Colin Powell: We Should Review Military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy
Colin Powell has been talking a lot of nonsense lately, but this is one area where I agree with him:
The military is no place for pursuing social or political agendas, but that being said I don’t understand why gay soldiers or sailors or Marines can’t live openly without fear of reprisal from their superiors. Gay military personnel can, and have, served this country honorably. And what are the arguments against allowing gays to live openly while serving in the military? That they might come on to their fellow service men or women? That they might try to use their position in the military to advance a certain political or social agenda? Their fellow soldiers or sailors or Marines might not be comfortable serving with them?
It seems to me that the military already has long-standing policies against those first two objections, and straight military men and women have been abiding by them for decades if not centuries. As for the last, there was a time when some in the military felt uncomfortable serving next to blacks to. That didn’t make segregation policies right, and eventually everyone either accepted integration or got out. I think the same would be true of gays.
Certainly younger generations of service men and women are going to be a lot more accepting of it than older generations.
