While liberals and conservatives continuously battle it out over whether or not the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy should be repealed, I keep thinking there’s a simple solution to this problem that would bring about equality for all without any of the possible negative outcomes of eliminating the existing policy. Why don’t we just say that nobody, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be allowed to talk about their sexuality in the military? After all, people don’t enlist in order to form relationships, brag about their sex lives, or tell stories about their wife and kids back home.
In my mind, the worst thing about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is that it makes life in the military harder for homosexuals than for heterosexuals. Gay individuals in the military are surrounded by people talking about their personal lives when they aren’t allowed to do the same, and the fact that they avoid such topics makes it obvious to others that they’re gay. This wouldn’t be an issue if straight people in the military weren’t talking about their relationships.
One of the problems with getting rid of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is the fact that if homosexuals are allowed to be open in the military, homophobic conservatives may start enlisting in much smaller numbers. Some think it’s ridiculous for Republicans to say this could lead to a draft, but whenever fewer people are enlisting, a draft could be reinstated. Furthermore, today, a draft would possibly include women and homosexuals, two groups that are more than likely to be sexually harassed and abused in the military. This shows that doing away with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” could ultimately prove to have a negative effect on the gay community as a whole.
Some might think my proposed solution to the problem is a bit harsh and that it goes against the freedom of speech to say no one can talk about their sexuality in the military. However, people in the military already don’t receive all the freedoms other Americans have. Honestly, if some heterosexual corporal were to complain about how he can’t talk about his girlfriend while serving his country, I’d say he should stop whining and grow a pair. The military is supposed to be tough.
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What I think, reading this, off the top of my head is: doesn't this just sweep the whole issue under the rug instead of addressing it? Can that be a good thing? I guess sometimes it can - there are things in life we do choose not to address because the argument isn't worth the possible positive result - but I hesitate to consider this issue one of those cases. I have a number of friends and family in the military, and many of them feel that talking about their families and their personal lives sometimes seems like the only connection they have to them - particularly when they are serving abroad and away from the people and places they cherish most. To restrict all such discussion for both heterosexuals and homosexuals seems almost cruel - and also seems like it would be unenforcible in the longterm anyway, or worse: applied unevenly from unit to unit and situation to situation.
ReplyDeleteGranted, it does create a certain equality in silence that is only imposed on one group now and not another, so I can certainly see the appeal of the solution. I still think though that the idea looks better on paper than it would translate into actual practice.