I assume he was referring to Beagle's dark comments about supposedly being kicked "in the nuts" (sic) in the dark recesses of a hangar. I didn't think the comment was even worthy of a reply as it's just the kind of attutude that used to prevail in the 1960's. Next thing he'll be shrugging his shoulders when they start tattooing pink triangles on our gay arms! Needless to say (but go on, I'll say in anyway!) if somebody tried that kind of stunt these days, they would be found out and they'd be out of the services with an assault charge before their feet touched the ground.
I guess it just depends how you look at these things. Having a sense of humour is fine, and from my point-of-view all the nasty comments, sarcasm, cheap jokes and all the rest, don't bother me in the least. Some I find funny, some I find a bit sad, but of course some people might take offense. It's all very well to throw-around terms like "fudge packer" but I wonder if people who use terms like this ever bother to think about what they're saying? The term bears no relation to one's sexuality, it merely hints at a rather graphic image of a particular sexual practise that some gay men might indulge in, although others doubtless do not. Point is, the same sexual act is practised by just as many straight people, as any research or suitably-free conversation will reveal. That's fine; I don't care who does what in the privacy of their bedrooms, but it serves to illustrate how us homos have to constantly endure the Benny Hill-esque jokes, even though they're outdated, vaguely offensive and often entirely inappropriate. Should we claim to be even slightly offended, we get told to "lighten up" and get a sense of humour!
I don't want to sound like a victim not least because I'm not - the more insults I hear, the more I laugh at the idiots who issue them. But in a wider sense, it would be nice if some of the more entrenched homophobes could stop to consider how other people must feel sometimes. They wouldn't like the prospect of living their entire lives with this kind of stigma, and yet we're supposed to shut-up and (if you'll pardon the phrase) "take it like a man"... It's not nice, it's outdated, it's vaguely offensive and, most importantly, it's entirely unnecessary. Think what you like about homosexuality but we are who we are, we don't choose our sexuality no more than anyone chooses the colour of their skin. I entirely agree that the forces are not the place for someone who proposes to make an issue about his sexuality, but at the same time the forces are also not the place to allow this kind of "don't ask and don't tell" rubbish to persist. If that's the kind of attitude that some people expect, then we have a perfect right to expect the straight people to shut-up about their sexuality too. Far better to just grow-up and find another subject to get upset about, methinks.