Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- it's Not Perfect but It's the Best We Can Do for Now

Don't ask don't tell. It's the mantra the United States Armed Services has employed for several years and has been challenged recently as unconstitutional. The polarity on this issue is not as neatly and conveniently packaged as many would like us to believe. Those who oppose it and declare that homosexuals should be allowed entry into the armed services unabated tend to classify those who support it as anti-gay Conservatives with a venomous agenda against gay rights and a bigoted perspective towards gays in general. It's much easier to loathe the opposition when they are painted with a set of horns and a pitchfork at the ready.

I am here to state unequivocally that I have no such horns and have never owned a pitchfork or any farming tool for that matter. I have known many homosexuals in my life and am cognizent of the prejudice and discrimination they face due only to their sexual preference. I am sadly aware of the angst many felt during their adolescence, the feelings of despair, isolation and bigotry. Emotions which become inextricably immersed in the very fabric of their being and the feeling of shame so powerful, that suicide is often looked upon as the only escape. It is we who should be ashamed that our fellow brothers and sisters would feel the sting of ridicule and humiliation to such a degree that their own precious lives are somehow inferior to ours. It's criminal, and I am happy to say, now it truly is!

That being said, we do not operate in a vacuum. We cannot blindly believe that our strides of inclusion have come so far, so quickly, that all of the young men fighting for our country have had the same epiphany. Let us face the facts. The boys who volunteer to take up arms in defense of our country, the ground troops, are not the sons of business tycoons, senators and titans of industry. They are generally speaking not even from the middle class. They are comprised of the working poor who want a better future for themselves but oftentimes have not had the benefit of a good education that stresses tolerance, exposes prejudices and lights the darkness of a closed mind. These young men have not been raised to rely on their wits, their intellect or their ability to problem solve. Many of them have been raised in the blight of a concrete jungle or the heartland where learning to milk a cow is more important than reading a book. The military may be one of the last bastions where we embrace machismo and we reward uniformity. Soldiers must learn to take orders unconditionally and execute them without hesitation. We don't need scholars on the battlefield we need warriors.

Therefore, I think it is a salient point that gays may in fact be a distraction. Should they be? Of course not! But we, as a society have only recently embraced this philosophy and to believe our enlightenment has permeated all sectors in such a short time is optimistic but ultimately untrue. It takes generations and let's also not kid ourselves. As in society, there are good and bad. Don't think for a moment that because someone is gay makes them inherently noble or imbues them with greater integrity. There will be the opportunity for some gays to flaunt their sexuality and feel as though they are impervious to recrimination. Morale is everything in the army. A demoralized army is a white flag waiting to be raised. When a bunch of soldiers get together and exchange sexploits, how will they feel when a homosexual declares, rightfully so, he has the same freedoms? Can you imagine a platoon of soldiers having to listen to one homosexual chat with another about his own sexual conquests while the rest sit quietly and ignore the conversation? I'm sorry, we have not come that far and to force feed this down the throats of men fighting for our freedom because we believe their discomfort should be abrogated by our own enlightenment is both selfish and unfair.