Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell & a repeal: Conservatives are starting to ‘get it’
by Matt | June 13th, 2007 |I’ve always been a loud mouth. I’ve always had a big mouth to spout off my opinions. I never was a huge loud mouth on the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, however, until I became involved as the Greensboro city organizer of the Soulforce Right to Serve Campaign.
Since then I’ve seen how more and more people are starting to realize that the misguided, discriminatory policy needs to go. Some people have come to this conclusion because they have finally realized that discrimination is wrong.
Others, like staunch social conservatives, have come to this conclusion via another route: Realizing that this policy hurts our nation’s ability to protect itself, wastes precious taxpayer dollars and burdens our military with trying to find thousands of replacements to fill the positions of close to 11,000 servicemen and women dismissed under the policy.
Former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), a very vocal opponent of marriage equality and, in general, LGBT equality, is just such a conservative.
According to ThinkProgress.org, the former Congressman is changing his tune when it comes to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell:
Former congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), a well-known and outspoken conservative, is, as he puts it, “hardly a card-carrying member of the gay-rights lobby.” He authored the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which declared that states did not need to recognize legal same-sex marriages from other states. In 1996, he argued that homosexual relations were “bizarre”:
“The homosexual agenda calls for taking these so-called marriage licenses to the mainland and the other 50 states, the other 49 states, and trying to force these other states, the citizens of these other states, to accept their bizarre view of marriage.” [CBS This Morning, 12/4/96]
Yet even Barr recognizes the damage the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy has had on our overstretched military. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, Barr declares his opposition to the policy and encourages other conservatives to call for its repeal:
As a conservative Republican member of Congress from 1995 to 2003, I was hardly a card-carrying member of the gay-rights lobby. I opposed then, and continue to oppose, same-sex marriage, or the designation of gays as a constitutionally protected minority class. Service in the armed forces is another matter. The bottom line here is that, with nearly a decade and a half of the hybrid “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to guide us, I have become deeply impressed with the growing weight of credible military opinion which concludes that allowing gays to serve openly in the military does not pose insurmountable problems for the good order and discipline of the services. […]
Because the military can’t fill its slots, it has lowered its standards, extended tours of duty and increased rotations, further hurting morale and readiness. Conservatives are supposed to favor meritocracy — rewarding ability — especially in the armed forces. Instead, the military is firing badly needed, capable troops simply because they’re gay, and replacing them with a hodge podge that includes ex-cons, drug abusers and high-school dropouts.
When all the Right to Serve city organizers met close to New York City in June 2006 to plan for the various events across the country that fall, this was one of the areas we covered. Fiscal responsibility certainly isn’t something a politician or representative can claim to have if he or she supports keeping Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The policy just causes way too much money to be spent on kicking out well-trained, well-qualified and experienced servicemembers who know how to do their jobs and do them well when we could save it for more important expenditures (like education, healthcare and helping the poor and homeless, perhaps?).
According to recent polls, 73% of servicemen and women say they would have no problem serving with an openly gay person. Time after time, we have seen military officials, professionals and former and retired military leaders step up to say that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is wrong, wastes money, squanders resources and hampers our national security.
I find it highly ironic (and oh so hilarious) that only fifty years after the U.S. government cited “national security” and “security concerns” to keep gay and lesbian people out of something as simple as civil service in federal work, that we now realize that having LGBT people is both vital and necessary if we wish to keep our national security.
The ball is rolling. The left already thinks Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to go. Now the right is beginning to think the same. Soon, we’ll all be on the same page. The game will be over. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be no more.
Technorati Tags: Bob Barr, Georgia, Congress, ThinkProgress, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Military, Gay
2 Responses to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell & a repeal: Conservatives are starting to ‘get it’”
I, like Senator Barr, simply cannot see any reason for it. Gay men and women already serve. Their colleagues have no problem with them being open. And the policy is costing hundreds of millions of dollars to enforce. Not to mention the loss of priceless key personnel.
There is no absolutely reason for anyone to support “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
By Brian on Jun 13, 2007
“There is no absolutely reason”
Well… they have “reasons.” Their reasons just happened to be full of bigotry, hate and misinformation (or a combination of all three).
By Matt on Jun 13, 2007