Closing Arguments: Future of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’

Who cares. Let them serve! Now the men can be under equal threat for physical assault as women. Maybe somebody will stand up for and protect service women for a change! Ya think?!? That itself would be worth it…

One’s sexual preference should be a personal and private matter when one is sharing living space with others.

It should be lifted.

After serving and retiring from the army, I think it could survive. However, there need to be strict guidelines just like there is for the treatment of women. The first thing that has to be changed is the law. Obama cannot just authorized gays and lesbians by executive order. The law has to be changed. When Truman integrated the military there were already blacks serving and there was no law against integration of the military. Homesexual behavior is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (UCMJ)

This is ridiculous! Why discriminate and make it hard for young GLBT youth to serve their county? If they are courageous enough to fight for our rights why would we not defend their rights! Let’s move on America, there are bigger issues to argue about.

I am grateful to any man or woman who chooses to serve and protect in the military. However, I do feel that is a job like any other where you are there to do their job, and not promote your sexual preferences. If you are gay and choose to serve, then you choose to serve to do your job, not to put your sexuality out there for all to know. Sexuality should not be a deciding point for joining and no one needs to know what you prefer.

Don’t Ask, Don’t tell shoud be abolished NOW. How can the army justify discharging honorable, qualified soldiers because of their sexual orientation? It’s totally discriminatory. Soldiers should be judged by their actions and their abilities, not their private preferences.

Dont ask don’t tell is the most ridiculous policy. We are losing great talented people because of this. I live in Syracuse, NY and yesterday Sgt. Choi, a West Point grad and Arabic speaking translator was discharged under DADT. Who cares what someone’s sexual preference is? They are at work. How does it affect their performance in the military. It is discriminatory and wrong, and Obama should end it tomorrow.

Don’t ask don’t tell policy is ignorant; men and women work together all the time in a professional way without sex interfering; men who are homosexuals could do the same thing. Work is work. Sexual harrassment could happen in any sexual preference group and should be prosecuted equally in any group. We can’t afford to kick qualified people out of the military!

Any sort of gender or sexual practice bias is risky for a freedom-yearning society. A slap in the face doesn’t help anyone.

I think DADT should be repealed. The military needs as many volunteers as it can get their hands on. Since when has America turned away volunteers? I can inderstand being turned away from a job, but if someone wants to fight for your country, you let them! If they have enough pride in their country that doesn’t fully aknowledge them yet, to fight for it, you give them a place. Why wouldn’t you let them serve because of the way they are? Thats like saying you can’t have a black chef in your kitchen. Its blasphemy.

The military has enough trouble recruiting competent men and women, without discouraging gay men and women
whose sexual preferences in no way inherently impede their military performance. The services should just
take their noses out of people’s private
business and work on developing good
soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen.

Repeal DADT. There is no evidence to prove what the proponents of DADT claim about “troop morale.” In other countries, the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the military has not presented a problem for the troops, the commanders, or the armed services.
We are losing many talented and competent individuals who can be an integral and helpful part of our military at a time when we need them the most because of the prejudice some have against this group of service people.
We, as a nation, went through the same arguments and problems when blacks were discriminated against in the military. Haven’t we learned how wrong that is?

Keep the ban; Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell needs to stay. I served in the military during a time of war and I can tell you from experience; there is nothing worse that putting you life on the line for your nation and you have no idea where the mind of your other soidiers are. No man wants to be in close quarters, in a ditch, with another dude and having to worry about what he’s think. It’s not natural and alot of people, a whole lot of people will not join the military in circumstances that they consider more immoral or foreign that the countries we have to fight in.

….with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL.
End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, allow ALL people willing and succeeding to serve OUR NATION.

I think the policy should be left alone. The military is not about your sex life, but serving the country. What you do on your own time is your own business, but while your working your sex life either way should not be the issue.

I feel the ban should be lifted. I believe that originally the ban on gays in the military was out of a fear that they could be blackmailed for military secrets by someone who knew of their sexuality. If they’ve admitted their sexuality, they can’t be blackmailed. I served in the Army and there is no reason they should not be allowed to serve.

Don’t ask, don’t tell was a terrible comprise for allowing gays and lesbians to serve with the dignity all service members should have. It doesn’t work. It should be repealed and sexual orientation should not be a factor when someone wants to give their life for their country. We all share the same pride, yet gays and lesbians are still treated with less importance and respect than their straight counterparts.

We have soldiers doing 2,3,4 tours in war zones. We are accepting criminals in the military now… turning away people for being gay is just plain stupid.

The United States Military is much more than a job! The ignorant keep posting their comparisons to a job…well, I served in the United States Military. You cannot tolerate homosexuality in the military for reasons I could write a treatise about.
The bottom line: it is a criminal offense and must be prosecuted. It is a disruption of the order, discipline, and security of the military.

It needs to be lifted now…Seriously how stupid do you think the men and women in the military are that they do not know who is gay and who isn’t? It is ridiculous at this point.

The firing of Lt. Dan Choi, the West Point educated Arabic translator, is a betrayal of the US Army’s mission. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a threat to our national security. Gays serve openly in the Israeli Army. The British Armed Services recruit gays. The US military is way behind the times.

I think that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell needs to be repealed. This is suppose to be a free country with all men/women created equal. I was in the military for 8 years and everyone knew and no one cared. It did not interfere with my job or that of others. It is nobodys business what your sexual orientation is as long as you can perform your duties. This form of discrimination needs to be stopped. We are all Americans and are proud to serve our country like every other soldier. If the straight men are scared a gay person is in the military, doesn’t say too much for their bravery.

There is only one solution. Get rid of Don’t ask Don’t tell. It is un-American, discriminatory and a perverted relic of a perverted Congress that hated everyone who was not just like them. All it is going to take is one gay soldier saving his platoon from a roadside bomb or helping capture Osama bin Laden and no one will remember that there was ever discrimination against gays in the military.
The homophobic bigots can quit if they want to. The parents who don’t want to send their kids in the military with gays don’t have to let them go—but if they really want to, well, they are 18. And the fake Christians, well there is a rule against forcing your faith on other people. The real Christians are in or supportive of the gay community.
President Obama has not done one single thing of substance for the gay community since he was elected. He could have at least chastised Californians for their human rights violations committed in the Proposition 8 controversy. He can out stronger against Iran than he did against a travesty akin to Jim Crow against gays.
It is time and past time. DADT should have gone his first week in office. It was a promise. It must be kept. Gays are probably Obama’s largest single constituency and if he wants their full support and money he needs to take care of this yesterday.

How you have sex should not be a public issue but gays want it that way so the compromise is don’t ask don’t tell. a person’s job should be based on their skills and sex shouldn’t even be on the radar. we have labor laws to protect people from discrimination, we don’t need policies or laws based on how a person has sex, that is so juvenile.

Policy makers are way behind the times. GLBT people teach our children, treat our illnesses, police our streets, fight fires, cook our food–I could go on and on. GLBT people marry, have children, go to church, and share our parks, pools, athletic fields. But in order to serve in the military they must either lie or avoid speaking about subjects that others can be open about? This policy is inhumane to individuals and deprives our military of needed skills and knowledge. Dump this policy now before more lives are diminished and damaged–and reinstate those who have been discharged or modify their discharges to ‘honorable’.

Don’t Ask, Don’t tell should be left alone. When it came out it pleased nobody and to tamper with it again would inflame deep feelings about it. At this point in time, Soldiers do not need to be burdened with social issues such as this. Many people who are chaptered out of the military use the don’t ask, don’t tell policy just to get out of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Once again, America expresses the fear of the unknown. We are all people who need to realize our similarities instead of our differences.

I think they should get rid of it. It makes no sense that people today still have an issue with gays. To the people in the army, gays are already in the army. So what is just ask don’t tell is doing. It is getting rid of qualified people. Which mean now to all the people in the army that don’t want the gays there, they are making you do 4-5 tours in Iraq instead of 1 or 2 and you are the one staying away from your family and friends. And to People that say that are not comfortable working with gays have an issue with their on sexual identity.

I’m not sure as to why any person sexual perference has to do with a right or privelege. In the military you are not allowed to show public display of affection in uniform. If I’m in the field fighting the enemy one’s preference is not a thing of discussion, because somebody life might be at risk. Another thing to consider is that you have two individuals living in a space 10 X 14 give or take. Granted you have times that hetersex might take place based on an agreement between the two roommates, and if a gay guys was to say he wanted to have an intimate moment with his partner then I personally wouldn’t be comfortable in sleeping in my bunk bed knowing that my roommate like guys. Our society has been gradually diteriating away due to various sexual advertisements that should really be left in the privacy of the bedroom just as the recent Calvin Klein ad in NY.

I think most people commenting here have not thought about the issue. This is not M-TV.
This is the US Military and I don’t think the issue of being Gay is as big as the whole…I’m different. They need to make the service people ONE and to be one means you give all away for being ONE as a unit. to allow people to be diffnert means you’ve destroyed that important element…This is not Jr. high people

If you did a poll asking military people how they would feel they would first have to know who they are serving with..Many gays dont tell as per the dont ask dont tell policy. You would be suprised how many MARRIED gays there are who are married to the opposite sex serving in the military. lmao. Its heterosexuals fear of the unknown as well as their own self confidence that makes them inhuman however if the shoe were on the other foot they would finally know how it feels. BTW i was in the military for quite some time and all i could do was laugh at their ignorance and prejudice. At the same time it was rather sad. I was privy to conversations about what they would do, what they did to gay people in their lifetime and even on the ship or out in town. What did i think about this? It made me believe that heterosexuals were sick in the mind and completely heartless.

I think that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy should be change so that people in the military that object to homosexuals in the military should be court marshaled since they pose a bigger threat to society and the military than homosexuals do.

and to the people that say they dont want to be in a fox hole with a gay person because they will be think what the gay person is doing .. just becaseu you are in a uniform does not mean every gay man want to see you with your clothes off .. trust me .. gays go to work to work to put themselves or the other troops in danger

As a Viet Nam Vet who served on a hospital ship that was heavily populated by members of the gay community and having grown-up in LA, constantly rebucking advances from members of the gay community I beliieve
that thier service is detrimental to moral. The truth is I was stalked by a gay executive officer who made my life hell because I refused his advances.At one point he had me code-redded because of his disappoint in my denial and distaste for him despite his rank..I am not anti-gay as long as they don’t push thier agenda on non-gays, but this was not the case in my situation..This officer used his position to make my life hell and when i reported the incidences to psychiatrists after a break-down from his insecent stalking they minimized my case by saying “He doesn’t like the way he is being treated”…Military time is not 24/7 and some of these people misuse thier power, basically becoming preditors..This man actually trolled the decks looking for young boys that he transfered to the focsal where he could stand on the Bridge and ogle us through his binoculars…sure, they deserve rights, but not a free ride to exert inappropriate behavior, victumizing young men with no means of justice..After twenty yearsof VA therapy, i’ve finally been able to tell my story which is now being held in secret files and not being considered as causes of ptsd…Like the increase in rapes since females are more and more entering the military, the dirty story of gay-life in the military is not being fully exposed…My fear is for the innocents if the Don’t Ask Don’t tell program goes on and if it is repealled, it will give more freedom to such preditors like the one I encountered…

Maybe the Armed Services wouldn’t be so stretched if so many gays were not being discharged. It’s ridiculous that they are taking people with criminal records and kicking out gays with advanced degrees. Don’t ask, don’t tell should never have been made into law in the first place. If anyone believed that we didn’t have gays serving honorably before that, they probably also believe in the tooth fairy.

Dave,
Im sorry men made a pass at you constantly. Im FEMALE…do you know how many unwanted passes MALES made to me when i was in the military? One CHIEF actually got my home address and came to my house. I had to actually fight him as he pushed his way into my apt. He kept saying,”I can make your life easy in the military”. SO come on Dave…get real..your male..you know how your hormones act up…maybe its a male thing? You tell me. Again, try being female and in the service…you have NO IDEA!! Even with that…i didnt feel that because MEN couldnt keep their hands to themselves that it was detrimental to the service. Nor my job..however, i did notice they did less work because they were too busy rubbing off. Now that is detrimental.

The ban should be lifted. I know a young gay man who joined the Navy a couple of years ago. A chaplain asked him if he was gay, which apparently they can do within the first 60 or 90 days. He was discharged, but his commanding officer tried to prevent that, and tried to get him reinstated. One person commented that homesexual behavior is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This policy does not address behavior, it addresses orientation.

I don’t feel you can expect to train them like men then expect them not to act like it. If it’s personal it should be kept to themselves. If you try to FORCE men who are straight to accept them, they may not show it on the outside how they feel, but if I were a gay guy in battle, I would like to leave no room for doubt that my back would be covered by the straight guy. This could pertain to gay women just the same but I think it would be more so for the men. I’m straight and I’m proud of it. I harbor no ill feelings towards those who are gay, but I think issues such as this should quit being crammed down our throats. We have the right to how we feel just the same as any other.

Things need to be left alone as they are! It is hard enough to be in combat with out wondering if the person next to you is more interested in you or if they are committed to fighting along side of you!! Just as women should not be in combat along side with men. Men are in combat for one reason and one reason alone. They do not need to be wondering if the person along side them will be able to support them. There is too much stress in combat!!

They are using the same logic to ban gays as they did for blacks, women, Japanese, Germans and others from serving in years past and we have since realized it was all bunk. Years from now we will look back on history and see this ban was as stupid as it was for all the other formerly banned groups. Its just a question of how long our leaders want to look stupid for our future historians. I can’t believe a black leader would tolerate this ban considering what black people went through! Stop the ban today!

Will someone please add MORE floride to the drinking water of those ignorant polititians? LOL.

Lift the ban on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Too many excellent people have been kicked out of the military for no good reason. No GOOD reason! How is it that one of the most macho armies in the world, The Israel Defense Force, allows gays to serve — no questions asked! If you qualify in every other aspect, you should be able to serve your country in the military

AS A 19 YEAR OLD SOLDIER, AND VIET NAM VETERAN, I WAS RUDELY SHOCKED WHEN THIS SARGEANT WHOSE COMPANY I WAS IN AT THE TIME PROCEEDED TO “HIT ON ME” WITH WORDS LIKE “I’M HOT TO TROT” AND OTHER SIMILAR INVECTIVES. I DIDN’T GET VISIBLY ANGRY, BUT MADE AN UNCOMFORTABLE B-LINE AWAY FROM HIM. “DON’T ASK/DON’T TELL” IS THE BEST WAY TO HANDLE A PHYSIOLOGICAL ANOMALY SUCH AS HOMOSEXUALITY…IT’S BETTER IF THAT SEGMENT OF THE MILITARY WERE NOT ALLOWED TO FLAUNT AND SHOWCASE THEIR INNATE COMPULSION, WHICH THEY SURELY WOULD, IF GIVEN AN OFFICIAL SANCTION.

I believe those in the military- opinion’s should matter the most. Ask those who are laying their lives down for your freedom – take a poll in the military ranks. Your not in a life and death situation- sometimes daily, with stress and worries of making it back home safely. Why should we decide that a same sex person be there with them to make advances at him or her. It’s their lives this is messing with not ours. Let their choice be heard, it’s their blood their spilling for you and me. May they chose their own distraction, if they want too.

Give Obama a break. He has bigger eggs to fry than “don’t ask don’t tell” Although I support gay rights they need to support the president and wait until he can attack this issue politically.

They are willing to give thier lives for us an this country, l feel it should be removed and live an let live. We dont’ hear of Gay people raping in the forces but we definetly here of Men Raping Woman so let them be re-instated if thrown out and leave the rest alone. Just because Religion doesn’t believe it, what happened to separation between church an state. l go to church they leave a how to vote on my window so may God help you all. Give all whom serve gay or straight the respect they deserve.

Oh Jeeez. Turn the page already, we’re gonna look back on this in generations to come and wonder what took us so long. We can’t afford to keep turning away qualified personnel, it just doesn’t matter what orientation they are. There’s incredible people and ass holes all along the hetero to homo continuum. TURN OVER THE RULE AND LETS MOVE ON!

FOR ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT GAYS IN THE MILITARY…WHY DON’T YOU GO VOLUNTEER TO TAKE THEIR PLACE IF YOU HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH IT. …MADE YOU THINK DIDN’T I? IF YOU’RE NOT WILLING TO GO OUT TO THESE DANGEROUS PLACES FOR THE SAKE OF OUR SAFETY, THEN WHY ARE WE GIVING THE GAYS A HARD TIME WHEN THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING THAT WE AREN’T WILLING TO?

equalnotspecial Said:
“The primary purpose served by DADT is to perpetuate the very prejudice and discrimination it was designed to indulge. It must be repealed and replaced with a non-discrimination policy. As long as it exists, it teaches that discrimination is acceptable. As long as our government teaches discrimination to new recruits and the general population, we will not be able to achieve full legal equality. The use of our tax dollars to teach discrimination against us must end. Repeal and replacement with a non-discrimination policy should be a priority for the gay population.”

Lift the ban now, it’s inhumane to leave it in place. There is no reason not to. The military already has rules in place regarding fraternization, they apply to all…this nation needs to move forward to equality for all. These people put their lives on the line, just like straight military personell. If we don’t lift it, do we then start sliding backwards and start segregating by gender or race, maybe even religion? Why is there a division in our definition of equality?
SA in California

When I lived in So.CA, a friend of a friend who was on leave from the U.S. navy came camping with us. This young man was highly funcationing but retarted person who by no means should have been in the matiliary much less carry a loaded firarm but he did. I would much preferred to have a gay person in charge 100x’s over this person. How he got in the service is beyond me.

Repeal it. This is a non-issue in light of facts:
1. Homosexuality is not a “choice”; it is biologically determined, either by genes or by the wash of hormones during normal growth patterns of the body. Did you choose to have black, curly hair? Hazel eyes? Be short? Nooooo, so ….
2. Religion is mostly not facts but beliefs, so religious injunctions against homosexuality, even assuming they actually exist, don’t count.
3. Biblical passages supposedly against homosexuality mostly disapprove of anti-societal actions and societal decadence; it doesn’t really address sexual relations per se between loving, consenting adults which are neither antisocial or decadent. Read your Bible, folks; the WHOLE Bible.
4. As to “people who don’t like to be around homosexuals,” short answer: Grow up! Long answer: You ARE and have been around homosexuals, as between 5 to 20% of the world population is homosexual, according to the best statistical estimates. What’s the big deal?
5. Pretty much the rest of the world thinks Americans are nutty about sex anyway; such a stupid policy as banning gays from the military only confirms their suspicions. The policy is a phenomenal waste of taxpayers’ dollars by drumming out of the military the highly-trained-at-government-expense servicemen and women.
6. Homophobes are ignorant of reality, so if there are homophobes “serving for our freedom” in the military, then they should be educated by the military about the facts of homosexuality and get with the program!
7. Besides, has one ever reviewed a list of homosexuals in history? Some of the great contributors to mankind have been gay, and while on the topic of the military, being gay apparently didn’t hurt Alexander the Great’s conquering the world!

Repeal DADT. The preoccupation with sexuality in both military and civilian life in this country is outrageous. In the military, violation of DADT has resulted in the loss of thousands of loyal, effective men and women, a loss we can ill afford at any time, especially in the present, considering our worldwide commitments. Let it go, people, and divert your attention from sexual orientation to productive pursuits for getting this country back on the track to prosperity.

As a veteran who served under don’t ask don’t tell it wasn’t a burden then and shouldn’t be now. Gay people were well known, as they are in society. It simply prevented them from being flagrant about it and allowing their being gay to interfere with the environment a soldier lives in. Anyone commenting who hasn’t served, or have immediate friends or family serving, really doesn’t understand and should allow military personnel to govern themselves. It is those volunteer troops that are going to be affected, not you sitting in front of your T.V. watching nightline from the comfort of your home while the soldier protects your freedom. Stop trying to make everything in the United States as politically correct as you THINK you are. The military is about following rules. If you can’t follow the don’t ask don’t tell rule, you should be thrown out of the military, Period!

Our military is self destructing by expelling valuable people because they think being gay is a problem for the straight soldiers. However, when those very straight soldiers are asked about the gay soldiers serving with them, they say they already know and don’t care. A guy like Daniel Choi would be a good candidate to work for a military contractor in Iraq, making a six-figure salary along side of his old friends still in the Army. So we pay to train him so he can work for peanuts, but instead fire him then rehire him at twenty times the cost. Brilliant. The British and Israeli armies are quite competent and have included gays for years. This is a stupid, self destructive policy that is weakening our military.

Obama and Congress need to end DADT before we lose more personnel because of it. Seems to me the military needs to focus on stopping rapes, which are rampant against women while deployed. It’s not gays who are causing sexual problems – it’s hetero males.

Please keep this policy. It is better for everyone all around. There should be no sexual activities during military time on the job. If “don’t ask, “don’t tell” is abolished, this will be very hard to prevent because the gays will claim “discrimination.” Let’s not make it harder for our young men and women to serve in the military. They are risking everything.

It is time for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to go the way of other discriminatory policies. The President should end it today. It will not harm the military and will likely strengthen our country overall consistent withthe principles of this country.

Real Americans come in all varieties.
What matters is not thier gender, color
or orientation. What counts is the size of their hearts and love of country.
Let all Americans be equal and serve
their country honorably.

I’ve always been taught to “Hate the Sin, not the Sinner.” I say go ahead and let them enlist as long as they are required to enroll in a program to help them to overcome their sinful lifestyle. Then everyone’s a winner.

There really is nothing to decide. Gays are citizens too and pay taxes, and they should receive equal treatment under the law. DADT is a violation of civil rights and should be stopped immediately.
Besides the ethical reasons, the military has been damn stupid to get rid of people with special skills most in demand.
Obama has been very disappointing–with the stroke of a pen he could suspend implementation of this unfair practice until something more permanent was done. Why doesn’t he do this? I have been a strong supporter of his, but I begin to wonder if he is ever going to put his money where his mouth is.

Keep the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. It’s private information. Each person stands alone with their conscience before God; it’s no one else’s business. I am a Veteran.

I notice that the only people opposing getting rid of the policy make no sense. Yes, sexuality is a purely personal matter but if someone chooses to speak on it no one has the right to punish them for it. If straight people can talk about their love lives without than so can a gay person. The fact that a straight person may not be comfortable around a gay is not a justification to discriminate. If you apply these same justifications to the presence of minorities in the military you see that whites learned to be comfortable and minorities served admirably. Thus, none of the excuses work unles you can still apply them to all non-white men and all women.