I think I’ve pretty much said what I’ve wanted to say on the issue of gays in the military here and here. It’s obvious that I have an honest disagreement with John Guardiano and Robert Stacy McCain and I’m not sure how much will be gained by me rehashing the same arguments. But I just wanted to take a moment to clarify the record, in several instances where I believe my views have been misrepresented.
At one point, Guardiano writes, “Well, give Klein credit for honesty. He’s not afraid to admit that he’s at one with the Left on social issues.” The point I made, quite clearly, was that my views on government sometimes lead me to agree with liberals. That’s a far cry from saying that I’m “one” with them on social issues. In reality, there are a number of issues where I’d disagree with the left, most prominently, abortion. I also am sympathetic, as I said, to the broader critique conservatives make of a hook up culture where people don’t see sex as something that comes with consequences and responsibilities.
At another point, Guardiano writes, “Klein decries conservatives’ ‘inordinate focus on homosexuality.’ Would that it were so! In fact, as Klein well knows, most conservatives have been reticent to oppose the gay lobby.” But I never made a blanket statement about conservatives in general. The context of my statement was that Robert Knight, in a Washington Times op-ed, accused me of playing “smarter than God” because of my position on gays in the military. Over the course of my response, I referred to “the inordinate focus on homosexuality from Knight and others.” My point concerned Knight and those who echo his views, not all conservatives.
As for Stacy, he accuses me of being indoctrinated. That is what he might call a tautological accusation, because any attempt I make to refute it will be presented as more evidence of the thoroughness of my indoctrination. However, as somebody who has pushed back against liberal attempts to indoctrinate me since at least the age of 9 (when I protested our school Earth Day celebration), I find Stacy’s charge quite comical.
