Are We There Yet? Yes, We Are!
I was disappointed to hear Secretary of Defense Robert Gates suggest this past Sunday that repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is something we should push "down the road a bit." We've been pushing for 16 years now! How much farther do we have to go?
There are an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian Americans serving in the military today. What was Secretary Gates saying to them? Isn't the service and integrity of each and every service member important - including those 65,000? How can you put any service member on the back burner?
I understand the Secretary and the President have a lot on their plates. But, Mr. Secretary, there are people who want to help you. Nearly 13,000 service members have been discharged who would have been there to help. Thousands of gay and lesbian service members leave the military when their enlistment contract is completed who would have stayed except for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." And many more have not joined the military in the first place because of this federal law.
With the new commitment in Afghanistan, how would the American military benefit by discharging another Farsi-speaking linguist? Wouldn't we want to make personnel policy changes that could potentially benefit that commitment?
03-31-09 By Former U.S. Army Sergeant and SLDN client Pepe Johnson |
1 Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.Jordan in TX on April 01, 2009 at 12.56 pm
The absurdity and bigotry of NOT repealing the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” angers me. With so many dedicated military members who are being asked to serve their country, yet hide behind shame.
Outrageous. I did support Obama until now. Now he is “more of the same”.
He is not “change we can believe in” . Obama had the momentum of popularity to make one big easy push to urge Congress to repeal it, but he opted to play old school politics.
The worst of the worst bigots and homophobes are really repressed. As they say, “thou who protest too loudly”.