To quote Mr. William Falk’s article in the New York Times today, “That Wasn’t the Week That Was“:

IN DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE, PART II Representative Edward Schrock, Republican of Virginia, abandoned his bid for re-election, after a Web log claimed he had sought sex with other men through a phone service. Mr. Schrock, who is married, has co-sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and has advocated barring homosexuals from military service. (Mr. Schrock is a retired Navy officer.) The Web log, Blogactive.com, has vowed to reveal the identities of lawmakers who are gay and support anti-homosexual legislation. An aide said Mr. Schrock was not gay, but that he wouldn’t run because the accusations had called into question his ability to represent his constituents.

While I may not agree with what Mr. Schrock supports, this is downright disappointing when people take it upon themselves to upend the private lives of politicians in order to reveal something as inconsequential as whether they’re gay or straight. Albeit that this would reveal a very basic contradiction in Mr. Schrock’s policies, the mere accusation alone is obviously enough to cripple a political career. If those types of accusations call into question anyone’s ability to represent their constituents, what would happen if the same site started indicting other heterosexual politicians? For that matter, what would happen if politicians were found to be bisexual? Is that somehow less repulsive than homosexuality?

As for the issues that Mr. Schrock supports, I have already stated my opposition to a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. I have not, however, stated my opposition to banning homosexuals from military service. Liking your own gender in no way affects your ability to follow orders. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy seems to be working just fine, and rules against dating people within your own unit to prevent any potentially disastrous relationships from forming would make a little more sense to me than banning the presence of gays in the military outright. We can support gays in the military without risking possibly dangerous outcomes that sprout from relationships inside a soldier’s own unit.