Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Lesbians and Privacy:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_05_01-2005_05_07.shtml#1115404348
[1]American Federalist Journal responds to my query about lesbians:
Do you think it is reasonable to separate soldiers by gender in
housing, bathroom facilities, etc.? If so, why? If it is
unacceptable to put a female soldier in a shower with a bunch of
male soldiers, why would it then be acceptable to put a gay male in
that shower? Similarly, a lesbian female in a barracks with several
other women would infringe on the privacy of those soldiers
similarly to putting a male soldier into a barracks with several
female soldiers. . . .
[T]here are reasonable practical considerations when it comes to
gender separation, and those concerns are nearly impossible to work
around when it comes to homosexuals. That isn't the entire case
against homosexuals serving openly in the military, but it seems to
us to be a reasonable consideration.
I appreciate being reminded of this argument, but it still strikes me
as pretty weak.
These are soldiers -- people who might have to get shot at by others,
and who will otherwise be put in many very psychologically difficult
positions. Even those who aren't in combat positions may have to deal
with considerable difficulties and traumas. They're supposed to be,
and I wager are, pretty tough.
It somehow doesn't seem to me too much of a burden to deal with the
possibility (a possibility that is surely always present, even if the
military tries very hard to find and kick out every homosexuality)
that someone is lusting after them in the shower. These are not
fragile flowers we're talking about here; if they can handle drill
sergeants, I'd hope they can handle this. And I don't quite see why we
should organize our military policy -- including by kicking out
lesbian soldiers who, as I mentioned below, may on average contribute
more to military effectiveness than straight women soldiers -- around
some soldiers' feeling bothered by the risk of getting checked out in
the shower or the barracks.
References
1. http://www.federalistjournal.com/
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