Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Really????

If you saw President Obama’s State of the Union address last week then you are fully aware of his position on the current Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The 17 year old policy that was put in place by President Clinton is the current topic of debate among government officials.  President Obama has vowed to repeal this policy and his current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen  agrees with him.

According to a statement, Adm. Mullen says “It is the right thing to do… No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”  While many disagree with his statement, I agree whole heartedly. Gays should not have to lie about who they are in order to defend their country. The moral issue about homosexuality is another issue but to force people to lie about who they are is wrong plain and simple.

We can ask these individuals to put their lives on the line for their country but yet their country will not accept them if they are gay. Seriously??? Is that the world that we live in today?  I thought the days of bigotry and civil rights violations are long gone. What happend to “all men are created equal”? There should be no reason that a country that prides itself in being the leader of Democracy and equality is allowing such a policy. It’s absurd and it should be repealed.

I know some of you may feel it is necessary to keep such a policy in place but as an educated latina woman I can not comprehend how any civil rights violation is acceptable. If we keep this policy in place we are opening up the flood gates for violations of other civil liberties. No one should be allowed to tell us who we should be or that who we are is wrong. This is a country where it was once acceptable to own human beings, to segregrate people because of the color of their skin, that made abortion illegal and a crime. All laws established by white men. I really hate to bring race into this but it is what is. It’s all a part of the history of this country and we have come a long way since then.  So what if other soldiers may feel uncomfortable serving with someone that is openly gay. That’s their problem. Why do gay people have to pay for someone else’s discomfort. Give me a break. Are we pre-schoolers that to be coddled or grown adults that should be able to interact with one another in a cordial and respectable way despite our differences? What do you all think? Do you agree with “Dont Ask, Don’t Tell”?

[Via http://ms808nhartbreak.wordpress.com]

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