You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.

The quip hinges on a double meaning of “straight”: heterosexuality versus accurate marksmanship. Goldwater’s point is that military service should be judged by competence—discipline, skill, and readiness—rather than by a soldier’s private identity. The joke format also functions rhetorically: it disarms moral panic by reframing the issue as practical and mission-focused. In quotation culture, it is often used to portray a strain of conservative libertarianism that separates personal morality from public service, though the force of the line depends on accepting the premise that orientation is irrelevant to performance.