“I love my country and would die for it, but if I have to hide who I really am, I just can’t.”
These were the words spoken to me by an openly gay friend when discussing the recent attention surrounding the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” intentionally discriminates against gays and lesbians. This policy not only discourages homosexuals from serving in the military, but it also condemns their existence.
These individuals are seen as threats to military order and cohesion, and not assets.
The United States has seen this type of prejudice in the past. African Americans and women were also banned from joining the service for quite some time.
Integrating these two groups into the military did not cause any complications to the mission of the military, and allowing openly gay people will not either.
If discrimination issues are not enough, there is also a financial cost to this policy. With the dismissal of approximately 1,000 troops annually, there is a huge cost to kicking out highly trained soldiers. Each soldier accrues a large cost in basic and advanced training. Discharging soldiers costs the American people millions of dollars each year.
In addition, the military also loses soldiers with critical skills, such as linguistics. There is no telling how these dismissals have caused complications to the mission of the United States.
Katherine Benzaquen
Graduate Student
School of Social Work
