Marine General Peter Pace ( really his name) this week decided to go on the record as being a self-righteous homophobe and decrying Homosexual acts as “immoral.” As a commander of American forces in Iraq, he is “over” what has been described as thousands of Gay and Lesbian troops. This has created a backlash from the gay community and a distancing from the White House, even though the defense of marriage bill is due to rear its ugly head around the time of the democratic primary. Because this has prompted a new discussion about the Clinton “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, I would be remiss if I didn’t cite the most interesting argument about gays in the military.
You see there was this battle over 2,000 years ago, fought by just a handful of Greeks against thousands of Persians at a place called Thermoplyae; There are 2 important things that you need to know about this battle; first, 300 Greeks and 700 Thespians beat down thousands of Persians for days and second, they were gay. Not the Thespians, well…maybe. But definitely the 300 elite Greek troops known as Warrior-lovers. This was pointed out by a history professor in the early 90s and I feel dispells any doubt about the usefulness of alternative life-style troops. If the first part sounds a little familiar, that is because there is currently a movie based on a comic based on it, sort of. 300 the comic was penned in the late 90s by Frank Miller and is a Knobs-at-11 kind of thrill ride that has blood, guts, babes, booty and other accouterments of a straight tour de force. Like the comic, what the movie lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in volume.
In the final twist of the ironic sword, even though there is only a passing homosexy innuendo, it is being discussed in the press as both the most Homoerotic and Homophobic movie ever made, due to the mostly naked men, doing their thing.