This weekend saw the end of one of the craziest Laws ever enacted in the US under Bill Clinton, it was of course the Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) policy of exactly that. The US like many armies has had polices precluding different groups from their ranks all are obvious due to their religion or race, same sex attracted people are however not so obvious, especially those attracted to the armed services. DADT was bizarre due to the fact it allowed gay and lesbians to enlist and fight they just had to ensure no one was aware of their sexuality as soon as their superiors were they were out.... literally.
In his way has been some serious roadblocks namely the far right wing of the country, religious fundamentalists and John McCain, who called the day of the laws repeal a 'Sad Day for America' What was sad is these peoples reasoning for doing their best to keep gays out of the military and forcing those in there to hide their lives and lie on a daily basis. Of course they believe that homosexuality is a choice, despite the simple fact that if it were a choice who would in their right mind choose it under the persecution dealt out to them, but more absurdly they believe it will comprimise US miliatry capabilities. By this they call on three issues firstly that Gays will hit on other men (cause that what's gays do right, they cant control themselves and just try to shag anything of the same sex) making the victims of the advances unable to do their duties, secondly they fear that Gays will have partners in the military and that they would compromise operations if their partner was a casualty ( cause that's what gays do, unlike straights who have relationships in the military now and this is not an issue) and thirdly that gays will cost the Economy millions with their partners being accepted (cause a gay persons partner is not equal to a straight persons...right).
So despite the fact the the USA's major allies have open armed forces the opponents to an open American military thinks that they are different and that their servicemen are different, somehow that can't really work when Canada, Australia and the UK are ethnically and culturaly almost the same as the USA.
The DADT issue is the same as most issues that divide the community here are some examples:
· Ending slavery did not destroy the British Empire (it reached it lasted another hundred years as they most powerful Empire), nor did it destroy the USA
· Giving women the vote did not weaken the abilities of governments
· Ending the White Australia Policy did not result in the end of Australia.
· Bringing in the GST did not result in the total destruction of the poor.
· Selling Telstra didn't make services any worse.
More than thirteen thousand service members were fired because of it. Lieutenant Dan Choi, who was one of them, has since worked hard for a repeal—so hard, in such emotionally demanding circumstances, that he was hospitalized after a breakdown this week. (Saturday morning, he told the Miami Herald's Steve Rothaus that news of the vote gave him "a jolt of good American energy." He's earned it.) We have no way of counting how many more people left the military or denied their own vocation for service, or how many personal relationships were ended or soured. How many soldiers gave up on the prospect of having a family? One thing we do know, as the Pentagon freely acknowledged in its review, is that there are plenty of gay and lesbian troops in the military now. (And the study's survey found that having worked with a gay or lesbian colleague made straight service members more likely to support repeal.) D.A.D.T. just forced them to lie about who they were, and live in fear about being found out, when their jobs were hard enough already. Why should, say, a nineteen-year-old already in a combat zone have to wake up scared about that?
No the sky will not fall in the US military wont be any better or any worse...life will go on and it will be a little better for a few more people who get to be themselves rather than what they are told to be.
