Choice limited in military

I believe that Stan Martin is owed a response for his letter published in The Spokesman-Review on Dec. 7.

When I served in the U.S. Army in Germany during the Cold War, I actually had the pleasure of serving with a couple of lesbians. It did not bother me that they were lesbians. If they had their problems, “sexual orientation” had nothing to do with it.

Mr. Martin needs to realize one fact. Only a bigot would call someone “bigoted” for expressing the fact that not every member of the U.S. Armed Forces is prepared to accept gays and lesbians serving openly among them. In fact, I faced open resentment for merely being a woman in the U.S. Army.

Mr. Martin seems not to understand one thing. Soldiers, Marines, etc. have not for several decades now “gotten to choose” whom they can serve with. Not after the U.S. military changed its policies concerning minorities and women. They would no longer be regimented into separate units but rather, be fully integrated into all branches of the U.S. military.

It is time that gays and lesbians are given the same opportunities.

Joan E. Harman

Dalton Gardens