Don't Ask, Don't Tell... or do...

I'm sure plenty of you are familiar with the fact that the long-understood and somewhat infamous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy has been repealed within the US military. Not only do I think this is an incredible success in the effort to create equality for all people but it's an incredible message to the world that the US is growing. We are moving forward and letting go of our military's discriminatory past.

Before this legislation was passed, there was, of course, a lot of backlash claiming that the repeal would create "widespread or long-lasting problems" in our military's performance... something proven to be quite the opposite in a recent poll taken by the Pentagon.

While listening to NPR this evening, I heard that over 115,000 military personnel completed a survey on how they felt about the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" and the response was hardly what most people expected. Over 70% of all surveyed claimed that they did not think that allowing openly gay men and women into the military would cause any problems and would actually be quite positive. The remaining 30%, mostly in the branches of military that see the most combat, felt quite the opposite. I found some of the reasons these men and women felt this way, very disappointing.

One of the highlighted reasons that some people in the military did not like the repeal was that they felt allowing openly gay men into the military would create an overly effeminate reputation for the US armed forces. Many men claimed they feared that homosexual men they would potentially work with would be overly sexual or would come on to them in some form or fashion. I find this to be extremely disappointing. For men and women that feel they love their country enough to fight for it, I hate the thought that they would discriminate against someone who felt the say way they did. Anyone willing to give their life to protect someone else deserves respect... and with respect being an ever-present platform within the armed forces, I am shocked to hear that 30% of those people have so little.

As always, whenever their is a new, major step forward in equal rights, I always pity the first few leading the way. The first few openly gay men and women will have to face harsh, undeserved discrimination in an effort to create a stronger, more unified military that truly believes in respecting each man and woman fighting for their country... but these steps must be taken and I'm proud of them for it.