EDITORIAL

The military draft is a topic of general concern today, especially to the homophile. How is the young homophile to handle himself when called for examination? How is he to answer "the question" which is on all the forms, the question which asks about his sexual orientation? In fact what is he to think about military service at all in view of such a question? Does it not uncompromisingly spell out the view of the military that he is an undesirable?

Many choose to answer the question falsely. Thousands did so in the last war and went through their military service with honor, some of them with high distinction, coming out with no one the wiser as to their deception.

Others, not so fortunate or so discreet, were caught and discharged under such conditions as to blight their entire future. Some never will be able to enter into professions for which they were trained, never will be given the employment which they could well fulfill.

In still other instances the degree of persecution and harrassment some homophiles have had to endure at the hands of self-righteous military martinets has wrought serious psychological disfigurement, serious enough in some cases to handicap them for life. ONE's Social Service Division has interviewed such persons.

What of those who have declared themselves to be homosexual? In some cases they have been dragged through unspeakable humiliations at the hands of staff psychiatrists. At other times it has been the local draft boards who were the offenders. If the individual manages to come through such a declaration without harm he is just plain lucky. For, even if nothing overt is directed at him, his admission probably will become part of the record, and is there anyone who supposes that such records are really "confidential"? Is there anyone who supposes that his having admitted to being a homosexual could not shadow his entire future?

The chances that it will not are indeed remote. So-called "security checks" are now becoming more and more routine for all sorts of employment. Can't you see a school board hiring a teacher whose draft record states that he has declared himself to be a homosexual? Can't you see a manufacturer of missile components, with the very continuation of his plant depending on big government contracts, taking a chance on hiring an admitted homosexual? It has gotten today so that even some department stores (with their traditional necktie departments) are running security checks. Some of them are firing those whose record shows that they are homosexuals. Policies in street-cleaning departments are not known but that just might be about all that will be left if present trends continue.

So, where does that leave the young homophile vis-a-vis his draft board? It looks as if he has two choices: (1) to falsify his feelings, then wait for what happens; (2) to confess his orientation, then wait for what happens. A dreary prospect. Either way he may well have the feeling that he sits on a time bomb, and all too often such proves to be the case.

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