Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: “An American Disgrace”
Our military’s current policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, passed in 1993, is quite simply one of the most morally reprehensible pieces of legislation in act today. It blatantly degrades citizens of our nation that are willing to put themselves in harms way, and at times give their lives in support of their country. They volunteer to serve a country that openly decrees that simply due to their sexual orientation they are unworthy of fighting and shedding their blood to ensure the freedom of all other Americans. It is absolutely nothing more ignorant intolerance argued by individuals that are completely unaffected by it rules. As a former Soldier and three-tour Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran I can fully attest to the hardships that are endured on a daily basis by our fighting forces. Anyone that is willing to do so and put the welfare and safety of others above their own should be allowed to do so. I can more than assure you that while in combat the last thing any soldier, sailor, or airman worries about is the sexual orientation of the person that’s fighting beside them.
Now as the opportunity to finally repeal this policy is finally available, the Right Wing of the GOP is once again trying to defend it place in the military. In early 2011 the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, by a score of 234 to 194 that would repeal DNDT. As the amendment reached the Senate thought it has met tremendous resistance from all the familiar faces regardless of the fact that every major leader of every branch of the military supports it. Sen. John McCain was the latest to put on the blinders and go to bat for good old American intolerance. McCain and other Republicans are claiming that the latest, incredibly comprehensive, survey of U.S. Troops about the effect of allowing openly gay individuals to serve was inadequate and did not represent the views of the military as a whole. This, as anyone with IQ higher than their age can figure out, is the same kind of blatant discrimination and intolerance that allowed the endurance of policies like Jim Crow Laws and racial segregation.
The supporting arguments for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell have always been that the presence of Gays in the military will upset the cohesion and moral of fighting units, an ideal that has been clearly rejected by the majority of our military and our nation. As Sec. of Def. Robert Gates stated, “This policy has no positive impact and has no place in today’s Arm Forces… and the time to act… to right this wrong is now.” The fact that we, as a nation, have sat idly by and allowed this open policy of discrimination to stay in place is something that all of us should be deeply ashamed of. I hope that everyone that reads this will take the time to do what is right, write your Senators tell them to pass the 2011 Amendment to the Defense Authorization Act and end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
For more info on this subject go to: http://www.sldn.org/pages/about-dadt
No comments:
Post a Comment