Dont Ask, Dont Tell
Homosexuals should be allowed to serve openly in all branches of the US Military Gays should be allowed to openly serve in all areas and levels of the U.S. military because logic and the tide of political correctness dictate that such should be the case.
The American armed forces had, since the early revolutionary war, held sodomy (then generally defined as the conduct of performing anal or oral sexual act) as grounds for discharge. It was in 1950, when the Uniform form Code of Military Justice prohibiting homosexual and heterosexual anal and oral sex was passed, that the gay ban began. Under President Ronald Reagan, the gay ban was more stringently enforced. In the 1990s, amidst vicious opposition to repeal the ban, President Bill Clinton enacted the compromise “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass” policy that provides for "Sexual orientation [not to] be a bar to service unless manifested by homosexual conduct" (qtd. in "Don 't Ask”).
While it is true that the institution of the military is largely based on fraternal bonding that should not be cleaved by social factionalism, the call of the modern changing times have rendered the U.S. military ready for the open—not un-manifested—gay presence.
The American society is now ready for homosexuals to openly serve in the military. A December 2003 poll survey conducted by no less than the combined forces of CNN, USA Today and Gallup poll showed that 79 percent of the adult Americans hold the view that those "who are openly gay or homosexual" should be allowed to serve in the military. The 2003 year-end survey results represent an increase of 23 percent in favorable opinion of civilian Americans on the issue. According to assistant director Geoffrey Bateman of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, the shift in public opinion could be a reflection of then-obtaining concerns about the dismissal of homosexual Arabic language specialists during the
The American armed forces had, since the early revolutionary war, held sodomy (then generally defined as the conduct of performing anal or oral sexual act) as grounds for discharge. It was in 1950, when the Uniform form Code of Military Justice prohibiting homosexual and heterosexual anal and oral sex was passed, that the gay ban began. Under President Ronald Reagan, the gay ban was more stringently enforced. In the 1990s, amidst vicious opposition to repeal the ban, President Bill Clinton enacted the compromise “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass” policy that provides for "Sexual orientation [not to] be a bar to service unless manifested by homosexual conduct" (qtd. in "Don 't Ask”).
While it is true that the institution of the military is largely based on fraternal bonding that should not be cleaved by social factionalism, the call of the modern changing times have rendered the U.S. military ready for the open—not un-manifested—gay presence.
The American society is now ready for homosexuals to openly serve in the military. A December 2003 poll survey conducted by no less than the combined forces of CNN, USA Today and Gallup poll showed that 79 percent of the adult Americans hold the view that those "who are openly gay or homosexual" should be allowed to serve in the military. The 2003 year-end survey results represent an increase of 23 percent in favorable opinion of civilian Americans on the issue. According to assistant director Geoffrey Bateman of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, the shift in public opinion could be a reflection of then-obtaining concerns about the dismissal of homosexual Arabic language specialists during the
Cited: "Don 't ask, don 't tell." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 May 2007, 20:23 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 1 Jun 2007 . New Poll Shows Shift in Military Attitudes Toward Gays. 26 Oct. 2004. Service Members Legal Defense Network Site. Accessed 01 June 2007 . Poll: Big Support for Gays in the Military. 30 Dec. 2003. Advocate Site. Accessed 01 June 2007 . Scott, Tucker. Panic in the Pentagon. 1 May 1993. HighBeam Encyclopedia. Accessed 1 June 2007. .