Time to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

Image courtesy "Band of Brothers" by The U.S. Army under CC-BY via Flickr

[Note: I posted this on another blog last January. In light of the recent widely-discussed dismissal of openly gay service member Daniel Choi, I thought a re-post here might be appropriate.]

An Obama aide’s statement, made last January in a Q & A posted to youtube, that the then-President-elect would overturn the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, seems to have been greeted with a yawn in newsrooms and around the blogosphere.

This is good.
The policy, cooked up by the Clinton Administration as a “compromise” between factions supporting and opposing the ban on gays serving in the military, was ill-conceived and, like most compromises that attempt to simultaneously limit and extend the rights of citizens, has been largely ineffective.Gays have, of course, always been in the military. The ban on homosexuals serving in the military did not change that, nor did the DADT policy change the harassment that many homosexuals experience in the military. I doubt a policy of allowing openly gay individuals to serve in the military will change much, either. Gays will continue to enlist and serve. Those who do not assiduously hide their sexual orientation will continue to run the risk of harassment.What the reversal would accomplish is the removal of one of the last vestiges of officially sanctioned, institutionalized bigotry in federal law.

The political tide seems to be turning against arguments for restricting homosexuals’ right to serve their country, a shift fueled no doubt by shortfalls in recruiting and the realities of a military stretched to the breaking point by longer-than-anticipated wars on two fronts.

In a letter sent to Congress in December 2007, a group of retired generals and admirals, led by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Shalikashvili, argued for the repeal of the regulation, saying:

“…[it] would not harm, and would indeed help, our armed forces. As is the case in Britain, Israel, and other nations which allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality. Such collaboration reflects the strength and the best traditions of our democracy.”

Let’s hope that President Obama is able to make good on his promise-by-proxy. We owe it to our brothers and sisters in the military—gay and straight—to allow any qualified individual to serve his or her country honorably, without pretense, without prejudice, and without reservation.