SHOCK*: An Openly Gay Soldier Stationed In Afghanistan Has Not Led to More Terrorism
Or more “instability.” Or “less security.” Or “lack of camaraderie.” Or whatever other bullshit excuses defenders of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell come up with. Meet 21-year-old Ben Rakestrow, who is openly gay, serving in Afghanistan, and didn’t let a little thing like sexuality get in the way of serving his country. Of course, it helps that his country is not America.
But Britain — where gay soldiers have been allowed to serve openly since 2000. Rakestrow had already come out to his family and friends before enlisting, but was still in the closet to comrades. One night, that all changed.
Rakestrow, who serves with Egypt squadron, 2RTR, had been out at a nightclub with a friend who knew he was gay. The next morning his colleagues started asking questions.
“The next morning I arrived for the exercise late, because we’d had a bit to drink,” he said. “The lads all asked if we’d had any luck, then at least our late arrival would have been worth it. I just said, ‘His name was Ryan’. Some of their faces dropped, and asked if I was serious. They couldn’t believe it.”
And rather than being a harmful distraction, Rakestrow’s sexuality has actually become a teaching moment for fellow soldiers.
Rakestrow believes he made the right decision to come out to his comrades and said the men have treated him as an equal since he disclosed his sexuality.
He said: “I get banter from them all the time, but it’s good banter. They all want to know about my life, they ask a lot of questions, you can imagine. I don’t find it hard to talk about it.”
Rakestrow said he would advise gay men or women unsure about coming out to their colleagues to talk to close friends. “Talk about it with them and then if you’re confident tell your mates. But the important thing is to tell them when it feels right.”
And had he not come out? Well, it wouldn’t have been hard to figure it out:
The trooper said he did not fit any gay stereotypes, although he admits to having a pink quilt cover decorated with a picture of heartthrob actor Zac Ephron in the squadron’s temporary digs and a copy of Attitude magazine often in his rucksack.
Wow! you mean he hasn’t raped all of his bunkmates
whilst they slept? And he hasn’t caused his whole
squadron to stink the place up because they would “be
afraid to take a shower with a Gay”? And he hasn’t been
able to “convert” any other soldiers “under the stress
of battle” into Gaydom? And here I was so on board with
all the rightwing-nutbag lunatic reasons for not allowing
open Gays in the military!!!
What the hell we been elevatin lots of folks to the Gay Icon
status this week on the Queerts…….I hereby proclaim
Ben Rakestrow as an official Gay Icon! (plus he is kinda
cute :-P )
I agree with Terrwill! Gay Icon status for this soldier! Yippee Skippee!
Also, he is pretty cute. He can do morning drills with me anytime.
Of course he hasn’t seduced his bunkmates! Have you seen how ugly most British men are? He can do so much better!
(I keed, I keed)
Careful, FakeName, the brits are in here all the time keeping tabs on the colonies. LOL Actually, a lot of brits are cute, and very hunky. But some of them have this Mad Hatter thing going on that gives the rest of the guys a bad rep. LOL
CUTE! He can do push-ups over my junk any time!!!
Fake Name, most British bois are actually very hot.
Two words: Alan Carr.
@FakeName
Please be assured that Alan Carr is not an accurate representation of my average countryman.
And yeah, we’ve had openly gay soldiers serving for a while now. Not a huge deal. All that’s changed is our battle cries are now chanted in 3 part harmony.
William, are you offering visual proof to back up your claim? ;-)
@FakeName
That depends. What’s your type? We run the gamut, you know.
He’s hott…and he’s British…and I love the UK lads….=)
Everybody knows that the only reason our troops are there is to keep the opium fields in full productions. Until we remove all our troops from the middle-east, and do something to solve our problems at home, our reputation in every country is ruined. If I could afford to go anywhere after the damage the neoconservative war/profit-mongers have done to our economy, I would definitely say I was from Canada. I invite you to my pages devoted to raising awareness on these important issues: http://pltcldscsn.blogspot.com/
Last Xmas when I lived in Canada, the Canadian military but out a public service ad where Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan sent Xmas messages to their families back home. Prominent among those was a handsome Canadian soldier who proudly said that he missed his husband and their daughter back home.
How great that Canada not only allows gay soldiers to serve openly in the military, but celebrates gay families on national TV.
Lol good stuff
Im British but i want to move to Canada after law school! Canada seems so awesome about gay rights :P x
@ fakename
shut up, fatty.
What a great guy..he should testify before congress for repealing dadt….
Wow Oli, you’re kind of a cunt.
@Oli
What did fake name say that was so offensive to you? I think I missed it.
Fake Name, you need to spend some time in London. Hundreds of thousands of cute Brit boys as far as the eye can see. While there, check out that great club, “Heaven”….hot music and definitely sizzling hot guys.
I was in London years ago but was unfortunately part of a tour and couldn’t slip away to do anything terribly fun. Although I do have fond memories of a London boy who shall forever be in my head as Mister Juicy. I wouldn’t mind getting back one of these days or, really, going ANYWHERE to escape the snow drift that the town I’m in has become.
Shirtless pic of Ben here: http://sticky.queerclick.com/i...../ben-6.jpg
MMM….cute boy…