For Love or Country: ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ Sucks.
Many of my family members are in the armed forces. My grandfather served in WW2, my uncle enlisted in the National Guard and my cousin is at military school.
I was never much of a fighter, but I always had the utmost of respect for anyone who would be willing to give of themselves and fight for their country. Military enlistment remains middling, but still, many are denied the opportunity to serve the country they love because their sexuality does not fall in line with what the military deems ‘acceptable’.
Like an aging elephant in the room, the looming specter of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) acts as a burden to progress. Why – in a nation as advanced as America – can men and women be refused the right to fight for their country, as a result of who they love? Let’s look at a few cases where brave Americans’ dedication and love of country was ignored as a result of the unjust, and frankly unAmerican, DADT policy.
-Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach was a decorated pilot who has served in the Air Force for 18 years. After having sex with a man he met on a dating site, he was accused of assault and rape. In order to clear himself of the rape charge, he admitted to police that the sex was consensual. The police, in turn, shared that information with his employer: the Air Force. Now, he is denied the same retirement benefits that a soldier of his caliber deserves.
-Private Bethany Smith served in the Air Force like Fehrenbach and was on track to become a mechanic in Afghanistan. However, when someone spotted her holding hands with another woman at a local shopping mall, word spread that she was a lesbian around her base. She began to receive, as she classified it, subhuman treatment by her peers. Smith was tormented, physically and mentally by those around her, even receiving letters threatening her life. She came out to her superiors, who actually denied her claim to be discharged, due to low troop levels. She is currently seeking refugee asylum in Canada.
These stories are just a drop in the bucket, compared to the number of people that are discharged as a result of DADT every year. Since it’s inception in 1994, roughly 13,000 soldiers have been discharged from the armed forces for their sexual preference. According to reports, there is evidence that there are currently 65,000 gay men and women serving in the armed forces and over ONE MILLION gay veterans.
It’s time to be candid and real: there is no reason whatsoever that these brave men and women should have to hide their sexuality. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is sexual discrimination, pure and simple. These soldiers are doing what is just, right and brave – it is time to regard these great American freedom fighters with honor and not punish them for who they love.
There is no reason for these soldiers to remain in hiding or be denied pension for their service any longer. They have fought and are fighting for us overseas and are our representatives across the planet. It’s time we reward them for their service.
As they fight for our freedom all over the world, we must continue fighting on these shores for their freedom.
This is SUCH an important subject to be speaking up on. Good article Steve. It is insanely wrong to deny people who are serving our country the right to express who they really are (anyone for that matter). Check out Service Women’s Action Network’s (SWAN) website for how disproportionately DADT affects women in the military. http://www.servicewomen.org/?page_id=231
DADT is just bad all around…
I am writing a research report againt the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and this imformation has helped out a lot. Thank you.
-Jennifer Finn