You don’t need to be “straight” to fight and die for your country; you just need to shoot straight.

The line argues that military service and sacrifice are unrelated to sexual orientation: what matters in combat is competence (“shoot straight”), not being “straight.” It frames patriotism and eligibility to serve as practical and merit-based, implicitly criticizing policies that exclude LGBTQ people from the armed forces. The wordplay turns a common label for heterosexuality into a standard of marksmanship, underscoring the idea that the state’s interest is effectiveness and loyalty rather than private identity. As attributed to Goldwater—a prominent conservative voice—it is often invoked to show that support for gay service members has existed across ideological lines, even if the attribution is sometimes presented without firm documentation.