Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Gays in the Military
When American President Bill Clinton took the office in 1993, one of his primary goals was to quickly allow openly homosexual men and women to serve in the armed forces. That didn't happen. Because of tremendous resistance, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) compromise was made. With this, homosexuals could serve as long as they didn't say they were homosexual--and as long as no one else reported them.
Since 1994, the DADT has resulted in over 13,500 otherwise qualified men and women being fired from the military. Some of these were trained in skills the Pentagon considers "mission critical." This means if no one has those skills on a particular mission, that mission will fail.
In a historic move, the U. S. House voted to repeal DADT. According to the ACLU, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted in favor of repeal in 2010's defense authorization bill.
But of course many people will try to stop it. Ironically, according to the New York Times the United States military has accepted known felons into its ranks, with some of them convicted of crimes including armed robbery, arson and burglary. If a heterosexual who committed armed robbery can serve in the military, why can't a homosexual who's never even gotten a traffic ticket?
What can you do to end discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military? You can easily send an email through this link in the ACLU website.
MORE LINKS AND CREDITS
To see an earlier blog entry on this issue, click on http://loveshade.org/blog/2008/07/dont_ask_dont_tellgays_in_the.html
To see all our blogs dealing with homosexuality, click on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=homosexual
To see all our blogs dealing with the ACLU, click on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=ACLU
Photo by SPC James M. Myers shows the Graduating Class of 1980, West Point - the first class to admit women. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain. Image is as found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Class_of_1980.jpg
Comments
Bill Clinton did what he could at the time and we should thank him for it. But this is a time when some states allow same-sex marriage. Certainly homosexuals should be allowed to fight for their country!
Posted by: TawTew the Naturally Perfumed | June 3, 2010 08:34 PM
Discrimination is wrong. Really they're doing special favors for homosexuals so they won't be shot at. Does that mean conservatives favor homosexuality?
Posted by: Marie Gilbert | June 5, 2010 05:44 PM
Don't send them away
if you know they're gay;
Let them fight
and do what's right.
Posted by: M J Lover | June 6, 2010 04:22 AM
Why should the army discriminate? If people who are gay want to sign up, who should stop them?
Posted by: Dharma | June 6, 2010 01:40 PM
It's not about fighting. It's about bending over in the shower to pick up the soap when some gay guy's behind you.
Posted by: Tom T. Trucker | June 8, 2010 08:51 PM
Come on, Tom, weren't you in gym with a bunch of guys? Don't you go to public restrooms with guys you don't know?
If you can fight you can fight. It doesn't matter who you'd rather shower with.
Posted by: Orpheus | June 11, 2010 01:58 AM
My friend's gay and he's tough. Why shouldn't he fight if he wants to?
Posted by: Zona | June 13, 2010 05:50 AM
This is a good thing!!!
Posted by: Vernon Avaritt | June 14, 2010 10:06 PM
The Policy is Stupid so Get Rid of It Already.
Posted by: Just Surfed On In | June 16, 2010 07:56 PM
A guy guy will shoot you just as dead as a straight guy. Heteros aren't the only "straight shooters."
Posted by: Fred is Dead | July 13, 2010 04:23 AM