Don't Ask/ Don't Tell

The military's Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy is discrimination sanctioned by a law -- a law that doesn't make sense.

"Since don't ask, don't tell was introduced, the military has discharged more than 13,000 lesbians, gays and bisexuals, according to the Service members Legal Defense Network. A 2005 government report found that about 800 of them had skills deemed 'critical,' such as engineering and linguistics, and that it cost the military about $200 million to recruit and train their replacements."

According to Wikipedia, "Don't ask, Don't Tell" is the policy regarding gays and lesbians serving openly in the U.S. military. The policy prohibits anyone who "demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because "it would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability."

The act prohibits any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing his or her sexual orientation or from speaking about any homosexual relationships, including marriages or other familial attributes, while serving in the United States armed forces. The "don't ask" part of the policy indicates that superiors should not initiate investigation of a service member's orientation in the absence of disallowed behaviors, though mere suspicion of homosexual behavior can cause an investigation.

Darren Manzella served two years with all his unit knowing he was gay. Did he rape the other men? No. Did he make unwanted advances? No. He was just a homosexual man who served his country and dared to speak about it publicly.

President Obama has vowed to end the Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy during his administration. During his speech to the Human Rights Campaign annual dinner in October 2009, President Obama said,

"We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country. We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage ... especially when we are fighting two wars. . .

We cannot afford to cut from our ranks people with the critical skills we need to fight any more than we can afford -- for our military's integrity -- to force those willing to do so into careers encumbered and compromised by having to live a lie. So I'm working with the Pentagon, its leadership, and the members of the House and Senate on ending this policy. Legislation has been introduced in the House to make this happen. I will end Don't Ask, Don't Tell. That's my commitment to you."

Please find the full text of his speech here: Human Rights Campaign Dinner, October 10, 2009, Speech of President Barack Obama.

Please sign these petitions to show your support for the repeal of the Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy:

End Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Sponsored by: Gillibrand for Senate

Courage Campaign | Sign the petition to President Obama

On illogical hate

This weekend I was chatting in my usual chat room, and I was confronted by a horrible truth: it does not matter how intelligent one appears nor how nice one appears to be, hate can exist in anyone.

A chatter I respect for his intelligence and seemingly kind disposition was spewing hate towards homosexual people. As a former military man, he was voicing his opinion on whether gay men should be allowed in the armed forces. He was adament that they should not be allowed in the military because a relationship between two men in the same group could reduce the combat readiness of this group should emotional issues distract. He said the same thing about women in the military.

I noticed that he had a blog on his chat profile so I went to read some of it. When I started reading it, I was startled by the vehemence with which he discusses homosexual people. The first post I read was about the use of derrogatory terms in reference to gay men and women. The gist of his argument is that because homosexuality is a sin, then it is not wrong to use derrogatory terms to refer to the "sinners." That they deserved to be called the ugly words because what they were doing was wrong. In another post, he went as far as to state that he was a contributing financially to an organization whose sole purpose is to stop homosexual people from obtaining equal rights in regards to marriage.

In the chat room, another chatter who obviously did not agree with this man was asking him what reason he had to believe that homosexuality was wrong. The answer was that the Bible, and thus ultimately God, said that homosexuality is wrong and immoral. The other chatter then asked if the Bible never mentioned a thing about homosexuality, then what reasons would there be to dislike or condemn homosexuality. The man said there were no other reasons he could readily state but that arguments could be made about the propogation of the spieces. He then said that moral and religious reasons were enough for him to believe homosexuality was wrong.

How could a seemingly intelligent person believe and think this way? Religion has long been abused by people to further their agendas and prejudice. One cannot say "God told me so," or "the Bible says so" to justify their actions. There has to be a true and legitimate factual reason for something to be wrong. Murder is wrong because it infringes on a person's right to exist. Physical and sexual abuse is wrong because it hurts and damages another person and thus hinders their right to exist peacefully. Homosexuality does not hurt anyone. There are all kinds of people who just happen to be homosexual. Just like there are heterosexual promiscuous people, there are promiscuous homosexual people. Just like there are heterosexual couples that love each other and are monagomous, there are homosexual people that love each other and are monagomous.