Peter Beinart writes that supporting the return of rotc chapters to campus despite their discrimination against gays is a "winning political issue," and is also "morally important" ("War College," March 20 & 27). But what his argument smacks of most is expediency. Pressing campuses to violate their own nondiscrimination clauses is not, as Beinart suggests, a political "no-brainer." According to a Boston Globe poll last year, nearly four out of five Americans oppose the military's exclusion of openly gay troops, including majorities of Republicans and churchgoers. Why, they might ask, should the military get a pass on anti-gay discrimination when no evidence has shown it to be necessary to military effectiveness?
Beinart would have gays "reform [the military] from within." But this call rings hollow, both because "don't ask, don't tell" forbids gays from identifying as gay (the key to building tolerance is familiarity) and because only Congress or the judiciary, not the Pentagon, can repeal the current ban. For those who support equal treatment for gays and lesbians, the moral position is not to cave to the Democrats' need to look more pro-military. It's to defend the liberal tradition of equality and to lay the blame for the military's alienation from elite campuses on the political leaders who have the power to let gays join rotc and earn ROTC a place on campus. The moral and political imperative here is to move the military into the twenty-first century, where the vast majority of Americans will welcome it with open arms.
Beinart would have gays "reform [the military] from within." But this call rings hollow, both because "don't ask, don't tell" forbids gays from identifying as gay (the key to building tolerance is familiarity) and because only Congress or the judiciary, not the Pentagon, can repeal the current ban. For those who support equal treatment for gays and lesbians, the moral position is not to cave to the Democrats' need to look more pro-military. It's to defend the liberal tradition of equality and to lay the blame for the military's alienation from elite campuses on the political leaders who have the power to let gays join rotc and earn ROTC a place on campus. The moral and political imperative here is to move the military into the twenty-first century, where the vast majority of Americans will welcome it with open arms.
