A Gay Naval Midshipman

Gays have been demonized by forces opposed to their serving, and those forces are not about to respond to a traditional argumentative text. The only information which will have any chance of changing the opponents' minds is information which "de-demonizes" gays, which humanizes them in the eyes of those opponents. This humanization process cannot be carried out primarily through the traditional argument based on reason and logic.

Those who fear and hate gays will be moved, if anything can move them, by Steffan's self-portrait, which shows him to be a young man who is dedicated to his country and to the Navy, and who offers no threat to the sexuality or the morale of other men, or women, serving in the military. The sub-title of the book makes the author's point---Steffan "fights to serve his country," not to be near other men in

. . .
t. It is this writer's personal experience that, in general, those who are anti-gay, and anti-gays in the military, believe that gays choose to be gay, and therefore could choose to stop being gay at any time. They also believe that gays are always on the prowl for sexual conquests. Personal experience tells this writer that those anti-gay individuals are projecting their own sexual philosophy onto gays. Most virulently anti-gay individuals are straight men who know they would be constantly trying to "score" if they were in an environment full of women. Naturally, they assume that gay men will be similarly trying to constantly "score" in an environment full of men. Steffan's book is written in part to change such views. In the first place, it is painfully clear that Steffan has not "chosen" to be gay. In fact, he fights his gay feelings: Since the first inkling of doubt about my sexuality, the first spark of attraction to men, I had resisted. I had fought, prayed, and hoped that it was just a phase, that I would wake up one morning and the attraction would be gone. But every day it was there, lingering in the background waiting to pounce (103). This should help convince anti-gay protesters that gays are born gay and th
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Annapolis Simply, Serve Country, Academy Annapolis, Navy Steffan, traditional argument, steffan's book, York Avon, gays military, Honor Bound, fights serve country, change view, traditional argumentative, serving military, gays' serve, personal experience, anti-gay individuals, serve country,
Approximate Word count = 1320
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

More Essays on A Gay Naval Midshipman