Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Don

Of all the policies the Obama administration will hopefully soon reverse, perhaps the most backwards is the ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy. I fail to understand how anyone could promote an idea as outdated and counterintuitive as this. Are people really that afraid of something different from themselves?

For anyone who’s not aware of the ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy, it’s the common name for the U.S. military’s policy regarding homosexuality. Enacted in 1993 during the Clinton administration, it was basically a compromise between those who wanted to allow homosexuals to serve in the military and those who didn’t.

As a sort of compromise, the policy states that gay men and lesbians are allowed to serve in the military. However, they are not allowed to engage in any kind of homosexual conduct or let anyone know that they’re homosexual (‘don’t tell’) and the military is not allowed to officially inquire as to what a military personnel’s sexual orientation is (‘don’t ask’).

While this ‘compromise’ policy is obviously better than just not allowing homosexuals to serve in the armed forces, there’s still plenty wrong with this policy.

Ultimately, it’s still a ban on openly gay people serving in the military. If it’s made apparent that someone serving is homosexual, or if they take part in any homosexual conduct, they can be immediately discharged because of it. On top of this, even though superiors aren’t allowed to initiate investigation into a person’s sexual preference without substantial grounds because of the ‘don’t ask’ part of the policy, mere suspicion of homosexual behavior is warranted as ‘substantial’ grounds for investigation into the person’s private life.

I almost find it hard to believe a policy such as this actually exists in a modern industrialized country in the 21st century. Do people really have this much fear for what they don’t understand? The reasoning for not allowing gays in the military is frankly ignorant at best.

According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1981, ‘Homosexuality is incompatible with military service,’ and that anyone who is homosexual who engages in homosexual conduct ‘seriously impairs the accomplishment of the military mission. The presence of such members adversely affects the ability of the armed forces to maintain discipline, good order and morale.’

Are we seriously supposed to believe that someone’s sexual preference is a serious determining factor to his or her ability to act properly in the line of duty? If you’re a guy who is attracted to men, does that automatically mean you can’t comprehend ‘discipline’ as much as a heterosexual person? If you’re a woman who is attracted to other women, does that mean you’re a threat to ‘good order?’ Is your sexual orientation directly related to or detrimental to your ‘morale?’ If the term equality means anything to you, the answer to all these questions should be an obvious ‘no.’

Sometimes people ask, ‘Should gays be able to marry?’ or ‘Should gays be allowed to serve in the military?’ These questions sound just as ridiculous to me as someone asking, ‘Should black people be allowed to marry and serve in the military?’ They’re on the same level of any other ignorant bigotry you can think of.

Obviously, a lot of people in the past have condemned homosexuality in some different ways than other differences. In a rather contradicting twist of ignorance, people have viewed homosexuality as both a mental disorder as well as a conscious choice by the person in question. However, both of these viewpoints have had piles of evidence pitted against them in recent years.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), ‘gay, lesbian and bisexual orientations are not disorders. Research has found no inherent association between any of these sexual orientations and psychopathology.’

Homosexuality is not some disability that can be ‘cured,’ even though in the past the U.S. military has used a similar theory to discharge military personnel. Likewise, many anti-homosexual groups claim that being gay is the individual’s own fault because it’s a lifestyle choice. The APA also points to the fact that in many cases concerning homosexuality, ‘most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.’

More and more research is pointing toward genetic, hormonal and biological factors that may aid in determining sexual orientation in humans.

The main question here is this: What about someone’s sexual preference allows or disallows him or her to directly serve and protect their country? Does a homosexual body take a bullet worse than a heterosexual body?

Since its inception, the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy has caused the military to discharge over 12,500 troops due to homosexuality. Should a phenotype really be grounds for bringing someone up on charges, especially when all they were trying to do was serve their country? As clich’eacute; as it sounds, at a time when it seems we could benefit from coming together more, it doesn’t exactly help to divide ourselves meaninglessly because of an outdated policy.

Dave Coffey is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].

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