Don't Ask, Don't Tell

I wouldn't really call myself a liberal. I'm not a conservative. I'm not a politician so I'm neither Democrat nor Republican. I grew up in the Bay Area, a place known to be the one of the most liberal places in the country. But I can be quite prejudice and racist at times. I'm also open minded and tolerant. I just like to be honest about my opinions and in the most basic sense, I don't care what you do as long as it doesn't stop me from doing what I need to do. I believe in fairness and things that are just and I can understand gray area and the need to hear out all cases and not rely on the generalizations you're most certain to make.

Some might say that growing up in the Bay Area made me sensitive to the plight of the LBGT community. Eh... I'm not sure that's true. In general, lesbians annoy me, I don't believe in bisexuality, and I wouldn't recommend anyone put him/herself through all it takes to be transgendered. However, that they as a community have to fight for equal rights in their native country just because of perceived deviance from "the norm" is wrong. That's what makes me "sensitive" to their plight I guess. Basic human courtesy.

That basic human courtesy makes it difficult for me to understand the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the military. The policy was introduced in 1993 by then POTUS Clinton. He had promised that all citizens would be able to serve openly in the military regardless of orientation since before that you had to be heterosexual. I guess he got some opposition and came up with Don't Ask, Don't Tell to please everybody. The law says that people who "demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" can't serve in the armed forces. BUT if you are homosexual, it's ok. Don't tell anyone, and no one will ask you.

There are many problems with this. First of all, the logic behind prohibiting homosexuals in the first place is that it would undermine the standard of unit cohesion because homophobes wouldn't want to be near homosexuals (because it'll rub off, duh) and therefore couldn't serve together and couldn't rely on each other for protection. That's just stupid. Under Don't Ask, Don't Tell homophobes could very well be "getting close" to homosexuals and they aren't aware. Does the unit cohesion disappear once the "secret" is out? Are you telling me that some soldiers aren't human enough to develop and maintain relationships with a people just because they may be different?

Another problem with the policy is that if there is suspicion that someone is homosexual, there will be an investigation, and that person will be discharged from the armed forces if s/he is found to be homosexual. So you're telling me that I can't tell you I'm gay; I have to lie. And you can't ask me, but if someone tells you I am, you have to investigate?

Obviously this policy should be repealed. People like to claim we're post-racial (no such thing) but can we be post-LBGT? Probably not. Obama wants to meet with the Joint Chiefs to "discuss" it, but I'm betting he'll have to make a similar compromise that will equal the tiniest baby step of progress. If you ask me, I'll tell you this is not the way we should be.