Obama Press Secretary: We’ll Get Rid Of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Military Policies
This is going to be controversial:
Personally, I’m all for ending any policy that causes gays to be treated differently from every other soldier. I think that gay troops should be able to be openly gay while they serve and only restricted by the same sort of policies the rest of the military serves under when it comes to bringing up relationships and sexual topics during service. I don’t think the military is any place for sexual advocacy, but gay troops should be able to be openly gay without fear of being dismissed.
The military has terminated 12,500 service men and women since 1994 because of these policies, and if in all of those terminations the sexual orientation of the troop in question was the only cause for termination that’s a real shame.
According to an Military Times poll of active duty troops, however, most said they oppose ending “don’t ask don’t tell” policies and a full 24% of those polled said they’d either refuse to re-enlist or consider not re-enlisting if the policies were lifted.
In a time when America needs its military, that is not a good sign. If Obama does what he’s promising to do, it’s not likely to make him any more popular with the military. Of course, his approval numbers with military types probably couldn’t go much lower anyway, so maybe it’s a moot point.
Discussion question: How much does this sudden announcement have to do with distracting gay liberals from Rick Warren giving the invocation at The One’s inauguration?
