Cobra = ?
Where does/would homosexuality fit in the Joeverse? Are there characters you've wondered about? Characters you (think you) know for a fact are gay?
Well as an openly Gay man I myself don't have "Don't ask, Don't Tell" in my joeverse. Mostly since I follow most of what is told in the comics or cartoons besides the deaths of certain characters. ones "sexual preference" is to me the same as age or sex when it comes to My GI joes. Too much thought is not put into it. Also when I was growing my joes were away of playing of course, something fun to buy and find, but also away of escaping the troubles of my family life and the bullying I recieved while growing up so This is another reason that I would not be dealing with the whole gay or not gay people now or then. My Husband does like to joke around with my figures and say "Oh cobra commander, oh Duke" You know like Dark Helmet does with his figures in spaceballs.
I will say this though With all the men as troops in G.I. Joe and Cobra there has to be people who are not "Straight" Plus I guess If I was really to put thought into it I could see "my Cobra commander" using Don't ask, Don't tell as another way of getting troops for his cause. For all the "gays" who are not able to be out in The army or G.I. Joe he could have them as members of cobra by promising them a new world of cobra domination where They are allowed to serve as troops with out fear of a "Don't ask, Don't tell Policy"
To this some one was kind to reply
Where does/would homosexuality fit in the Joeverse? Are there characters you've wondered about? Characters you (think you) know for a fact are gay?
Well as an openly Gay man I myself don't have "Don't ask, Don't Tell" in my joeverse. Mostly since I follow most of what is told in the comics or cartoons besides the deaths of certain characters. ones "sexual preference" is to me the same as age or sex when it comes to My GI joes. Too much thought is not put into it. Also when I was growing my joes were away of playing of course, something fun to buy and find, but also away of escaping the troubles of my family life and the bullying I recieved while growing up so This is another reason that I would not be dealing with the whole gay or not gay people now or then. My Husband does like to joke around with my figures and say "Oh cobra commander, oh Duke" You know like Dark Helmet does with his figures in spaceballs.
I will say this though With all the men as troops in G.I. Joe and Cobra there has to be people who are not "Straight" Plus I guess If I was really to put thought into it I could see "my Cobra commander" using Don't ask, Don't tell as another way of getting troops for his cause. For all the "gays" who are not able to be out in The army or G.I. Joe he could have them as members of cobra by promising them a new world of cobra domination where They are allowed to serve as troops with out fear of a "Don't ask, Don't tell Policy"
To this some one was kind to reply
That's a good point,commentor. I bet CC would be happy to recruit gays who feel persecuted for wanting to serve their countries.
For me,except for my mega-couples:Lady Jaye/Flint-Jinx/Falcon-and my Eternal Triangles:Duke/Scarlett/Snake-Eyes-Destro/Baroness/CC,I haven't dealt with sexuality in my Joe-Verse.
If some of the Joes are gay,that makes them no less heroic in my eyes.
Also the original thread starter came back to respond to me:)
"I will say this though With all the men as troops in G.I. Joe and Cobra there has to be people who are not "Straight"
"And that's pretty much what inspired the question. Well, that and the fact that moving to Idaho has gotten me interested in feminism and homosexual issues and such again 'cause I'm confronted by so much racism and homophobia here...
What's the statistic, 1 in 10 people are gay?
Like you said, man, there's plenty of dudes on these two teams...
I understand what people mean re: what's the point, 'cause all I do with mine is pose them and photograph them, and I can't even stay consistent with the name I want to give a given figure...
Still, I thought it'd be an interesting topic for debate."
My reply
Well I don't want to go off topic too long or too much but yeah they claim it's 1 in 10 but how long have they been saying that? Have they redone the study? Have to remember in my opinion even under safe circumstances it's still very hard to get someone to admit they are something or lean towards something society still sees as a horrible thing as if your a murderer or something worse.
No offense to anyone but Idaho? Hope it was for love or a really high paying Job:) Nah but really it's in the best interest in everyone your now coming in contact with to have you as a part of that state. I for one hear what your saying, I live in seattle and even here when I see racisim it makes you feel dirty to be any where near any form of hate.
I would also like to say that I am glad to see that at least up to now this thread has not had to be locked. Even if it's because of the old saying If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say any thing at all"
Original thread starter's reply
Yeah, there were a few times it looked to be going in a (sadly) predictable direction, but it's generally stayed respectable, and in everyone's defense, it is a damned weird thing to ask people, I guess: "Are your toys gay?"
As for Idaho, we resisted it and resisted it, but we were sick of busting our asses and not being able to afford a house in California, so we took the plunge and now we own a beautiful home... in a town where everyone is uber-religious and conservative.
I was so over politics by the time we moved here, but now I'm like a pissed-off thirteen-year-old again. We're already talking somewhat seriously about moving back in the next year or two... I can't stand the thought that I'm surrounded by people who respect George Bush.
There were many other responses and interesting in there own ways but I enjoyed this one:)
Man, I gotta say, it never ONCE occured to me that Cobra would be a haven for homosexual military recruits, but now that it's been brought up, it makes a LOT of sense. I support the US military in just about everything it does, but Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a rare exception - quite frankly, it's stupid and doesn't change anything. Now, in my Joeverse, Cobra's an equal-opportunity employer in the largest sense of the word - if you're willing to sign on the dotted line, they'll take you, train you, and let you get mowed down by Joe gunners. Cobra doesn't care about the color of your skin or your socio-economic background one lick. They're just looking for bodies to attach guns to (sometimes quite literally). But it had never occured to me that Cobra might ACTIVELY try to recruit homosexual soldiers before. Damn, I'm seriously tempted to work that into my Joeverse somehow...
I also thought this was very good as this is were I am easily confused that we still make "excuses" for treating good people differently
I don't really understand the hubbub about "don't ask don't tell"... when I get hired for a job I don't say "hey man you know I am straight" and I don't expect the boss to go "are you gay?"... Heck if a boss or even a coworker asked that I would go file a harassment lawsuit- that kind of questoning has no bearing on the work place... I know there is a popular belief that openly gay people think they are solely defined by their sexuality (well, at least that is how they are portrayed on TV) however from the 2 and only two openly gay people I have ever known well I can say I do not believe this is true Gay people act pretty normal of course I don't live in NYC or San Fran.
This one is cool to see and is a big reason I am glad Don't ask Don't tell is gone for now if not FOREVER
The reason I'm against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is that it's essentially cloaked discrimination. We won't ask you if you're gay, but if we find out, we have every right to find an excuse to get rid of you. Almost any other employer in the US is legally required to have a no-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation, but the military does not, and gets around it with DADT. And if you DO tell, they'll find a way to get you fired. Any other company in the country did that, and they'd be facing a lawsuit. It just doesn't live up to the "Land of the Free" way I see my country, and I don't like it.
I have to admit, I've never personally known an openly gay man. However, I've known more than a dozen lesbians, one of whom I considered my best friend in college, and outside some extreme public kissing in school, they're just like every other girl/woman I've ever met - right down to the "can't we just be friends?" line. But back on topic, they're absolutely no different than anyone else, and I see no reason for them to be treated differently than anyone else. And that includes the ability to serve their country while still being true to themselves. At 1 in 10 numbers (which, honestly, I'd like to see the research on, but will accept for the time being), that's like saying something like "If you are a Nerd/geek we don't want you in the Army" or "if you have red hair, you cannot enroll in the United States Marines."
Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a dumb idea, on hurts more people than it helps.
This one made me smile then and even now makes me smile much like the smiles your sharing has brought me in the years:D
"Man, I gotta say, it never ONCE occured to me that Cobra would be a haven for homosexual military recruits, but now that it's been brought up, it makes a LOT of sense..."
"Funnily enough, I brought the topic up, and yet I never thought to apply it to COBRA...."
Thank goodness for all that have made a stand and continue to make a stand to make this world better for all
What I love is how the US Military says having openly gay servicemembers would ruin group morale as other hetero servicemembers would feel threatened by having to serve with somebody gay in the extremes of combat. It basically says that if straight Trooper A knows Trooper B is gay, that Trooper B would somehow act differently in combat because of Trooper A's knowledge. It's just straight-up discrimination fueled by ig'nance.
Additionally, pretty much every European military service has nothing remotely like DADT, and they have no problems with 'rampant homo-sex in foxholes' destroying unit cohesion, or whatever dumb crap our policymakers are afraid of.
/Not gay, but my mom was a florist and there were always gay guys in the floral industry - duh.