History of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
The openness of gays in the military has been a front page story off and on for over a month now, primarily because a judge ruled in September that the ol’ “don’t ask, don’t tell” law violates the First Amendment. Yesterday, a federal appeals court said “hey, slow down” on the overturning of the law, so everything is back to the way it was and will likely stay that way until a full appeal is made in February next year. President Obama is said to be against the law and supports more freedom but would prefer that Congress do its job to change these things.1
Allowing openly gay people in the military is a hot topic fueled by one’s individual rights and freedoms and lately, it’s fueled by politics, as any government decision made about the military always takes into account the public reaction at least as much as the justness in the decision itself. There are plenty of sites to educate yourself further on this topic, but in the meantime, here’s a brief explanation of the history of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law from the New York Times, which has a great database of archived information on many topics such as this:
“The policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was made law in 1993 amid a debate over the role of gays in the military. It limits the military’s ability to ask service members about their sexual orientation (don’t ask) and allows homosexuals to serve provided they keep quiet about their sexual orientation (don’t tell) and refrain from homosexual acts.
The policy was adopted as a compromise after President Bill Clinton failed in an attempt to overturn an existing ban on gay service members, which was opposed by top figures in the military. The rationale for the continued restrictions was that the known presence of gay men and lesbians would undermine morale and unit cohesion. President George W. Bush supported the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rules during both terms of his administration.”2
Read on:
NYTimes.com – Court Keeps Military Gay Policy for Now
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Nice article, Just passed this on to a coworker who read up on this and she took me to dinner after I gave her this blog. So, Thanks!!