December 19, 2010 by David K. Sutton
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is Dead, Done, Gone
Apparently these ducks aren’t so lame after all.
First I’d like to say that I don’t intend to get too controversial on this blog but I feel like this topic should not be controversial. Ending a policy that essentially condoned discrimination should never be controversial. If you don’t agree with me, or you didn’t agree with repeal of DADT then you have to ask yourself why? Why is it alright to say to certain members of the military that they need to hide who they really are because some other people are uncomfortable with it?
Today the United States Senate repealed the 17 year old Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy that banned gays from serving openly in the military. While the policy was intended to stop witch hunts against gay military members, it’s existence highlighted that the institution tasked with protecting America was saying that gays and lesbians could serve in the military as long as they kept quiet about who they really are. I’ve never understood how anybody can argue that a policy that forces certain members to keep quite about who they really are is good for cohesion or moral. I also have never understood how anybody could make the case that allowing gays to serve openly would negatively affect our military’s ability to do it’s job. These are supposed to be some of the toughest individuals, not only physically but also mentally. Just think about some of the gruesome tasks that we ask these men and women to do and somebody wants to make an argument that they wouldn’t be able to handle if they knew the person serving next to them was gay? Today those arguments no longer matter. This coming week President Obama will sign the bill into law and DADT will officially be repealed. Within a few months (once the military has time to implement…although I don’t understand what they need to do) gay and lesbian members of the military will no longer need to fear being who they are.
