Another Voice / Military service
David Benkof: Don’t rush repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
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Despite campaign promises, President Obama has indicated he wants a deliberative process before repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gay and lesbian service members. Recently, Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed those sentiments, suggesting a change in policy could take years, if at all.
These sentiments are exactly on target. While gays and lesbians are clearly capable of heroic service, heroism is not enough to merit serving in the military, which is a privilege, not a right. The military has legitimate concerns about unit cohesion, morale, good order and discipline that it must explore thoroughly before introducing openly gay individuals into our troops.
But there is another way. I propose that Congress repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for non-combat jobs immediately, and then consider extending the change to combat positions in five years, after the initial repeal has been tested.
Eliminating gays and lesbians from non-combat positions has harmed the military mission. For example, since 1998 more than 25 Arabic and Farsi linguists have been dismissed from the armed forces for homosexuality.
Would it hurt the military mission if a uniformed secretary used the Xerox machine even though she’s a lesbian? Who would it harm for a gay man to be a drill sergeant at a Marine base in California? By allowing members of the gay community to sign up for non-combat positions within the military, they are able to serve their country and have access to military benefits.
There is some precedent for this. African- Americans in World War I served in mostly non-combat positions. Racial segregation in the military didn’t end with President Harry S. Truman’s executive order, it became unnecessary and counterproductive during the Korean War, at which time it was dismantled. The ultimate integration of the military was good for blacks, good for the military and thus good for America.
Do opponents of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” think women should have been equal combatants in the American Revolution, and slaves and free blacks integrated into the Union troops during the Civil War? It seems obvious the country wasn’t ready at those times, but I’ve spoken to gays and lesbians who say gays should have been welcome to serve openly in World War II, even if that meant we lost to Hitler.
Indeed, the push to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is just one manifestation of what I like to call Equality Mania, the attitude by gays and lesbians that nothing is more important than complete and total equality — not the welfare of children, not religious freedom, not even national security.
But equality isn’t everything. There is literally nothing more important than a strong military. While I’m sympathetic to gays and lesbians who want to serve their country, Obama and Gates are right that we have to be very careful before making a change that can hurt the only mission to fight and win wars.
David Benkof blogs at GaysDefendMarriage. com.
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