“No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said it was his personal belief that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.”

Now, I’m no army boy.  I have about as much interest in fighting a war as I do eating glass.  That said, with all my pacifist tendencies, I still will typically go out of my way to support those who are willing to risk their lives to defend the ideals of this country.  Granted, there are “just” wars and “unjust” wars but that is a political distinction not a practical one.  Regardless of the justification for wars in general, millions of individuals are called on by our government and by a deep sense of personal commitment to the ideals of this country to serve and protect that which we all cherish.  Freedom.  One of the great travesties of Bill Clinton’s time in office was the passage of “Don’t ask Don’t Tell”.  This, in effect, allowed openly gay men and women to serve in the armed forces as long as they were not “out” and did nothing to suggest that they were gay.  If it was discovered they were gay or if they were forced out of the closet by a third party, no matter the reason, they could be discharged…. dishonorably.  Since it’s implementation nearly 17 years ago, between 12,000 and 20,000 GLBT soldiers have been discharged at a cost to tax payers well into the 10′s of millions, many of those kicked out were critical players in the wars this country is fighting, NONE of whom did anything wrong…except be gay.

The implementation of this policy was a big deal.  I was a senior in high school and it was a campaign issue for Bill Clinton.  He would be the first president I actually got to vote for and this “compromise” was, in retrospect, forced on him by bigoted homophobes within the ranks of the military.  It has always been a bad policy, even other major military countries have proven over and over again that allowing gays to serve openly is not an issue.

Finally we are seeing some progress towards repealing this law with hearings that started today.  The big thing out of this is that Joint Chief’s are on board with a repeal.  The question is not IF the policy will be repealed, it is simply a question of HOW it will be repealed.  That’s huge because it means that a repeal is a fact, not a pipe dream.  That they are debating only HOW to repeal the law and not WHY is important.  Stay tuned over the next several months for updates.

Bookmark to: