Source: The Leaf Chronicle, Clarksville, TN.
Date: March 6, 2007
U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass, once again has introduced legislation that would scrap the so-called "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy for the military. Since that policy was included in the 1994 Defense Authorization Act, it has allowed homosexuals to serve in the military as long as they did not state their sexual orientation and do not engage in homosexual conduct. This newspaper supports Meehan in his efforts.
By nearly all accounts, the policy has been extremely unpopular. It's also been an expensive proposition to discharge highly trained gays from the military.
The Government Accountability Office says that recruiting and training replacements for the thousands of service members separated under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy cost more than $190 million from 1994 through 2003. A University of California report puts the lost investment much higher at some $364 million.
Whatever the true figure is, the policy has been counterproductive in regard to the objectives of an all-volunteer military.
Those who answer their country's call to duty — especially in times of war — and are qualified to serve should be allowed to do so.
Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first Marine to be wounded in the Iraq war, will serve as the Human Rights Campaign's national spokesman in an effort to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Alva, who has announced he is gay, was in charge of 11 Marines in a supply unit in Iraq in 1993 when he stepped on a land mine and lost his right leg. He was awarded a Purple Heart and received a medical discharge from the military.
Indeed, bullets, land mines, missiles, grenades and roadside bombs do not discriminate. They don't care if you are black or white, Protestant or Catholic, male or female, gay or straight.
Some opponents to allowing gays to serve openly in the military cite concerns that soldiers might be uncomfortable if they had to do things such as shower in front of someone who was homosexual. In fact, they may already have done so. There always have been people such as Eric Alva who stayed closeted while in the military.
His sexual orientation didn't make him any less of a Marine or the loss of his leg any less significant.
The adoption of Meehan's bill would not pass judgment on homosexuality. But it would permit those gay people who serve our country to do so without fear of being "outed" as homosexual and ousted from the military they love and wish to serve.
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