt for everyone. We think there’s a strong consensus of tolerance on campus, but rarely do we see people in the LGBT community holding hands in public. Why should they feel the need to hold back?

Our time at Pitt should be a time of self-discovery, as well as acceptance of others. We think these soldiers’ YouTube videos are a sign of progress. And they might be just enough to catalyze a grassroots movement of support across the country.

It’s all too clear that now is the time for change. Whether you’re preparing for National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, anxious to show affection to your partner in public or just beginning to figure yourself out, we think that if the men and women in the military who have been suppressed for almost 18 years can be themselves freely, everyone else should be able to, too.

There’s nothing wrong, weird or disgusting about that.