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Time to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

The nation’s highest-ranking defense officials — Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen — testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 2 in support of repealing the government’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been responsible for discharging more than 13,000 troops since Congress adopted the policy in 1993.

Many congressional Republicans have frequently deferred to the military when challenged about DADT. But in a Friday article in the Washington Post, Ed O’Keefe reported that a Washington Post-ABC News Poll showed that 75 percent of Americans support allowing openly gay people to serve in the military.

Even Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was instrumental to crafting the policy, now supports repealing it.

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” Powell said through a release from his office.

Despite the fact that a majority of Americans along with the top brass in the military and the man most responsible for DADT now support repealing it, most Republicans inexplicably remain opposed to doing so.

Opponents of allowing gays to openly serve have long argued that doing so would hurt morale and prove destructive to unit cohesion. Yet, 25 countries allow gays to serve openly with no problems, including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany and Israel.

Arguing that our soldiers aren’t as professional as their British, German or Israeli counterparts is insulting.
Plus, it ignores the fact that our straight soldiers already serve alongside and share bathrooms and living arrangements with gays. Chances are most people serving in the military already know which people in their units are gay.

There are almost certainly people serving in the military who are uncomfortable around gays, but they already knowingly serve with them. Those who are uncomfortable about the fact are still professional enough to deal with it.

Others argue that repealing DADT may be a good idea at a later date, but that now is not a good time because we’re at war. But the U.S. almost always has troops deployed in combat operations somewhere around the world, and it managed to integrate the military during the Korean War.

That was a much more drastic change than simply allowing gays who already serve to admit they’re gay.

Those who argue that repealing DADT would damage morale never seem to consider the negative impact on morale the policy has.

Mullen said in his testimony, “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.”

How can we ask anyone to live by a code of honor while simultaneously requiring that they remain silent about who they are? Our gay soldiers shouldn’t have to worry about being blackmailed if someone finds out who they really are, or of being discharged for slipping up and using the wrong pronoun in a conversation.

A large majority of the country thinks that it’s ridiculous to require anyone who serves to lie on a daily basis in every interaction they have with their colleagues.

Now is the time to let gays serve openly.

David Brooks is a communication senior and may be reached at [email protected]

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