The Full Kiss

I’ll admit to being a fan, until now, of the show Army Wives. That it’s about military life and stars some of the most beautiful women on the planet are certainly motivators, even though some would consider it a glorified soap opera. However, in its attempt to be cutting-edge about today’s military, last Sunday the show provided another of those in-your-face moments that are all too common on television these days.

The focal point of that episode was a female intelligence officer who was called into a tense stand-off between a local African militia and U.S. Army troops who were trying to get an American physician released from captivity. The intel officer just happened to be a lesbian. Thanks to her expertise in understanding the culture of the natives, she was able to negotiate the peaceful release of the doctor. Later, she was caught in a hostile fire situation and took a bullet in the leg. When she returned home after the mission was completed, she was saluted as a hero—and rightly so.  But then, spotting her girlfriend waiting to greet her, they embraced and exchanged a full, passionate kiss. Not even any of the heteros who greeted each other after a long separation smooched so ardently.

In the mean time, the reality of Obama’s repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is not so rosy. According to a recent article in WorldNetDaily, same-sex sexual harassment and assault cases are up significantly since the repeal of DADT. This should come as no surprise to most reasonable people, but today’s politically correct Armed Forces are trying to sweep these problems under the rug in the name of political correctness. Don’t be surprised, either, to start seeing an exodus of career soldiers from the all-volunteer force. People tend to vote with their feet when they believe their interests are not being protected, and it’s clear that integrating openly gay people into the military at whatever the cost, is more important than considerations of morale and readiness.

For the last few years, I liked the show Army Wives because the theme was largely supportive of today’s military. But in its attempt to pander to the gay lobby, as so many other shows have already done, the show has lost a lot of credibility, at least with viewers like me. If you agree, write the show’s producers a letter of protest as I fully intend to do. It’s one thing to show a gay soldier as part of the ensemble—but to make that character a selfless hero who plants a kiss on a same-sex partner is just over the top.