The decision by the Pentagon’s top two officers to endorse a repeal of the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents homosexuals who fight for their country from revealing their sexual orientation is as welcome as it is overdue.
We applaud the appeal to Congress from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen to abolish the policy.
“It is my personal and professional belief that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would be the right thing to do,” Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”
We fully agree, but we challenge the commanders’ notion that yet another year needs to elapse before the change can be made.
The military says it needs the time to study the practical obstacles that must be overcome to finally treat gay and lesbian soldiers like first-class citizens.
What’s left to study? President Obama made it clear on the campaign trail he would work to repeal the 17-year-old ban that has resulted in the firing of almost 14,000 troops — at least 428 of them in the past year.
No doubt, the year of study is likely meant to give political cover to those members of Congress in tough races who don’t relish the prospect of voting down the ban before November.
Republicans are marshaling opposition, so much so that even Sen. John McCain has shamefully shifted his position to oppose ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” now that he’s likely to face a GOP primary opponent.
And it’s still unclear whether Obama’s Democrat-controlled Washington has the courage to make the change. A House Bill sponsored by decorated Iraq veteran Rep. Patrick Murphy is 31 votes short of the 218 needed for passage, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal also reports that public opinion now supports allowing homosexuals to serve openly. Though opinion polls showed only 43 percent of Americans supported gays in the military, now nearly 70 percent support ending “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The law was signed by President Clinton to settle a skirmish with Congress, which opposed his plan to repeal the ban on gays in the military.
One of the more hateful aspects of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is that — despite its name — it continued to allow other soldiers to out gay troops and have them fired.
Thankfully, Mullen has ordered a much faster study of how to curtail that practice. Sometimes doing what is right is more important than doing what is safe. Isn’t that what we ask of our troops?
How much longer do the brave gay men and women defending our nation have to wait to be shown the same respect?
