Last week, the United States joined most of the developed world in ending its discriminatory policies against homosexuals in the military, leaving behind such illustrious paragons of civil liberty as Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Uganda. Though the removal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy will undoubtedly be celebrated by the 77 percent of Americans who supported its repeal, the bigots who opposed it still try to make their ignorant voices heard.
They mask their blatant anti-homosexual attitudes behind a facade of concern for military readiness and unit cohesion, an argument that assumes a unit’s morale will suddenly be shattered if a member comes out as gay.
This assumption is invalid for two reasons: One, the vast majority of the military personnel I have met are mature, hard-working men and women, who have no problem accepting each other’s differences. They are not trite, holier-than-thou moralists who shudder disgustedly at the thought of the “gay lifestyle,” as if it is somehow inherently different from their own.
Second, servicemen and women coming out to their unit would make the unit stronger, not break its morale. Friendship and trust are integral parts of unit cohesion, and revealing something so important and potentially damaging as one’s homosexuality can only serve to increase those bonds of brotherhood.
Among the naysayers was Arizona Sen. John McCain. The day when the repeal came, he called it “a very sad day,” in an article published in The Huffington Post in 2006. He added, “I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage.” Never mind the fact that the very Pentagon study he requested found that the repeal would not negatively affect the troops. Perhaps he was trying to appeal to his recently alienated base, after drifting a little too far to the center, in order to make himself more attractive to independent voters during the 2008 presidential election.
I have yet to hear a persuasive argument in support of sustaining DADT or any policy that discriminates against homosexuals. Once you remove the nonsense about unit cohesion, the argument boils down to sheer distaste and religious repulsion. These bigoted feelings have no more place in our legal system than they did 70 years ago, when African Americans were forced to serve in segregated units.
Conservatives (67 percent of whom supported the repeal of DADT) might argue that being black is not a lifestyle choice, whereas being gay is a choice they find immoral. But whether or not they find a lifestyle immoral or not is immaterial.
Doesn’t believing in one religion mean that the believer finds all other religions immoral? Carry out that logic to its extreme, and suddenly we have a military made up entirely of evangelical Christians.
And just because many of our previous lawmakers find homosexuality distasteful does not mean discriminating against it has any legal basis. Before WWII, many found racial integration of the armed forces distasteful, saying it would lead to a drop in morale and combat effectiveness. It did not.
Though the repeal of DADT took far too long to come about, President Obama, congressional Democrats, and the eight Republicans who backed the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell should be applauded for their commitment to civil liberty. Naysayers should recognize that their objections will be consigned to the footnotes of history, where they will be ridiculed with the rest of the racists, sexists and bigots who fell on the road to greater freedom.
Ben Eldredge is a junior in College of Arts and Sciences.
