This is actually old news, but it’s so weird and rife with comic possibilities as to be irresistible. The oddest thing about it is how needlessly complicated it is. If you’re looking to immobilize the other side without killing them, some type of tranquilizer bomb would seem to be in order. How did the conversation get from there to, “Nah — let’s make ’em gay”? And equally stupid:

Gay community leaders in California said Friday that they found the notion of a “gay bomb” both offensive and almost laughable at the same time.

“Throughout history we have had so many brave men and women who are gay and lesbian serving the military with distinction,” said Geoff Kors of Equality California. “So, it’s just offensive that they think by turning people gay that the other military would be incapable of doing their job. And its absurd because there’s so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed.”

The point as I understand it isn’t that gay soldiers wouldn’t fight back, it’s that the shock and, er, “disorientation” within the unit from having their sexuality instantly altered would paralyze them for a time and generate a morale crisis given that they’re likely to come from homophobic societies. The “gay bomb” works best against those enemies least tolerant of gays — you’d think that element of poetic justice would mitigate its offensiveness somewhat.

Anyway, silly idea. But I do look forward to the inevitable conspiracy theories from Alex Jones and other Ron Paul supporters about the covert development of the bomb and the secret test ordered by Nixon on the population of San Francisco…