Having spent 37 years of my life in the military as a reservist, and never having met a gay in all of that time, and never having even talked about it in all those years, I just thought, why the hell shouldn't they serve? They're American citizens. As long as they're not doing things that are harmful to anyone else... So I came out for it.
Interpretation
The quote expresses support for allowing gay individuals to serve in the military based on their citizenship and lack of harm to others.
Barry Goldwater's quote challenges the stigma surrounding LGBTQ+ individuals serving in the military. By acknowledging his long military service without encountering any issues with gay individuals, he advocates for their right to serve, emphasizing that citizenship should grant all Americans equal rights, and that personal identity should not hinder one's capability to contribute to the country as a soldier.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about military policy reforms.
I say further that for this great legislative body to ignore the Constitution and the fundamental concepts of our governmental system is to act in a manner which could ultimately destroy the freedom of all American citizens, including the freedoms of the very persons whose feelings and whose liberties are the major subject of this legislation.
The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Government governs best when it governs least – and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone’s version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.
Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives.
None of us here in Washington knows all or even half of the answers ... If you love your country, don't depend on handouts from Washington for your information. If you cherish your freedom, don't leave it all up to big government.
A woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right.
The great decisions of government cannot be dictated by the concerns of religious factions. We have succeeded for 205 years in keeping the affairs of state separate from the uncompromising idealism of religious groups and we mustn't stop now. To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism and the values upon which the framers built this democratic republic.
Hong Kong people stand in the front line to confront authoritarian suppression.
Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.
There's nothing wrong with being afraid. It's not the absence of fear, it's overcoming it. Sometimes you've got to blast through and have faith.
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
We want to go in for suffering, and there may be torture. If we put the women in front the Government may hesitate to inflict on us all the penalty that they might otherwise inflict.
Yet somehow the thing that startled me most, after a week or two had passed, was that I had in fact survived.
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