-Gays in the Military

“Military Discrimination”

By: Genesis S.

Imagine not being able to serve your country when in its time of dire need. Imagine being judged, and turned away from being in the armed services simply because of your sexuality. That’s exactly what was happening when the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy” was enacted in 1993. This act prevented any gay individual wanting to serve in the military from being open and showing any type of public display of affection. According to news article published on March 26, 2010 on CNN, the repeal of this policy is on the way. Thankfully President Barak Obama is supporting the legislative repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.”

This policy upsets me because I feel as though gay citizens of the United States of America are being discriminated against and stripped of their integrity because of this policy that hinders them from being who they truly are. Being gay does not have anything to do with a person doing his or her job. A person's sexual preference does not hinder his or her skills in any way.

“Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the military, according to February 12-15 CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll.” In my opinion this number should have been higher. But this poll shows that being gay is becoming more acceptable. America has proclaimed itself the land of the free, and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not freedom in any way shape or form.

If the repeal of this policy is successful, more gay citizens will feel more confident in themselves when they decide to join the military. They will not feel as though they are judged or looked at differently because of their sexuality. They would feel as though they are welcomed, respected and treated equally. This could benefit the U.S. military because more and more people, including gays, would join, which could build a stronger Army.

When this policy is finally repealed, a question comes to mind. How will the gays who behave openly be treated by fellow soldiers who are not gay? Realistically, there would be high chance of disrespect and intimidation from the other soldiers. This could pose another problem. To solve that potential problem, gay soldiers must report any disrespect they may receive from their fellow soldiers and have the person who disrespected them be put on probation for a period of time. The offenders should also be warned ahead of time that they would be punished.

Though the repeal of this policy is ongoing, the next question is will there be any more obstacles while the groundwork is happening over the year? Hopefully there would be no more obstacles in the way so that any gay person wanting to join the military would not be intimidated by anyone, but could feel proud and patriotic towards their country.

CNN Wire Staff “Gates Eases Ban on Gays in the Military” cnn.com Date: March 26, 2010 http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/25/military.gays/index.html