The Issue of Hiding Personal Identity Because of a Scholarship

The only thing Lisa wanted was to go to a good school. She deserved it; she got good grades in school and everything. Its not her fault that her family cant afford to pay for her tuition. So, she decided to join the ROTC, that way she could get a full scholarship to a good private school. However, theres a problem for Lisa. Shes a lesbian, except thats not the problem, the problem is, is that the ROTC doesnt allow homosexuals into their program. So she had to make a decision. Either go to a not so good school, that didnt cost as much, or lie, and go into the ROTC so you could have a full scholarship. I think that she made the right decision, and lied to the ROTC and say that she wasnt a lesbian. This way she can get that great education she wanted, and the best part is that shes getting it for free. All she has to do is keep her sexual preference a secret to the ROTC program.

Lisa, like everyone else, has many identities. Obviously, we all know that she is a lesbian, thats the main focus of this case pretty much. She is also a student, daughter, friend, athlete, and a member of the ROTC. I think that the most important identity for her right now is being a student. Thats what she has to concentrate the most on in order to get a good job. As it says in the case, she didnt want to live like her mother, uneducated and miserable because she could have done something with her life. This shows that she really wants to be an outstanding student and get a good job after college. Thats why I think that her identity of being a student is the most important for her right now. Her being a lesbian and a member of the ROTC basically has the same salience for this case. She needs to be a member of the ROTC so that she can be a student, because without the ROTC she wouldnt be able to afford to go to school, and she wouldnt be a student. However, her being a lesbian is an important identity, because if word ever got out that she was, she could lose her scholarship and not be able to go to school anymore. Her other identities are not as important as the others, but they are still important to her in her life.

Lisa does have one problem because she has to keep one of her identities hidden. No one can know that she is a lesbian. She has to keep this hidden from everyone at her school and most importantly she has to make sure the ROTC program doesnt find out about it. She has to keep this hidden because if anyone found out she could lose everything. She would lose her full scholarship to this great school, and she would end up being stuck working at some terrible nine-to-five job for the rest of her life. Thats the last thing she would ever want to do. So instead of letting everyone know about her sexual preference, she keeps it hidden. She is definitely better off by doing that.

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In this case homosexuality and homophobia play a big role. When this case was written the military didnt allow gays or lesbians to in role in the service. Because of that, many homosexuals that wanted to join a branch of the military were forced to keep their identities a secret, like Lisa. I guess when this case was written, the world was a lot more homophobic then it is today. Today, anyone can serve in the military. They have the dont ask, dont tell policy. This allows anyone to join, even if they are gay. They arent really saying that they accept gays, but they just dont want to know about. When this new policy was made, they took out the part that made the applicant sign and swear that they werent homosexuals. However, the thing that sucks for Lisa is that they didnt have this policy when she was trying to go to school. So she was stuck with hiding her identity from the ROTC program. If Lisa was to go to school today, and wanted to join the ROTC she would have no problem.

As school went on, Lisa got into another problem. She had met another girl, a girl that she could possibly date. They did go on one date to the movies, and as Lisa was started to become very attracted to this other girl, Jenny. She also had the feeling that Jenny had the same feelings for Lisa. Then Jenny had asked her to go on a second date, and Lisa was so happy. Then, Jenny dropped the bomb. Lisa was asking about how come she has never seen Jennys brother around, and Jenny had told her that he was real busy with the ROTC. That basically killed their relationship right there. There was no way that she could go out with Jenny because her brother would soon find out that she was a lesbian, and soon she would lose her scholarship. She is definitely in a no-win situation. She basically has two options; she could either stay with Jenny and risk losing her scholarship through ROTC, or she could stop seeing Jenny and keep her scholarship and finish school.

Most people would say that she should definitely stop seeing Jenny because there are so many other girls that she could start to date once she graduates, but what if Jenny is the one? I myself believe in that every person has one soul mate that they will eventually find, but what if Jenny is Lisas soul mate. Does she risk that so that she can continue her education? However, there is the idea that maybe Jenny isnt even gay. What if she was just being nice and wanted to be Lisas friend. Then Lisa goes and tries to date her, Jenny then tells her brother, and her brother then tells the rest of the ROTC.

Lisa then loses her scholarship for absolutely nothing. I personally think that Lisa should definitely stop seeing Jenny and continue her education. It isnt fair for her to have to do that but she would be better off in the long run. Because, what if she decides to date Jenny, and she eventually loses her scholarship, then what if in less then a year they break up. What is she suppose to do then? She ruined her future just to date a girl for less then a year. I think that there is too much risk in dating Jenny and not going to school. In the long run she would be very upset that she didnt finish school. So, I think that she should just be friends with Jenny, and finish her college career, get a degree, and who knows maybe after college, they could try dating again. If they were really meant to be, they all things will work out for Lisa.

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