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HuffPo: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Our Fight Too

Huffington Post
"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell': Our Fight Too"
By Ryan McDermott, Iraq War Veteran and Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project
April 30, 2010

To the Veteran Community:

This week, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) began posting open letters to President Barack Obama on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). Each day, SLDN is posting a letter from a veteran affected by the outdated policy.

This is my open letter to the broader veteran community to pay attention to these stories and consider offering your own public support.

Over the past several months, I've written on why we should repeal, opined on how to approach the process of repeal and predicted how a debate might take shape. However, repealing DADT is not my fight directly - I'm what the LGTB community calls a 'straight ally' in the fight.

I was asked by a fellow veteran recently - "Why are you writing this stuff? You are really putting yourself out there."

The response I provided came with a simple question, "what do you think is right - should we keep the policy?" My veteran friend admitted that the policy was wrong and that it should be repealed. Still, his point is well taken. As a straight veteran writing about repealing DADT, I am not exactly doing much for my own interests. In fact, speaking out puts me in opposition to friends who want to maintain policy or are simply complacent on the issue.

My interest in this fight can be summed up in short - repealing DADT is the right thing to do.

When I was in combat, I saw men and women alike risk their lives for the sake of our country's freedom. Our friends have died in these ongoing wars. They made the ultimate sacrifice. If anyone has earned personal liberty and freedom, it is our veteran community.

Gay and lesbians are a vital group within our veteran community. They help form our ranks. These troops are among those who keep our nation safe. While we are on active duty, we are simply unaware of their presence - Is this ignorance really necessary?

One of the Army's core values is loyalty. This value is central to why I've chosen to write on this topic.

Just like in a firefight, our gay and lesbian troops are advancing forward and need straight allies at their flanks. There are many of us out there who support repeal but it is easy to stand idle as our friends continue to be denied a basic freedom.

More of us should continue join the fight. Denying gay and lesbian troops a basic freedom undermines the sacrifice we've all made for the sake of freedom. By denying their freedom to serve openly, we effectively diminish what it means to spend a year away from family, or the peril in charging an enemy position under direct fire.

This should not be a fight that our gay and lesbian peers take to Congress alone. Just like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where we served side-by-side, this is our fight too.

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