War Begins on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
- Feb 3, 2010 - 4 -
Seventeen years ago, bipartisan veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate reaffirmed longstanding military protocol that active homosexuals not be admitted into the armed services. President Clinton, following his miserably failed attempt to open up the military to active homosexuals, signed this measure into law. There was little mistaking Congress’ firm position on military social conduct. That was then, this is now.
With a new administration and new liberal-led majority in Congress, both committed to spreading homosexual “rights” across virtually every domain of society, the issue has come full circle. A new war over the military has begun.
On Tuesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony from Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the 1993 law commonly referred to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Regrettably, both pledged support for repealing the law and announced a working group toward that end. On the other side of the Capitol, a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to follow with a hearing on March 3. A House bill to repeal the current law has already garnered 187 cosponsors. Like plenty of bills moving through Congress, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1283) sounds noble in name. But a charitable title does not make it so.
The renewed battle on military eligibility comes just one week after President Obama awakened America to a radical social agenda that keeps expanding. Toward the end of his 70-minute State of the Union address, the commander-in-chief stated, “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”
The problem is that, for a host of reasons, repealing the ban on openly homosexual individuals from the armed forces is anything but the right course of action. The findings of the 1993 Congress help to explain why. For starters, there is no constitutional right to serve in the military. Courts have repeatedly upheld this assertion of the 1993 law. Further, as Congress found, “[m]ilitary life is fundamentally different from civilian life” and conditions “are often spartan, primitive, and characterized by forced intimacy with little or no privacy.” Such findings should not be ignored.
Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, reiterated this message Tuesday in a letter to nearly 80 targeted members of Congress urging them to oppose H.R. 1283 and any efforts to repeal current law. As Land stated, “The admission of openly homosexual individuals into the military would engender sexual tension and thereby negatively impact troop morale, unit cohesion, and order”—conditions that, as Congress observed, “[s]uccess in combat requires.”
Strong voices are emerging from the highest ranks of the armed forces. More than 1,100 retired Flag & General Officers for the Military have gone on record opposing a reversal of the military eligibility law. Troops in the trenches share this sentiment.
Reversing the ban “will result in the resignation of large numbers of personnel who are currently serving in our all-volunteer services,” as Land noted in his letter, based on “conversations with large numbers of personnel from virtually every rank in every service.”
In a 2008 Military Times poll, 58 percent of servicemen and women opposed changing the current law on homosexuals in the military. Nearly 10 percent said, “I would not re-enlist or extend my service” if the policy is overturned, and another 14 percent said, “I would consider not re-enlisting or extending my service.”
The perspective of substantial numbers inside the military is telling. At a time when we are engaged in two wars, subjecting our military to social engineering experimentation is hardly wise. Weakening troop morale and jeopardizing national security for the sake of inclusiveness are dangers worth avoiding. America can ill afford such risks.
If you agree, please contact your congressman and senators and tell them to oppose efforts to repeal the 1993 law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality
comments (post your own) feed
1 On Feb 4th, 2010, at 1:06pm, Vernon King wrote:
Having served in the military for over 20 yars I believe that lifting this ban is wrong. If lifted
I will spend my time going to high schools and churches
telling them why they should discourage their sons and daughters enter the military.
Vernon
2 On Feb 4th, 2010, at 1:59pm, Avery Cook wrote:
Having served and retired from the military, being a combat veteran of two wars, I strongly disagree with lifting the ban. To me this is one of the worst things our Nation leader could do. I pray we as a nation don’t go that far.
3 On Feb 4th, 2010, at 4:45pm, Curtis W. Rice wrote:
Having served in a branch of the Military for 91/2 years, I am appalled that we have a President that we are encouraged in the Word of God to pray for, that would endanger the morale of those who are serving now and those who would not reenlist, because of the repealling of the Policy of “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell.” I can’t believe our President would endanger the security of our Nation to satisfy a fraction of the only four percent of the population of our Country.
4 On Feb 13th, 2010, at 10:23am, Jay Wilson wrote:
I see alot of homophobic conclusions with nothing to back it up. It was the same reasoning which denied Americans who were non-white, women, or without land basic civil liberties, like serving their country. It’s not Christianity that discourages me from being a Christian, but Christians themselves, or at least people who claim to be.