OK, you choose not to make a case for a.

Because a) was a strawman.

What I will make a case for is that various cultural events and other public events serve as recruiting opportunities. They show the military in a good light. They highlight the job opportunities for young men and women. They are an opportunity for the general public to talk to soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines to find out what military life is like, why these particular people chose to serve their country in these particular branches. They're just good PR. Good PR can happen at a gay pride parade just as easily as a 4th of July parade.

I would also ask how sending a color guard to a MLK day event is any different from sending a color guard to a Washington's birthday event or a Labor Day event or a Memorial Day event? They're all national holidays.

As to Black History month, why should we celebrate the Doolittle raid and not the Tuskegee airmen? Why should we celebrate Roosevelt's Rough Riders and not the Buffalo soldiers? Aren't they all part of military history?

So once again, our current political leadership isn't focused on actual leadership, but on sending messages to their base which alienate other parts of the electorate. They are encouraging division rather than looking to reduce it.

--Peter