Thursday, April 10, 2008
Obama for repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"
3 comments
Barack Obama recently told The Advocate, a gay magazine, that he favors repealing the preposterous "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military. He said:"We're spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military... That doesn't make us more safe."
Well put. There are so many things wrong with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Aside from the fact that it requires gays and lesbians to shut their mouths about their sexuality while straight people can talk about it freely, it really says something about our priorities when the armed forces cares more about a person's sexuality than their qualifications and ability to protect our country.
Posts
April 11, 2008 at 1:56 PM
hang on, he also said in the same breath - but I will not de-select a Chief of Staff who supports it/disagrees with me about this.
Huh? So what is his action in that position going to be? Will he hire a guy who still implements 'dont ask dont tell'?
This is the classic Barack problem - if all you ever want is for people to get along with each other, how will you ever get things done?
April 11, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Hmm I don't know how I feel about this...Barack doesn't want to kick queers out of the military because it's economically inefficient? What about the fact that "don't ask don't tell" descriminates against queers on the sole basis of homophobia? I thought that equality was the bigger issue, but apparently it's saving money?
April 11, 2008 at 9:34 PM
You know that I'm wholeheartedly against Don't Ask, Don't Tell. However, at the time it was a step in the right direction. Despite it's flaws, it provided gay and lesbian members of the military a way to avoid being mistreated and harassed. Yes, it's unfair that this meant completely concealing their identity...but like I said, it's a step.
It's great that Barack Obama wants to remove this unfair and outdated law. However, this can only be done while also putting new laws in place to protect LGBT members of the military. I hope if Obama is elected, he thinks this through carefully and understands that simply removing the policy won't erase the problem.