With the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military can now set up shop at gay pride events, as it did this weekend at San Gabriel Valley Pride. (San Gabriel Valley has a pride event?) And while you might not be able to get married the same way straight people do, you can now at least be recruited into killing and/or being killed the same way straight people are:
Marine Corps recruiters at the San Gabriel Valley Pride event at Pasadena City College on Saturday didn’t care whether the young men who lined up to test their strength were gay or straight…[Monique] Wallace was among eight Marines at the recruitment booth. From the morning opening, the Marine contingent proved the biggest draw amid tables representing healthcare organizations, church groups and vendors of rainbow-colored garden decorations. It might have helped that the Marines handed out a lanyard, a pen or a sticker to each man who tried to do a pull-up, or to each woman who tried the flexed-arm hang. To the rare volunteer capable of performing 20 pull-ups went a navy-blue T-shirt.
A military recruiting booth at a gay pride event is no more stupid or opportunistic than a rainbow-colored garden decoration booth, so, congratulations, gays. Equality is on the march.