President Obama announced in his State of the Union address that he would repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, which prohibits gays from openly serving in the military. The law has held a tenuous place in America’s social conscious since it was passed in 1993.
Sen. John McCain, arguably America’s most famous living veteran, immediately responded to Obama with calls to leave the “imperfect but effective policy” in place.
“We owe our lives to our fighting men and women, and we should be exceedingly cautious, humble and sympathetic when attempting to regulate their affairs,” he said.
Indeed, it is high time we stopped regulating our service members’ affairs.
While McCain does not notice the irony in his statement, it is a contradiction to expect those brave enough to wear the uniform to be ashamed of who they are.
Why should they?
The argument supporting the repeal is not about the miniscule amount of Arabic interpreters and/or technical experts that have left the military due to the outdated policy, at a time when Americans should want every resource available to end our wars and bring all the troops home.
And it does not matter that capable and motivated people, who happen to be gay, opt not to go into the military at all at a time when recruiters have had trouble meeting quotas.
When one understands that allowing all to serve is a matter of civil rights–the equal creation upon which our country is allegedly founded–it is clear that there is no alternative but to repeal the law.
McCain was quick to comment on Obama’s address and outline his reasons why DADT should remain law.
He referred to congressional findings from the last time America moved toward equal rights and said the committee had found–17 years ago–that gays cannot serve openly in the military for three reasons: military members must cohabitate in “spartan” conditions with little or no privacy, the military can restrict any practice that would put unit cohesion at “unacceptable risk,” and McCain finally pointed out that military members have to obey tougher restrictions than civilians would ever tolerate.
These archaic reasons seem to explain why higher ranking military officials opposed the desegregation of the armed forces when President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 into law.
Integration did not happen overnight. It took eight years after the order for the Army to report that 95 percent of its black soldiers served in integrated units.
Just as some believe openly gay military members will disrupt the comfort of straight and homophobic members, many believed that forcing whites to share barracks with black service members would break down the unit cohesion that kept our military forces strong. People against desegregation said that African-Americans would suffer more violence if the majority was forced to accept them into its ranks.
That was true; black veterans were the victims of intimidation, beatings and shootings by white Americans angry about the loss of their “right” to a color-free military.
Just as Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Native Americans, Japanese-Americans and other non-majority groups also faced violence when they attempted to integrate the military.
In the end, the fears that integrating the armed services would lead to a breakdown of unit morale and cohesion were proven false. Brigades did not crumble under forced racial diversity.
Those against the repeal underestimate the United States military’s efficiency at turning the products of America’s cultural melting pot into one efficient fighting unit.
When service members sign on the dotted line, they are aware that they forfeit some rights that civilians enjoy. However, the government’s ability to curtail service members’ freedom is not a catch-all to debase their humanity as McCain thinks it should be able to do.
Those who choose to believe that sexual orientation is some sort of choice sort have also chosen to live with their eyes and ears sealed shut.
Nearly four decades have passed since the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders. The fact that same-sex coupling occurs in hundreds of animal species removes any remaining doubt about “choice.”
Citizens have the right to speak out on how their country is run, but civil rights never belong on a ballot ticket. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that all citizens are treated equally under the law. DADT implies that only words are outlawed, but a gay soldier is not allowed to live his or her life in the same way a heterosexual soldier can and does–with the unalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The military can once again lead the way for equal rights, just as it did when it worked toward desegregation. America has a stronger military for those actions so many years ago, and we will still have one when no member is made to feel ashamed about who he or she is.
With his announcement for the repeal of DADT, Obama has taken a step not only toward equality within the military’s ranks but also toward civil rights for all Americans.
It’s about time.
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