Joe Lieberman’s Jewish reasons for opposing “Don’t ask, don’t tell”

The Daily Beast reports that Joe Lieberman “worked tirelessly in rounding up enough votes for the Senate to repeal the don’t ask don’t tell policy.” What’s interesting is his motivation: ““I’m a Jewish-American, a member of a minority group raised from the earliest part of my life to be deeply grateful for all the rights and opportunities and freedom afforded Americans.”

That reminds of a quote from Charles Silberman’s A Certain People in the chapter on immigration in The Culture of Critique:

American Jews are committed to cultural tolerance because of their belief—one firmly rooted in history—that Jews are safe only in a society acceptant of a wide range of attitudes and behaviors, as well as a diversity of religious and ethnic groups. It is this belief, for example, not approval of homosexuality, that leads an overwhelming majority of U.S. Jews to endorse “gay rights” and to take a liberal stance on most other so-called “social” issues.

A footnote continues:

Moreover, a deep concern that an ethnically and culturally homogeneous America would compromise Jewish interests can be seen in Silberman’s (1985, 347–348) comments on the attraction of Jews to “the Democratic party . . . with its traditional hospitality to non-WASP ethnic groups. . . . A distinguished economist who strongly disagreed with Mondale’s economic policies voted for him nonetheless. ‘I watched the conventions on television,’ he explained, ‘and the Republicans did not look like my kind of people.’ That same reaction led many Jews to vote for Carter in 1980 despite their dislike of him; ‘I’d rather live in a country governed by the faces I saw at the Democratic convention than by those I saw at the Republican convention’ a well-known author told me.”

In other  words, it’s all about fear and loathing of a homogeneous White, Christian culture that prizes heterosexuality. Jewish voting behavior has nothing to do with economics (83% voted for Obama despite their high socioeconomic class profile) but everything to do with creating a powerful coalition against the traditional people and culture of America.

As I have argued several times, homosexuals have ethnic interests like everyone else and therefore White homosexuals should be on board with a movement that advances White interests. Homosexuality is largely the result of biological influence—an interesting topic in its own right. For example, the powerful pressures for marriage and children in traditional human societies ensured that people with gay tendencies passed on their genes. Ironically, perhaps, the contemporary culture of homosexual legitimacy (along with phenomena like AIDS) implies that there is natural selection against genes for homosexuality: Unlike the past, homosexuals now feel no pressure to marry and have children.

The point is that all Whites, including homosexuals, have an interest in creating a culture that prizes strong families, children, and heterosexuality. White gay people should realize it is in their interest to acquiesce  in a culture in which homosexuality is not publicly visible. From that perspective, “Don’t ask, don’t tell” made excellent policy sense. Its demise is yet another blow to the culture of heterosexuality that has been a healthy, adaptive norm in all human cultures.

Despite the fact that traditional Jewish culture strongly opposes homosexuality (Christians are now being persecuted in Canada for citing the ban on homosexuality in Leviticus), Orthodox Jews like Lieberman instinctively understand that support of public homosexuality is a blow to the traditional people and culture of America despite the fact that it strongly conflicts with their own religion. They therefore celebrate their victory over “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”