Repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’
$200 million dollars is the amount the United States Army spent on creating and instituting the ‘Army Strong’ campaign to recruit new enlistees (Keshin). So why is the military excluding potentially tens of thousands of recruits if it so desperately needs people to enlist in the military? The group being excluded is one that is able-bodied and willing to fight for their nation, no matter how bigoted laws are against them in the U.S. Gays have been disallowed from being open about their sexual orientation in the military for seventeen years, and because of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy created by the Clinton administration, two gay people are kicked out of the military every single day because of their orientation (Jones). It is time for a change; this arcane policy needs to repealed immediately and gay and lesbian people need to be treated as equals in the military, and allowed to be open about their sexual orientation.
Increasingly, nations around the world are accepting gays and lesbians openly into their military forces. Considering the amount of worry and money spent on homeland security in the United States, it makes one scratch their heads as to why anyone without a substantial criminal record or medical issue would be barred from joining the armed forces. Currently, there are twenty-five confirmed nations that support the permission of gays and lesbians to serve in their militaries, including most recently Germany and Uruguay (Palm Center). If the United States is supposed to lead the world as a progressive nation, they certainly are failing at that attempt with this policy. Inherent discrimination against something biologically determined is a bigoted statute that should be addressed immediately.
According to a recently constructed Pentagon survey “of active-duty forces and their families, the majority do not care if gay men and women serve openly” (Bumiller). Now, certainly not everyone will ever agree on this issue. I served in the military and there are some bigoted soldiers, but there are just as many open-minded soldiers as well. There were people in my unit who were racist, but that certainly does not mean that only whites or only blacks should serve just because other soldiers may be uncomfortable serving alongside someone of another color. If in fact this where the case, the soldier who felt uncomfortable about such an arbitrary thing should be the one dismissed. Alas, over 13,000 soldiers since the conception of this law have been discharged for ‘coming out’ or for their commanding officers or fellow soldiers discovering the true sexual orientation of the soldiers (Keshin). Even though most soldiers have displayed via this survey that they are comfortable with gays serving alongside them, this ‘rule’ continues to discourage gays from joining, and discourage gays from even being themselves in the military. If they cannot be open and honest with those whose lives they must depend on, especially in a era of the two longest wars in modern American history, then there is something more seriously wrong with the military.
An interesting annotation about this issue is it appears that a growing number of elected officials are in favor of repealing the issue. Representative Alcee Hastings of Florida sent a letter to President Barack Obama in June of 2010 that was “endorsed by more than seventy-five members of Congress [that urged] a suspension in investigations and discharges because of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’” (Keshin). The issue has been put into a defense bill that is set to be looked at by the U.S. Senate, and was actually repealed in federal court until the U.S. Justice Department stepped in an asked the courts to wait on overturning the policy because it was a matter that should not be decided judicially, but rather by the Pentagon and the military themselves. Bureaucracy has prevented our nation from repealing this policy, and as a result homeland security is suffering, albeit on a small scale but a scale nonetheless, and is stymieing recruitment of men and women willing to serve in the military. Robert Gates, the Bush and Obama Secretary of Defense, has recently come out urging Congress to repeal the law so the courts do not have to, thus saving the taxpayers potentially millions of dollars that would otherwise be spent fighting the issue in the judicial system.
“Twenty percent of gay vets who left the military said they would have stayed if they could have served openly…that means one in five who’ve left could potentially be interested in coming back” (Conant). Not only would recruitment open up to all gays and lesbians, but soldiers with experience might be willing to return to serve the country. According to a think tank at UCLA, the Williams Institute, the “U.S. Armed Forces spend about $22,000 to $43,000 to replace each individual discharged under DADT” (Conant). Taxpayers’ dollars, an issue so contested that the lame duck Congressional Republicans are vowing to disregard any bill until the tax issue is frontloaded, are being wasted discharging perfectly fine soldiers because of sexual orientation. Even fiscal conservatives, now matter how bigoted they may or may not be, have got to argue that this policy is outdated and trite. If even the lowest amount, $22,000, was spent on each individual discharged under the policy, that would accrue to $286 million for the estimated 13,000 soldiers discharged under the policy. This is essentially the minimum cost taxpayers have taken on to get rid of able-bodied gay soldiers in the military because of DADT.
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is a policy that was effectively enacted to eliminate the potential for discrimination against gays in the military. The one problem with this is that the policy is inherently discriminatory in its nature. And it continues to only allow for more discrimination. Gays and lesbians are no different from any other sexual orientation, especially in their ability to fight and serve for the United States Armed Forces. At a time when we need as many soldiers as possible to help fight and solve two wars in the Middle East, we need to be accepting and open to all those who want to serve their nation, regardless of sexual orientation. Joseph Rocha, a former military bomb handler became an outcast and was ridiculed by fellow soldiers to a point that he was locked in a dog kennel and forced to eat dog food. If DADT was repealed, however, he wants to serve again. “You never lose that sense of duty and service and love for country…it’s a unique and beautiful thing most of us feel we were robbed of and would take the first chance to have it back” (Conant). Let us end this discrimination and give Rocha a chance to serve openly for the first time, so soldiers like him that are passionate about duty and honor can once again serve openly and freely in the United States armed forces.
Works Cited
Bumiller, Elisabeth. "Pentagon Finds Little Risk in Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
Conant, Eve. "Gay Vets Who Want to Return to the Military - Newsweek." Newsweek - National News, World News, Business, Health, Technology, Entertainment, and more - Newsweek. N.p., 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
Jones, Michael A.. "Every 24 Hours, Two Gay People are Kicked Out of the Military | Gay Rights | Change.org." Gay Rights | Change.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
Keshin, Eric. "United for Peace & Justice : With whom does the Army hold its current advertising contract?." United for Peace & Justice Index. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
"Nations allowing gays to serve openly in military | Palm Center." Palm Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
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