Editorial: Obama should end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

‘ ‘ ‘ Congress passed a law in 1993 regulating the treatment of gay people in the U.S…. ‘ ‘ ‘ Congress passed a law in 1993 regulating the treatment of gay people in the U.S. military. Commonly known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the law dictates conditions for dismissing gay people from the armed forces. Because of this law, the military has discharged at least 12,000 soldiers over the past 15 years, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Now, President Barack Obama wants to end it. ‘ ‘ ‘ During his campaign, Obama stated that he opposed the law. On Obama’s transition Web site, a Michigan resident asked spokesman Robert Gibbs whether the new administration planned to change the law. Gibbs responded, ‘You don’t hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But it’s ‘yes.” ‘ ‘ ‘ The ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law ‘mdash; 10 U.S.C ‘sect;654 ‘mdash; states that, because the military functions as a separate society from civilian life with its own rules and customs, ‘the armed forces must maintain personnel policies that exclude persons whose presence in the armed forces would create an unacceptable risk to the armed forces’ high standards of morale, good order and discipline and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ But society has progressed substantially over the last 20 years regarding the acceptance of gays and lesbians in everyday life. It’s almost universally acknowledged that homosexuality isn’t a disruptive force, except in relation to people’s personal feelings. ‘ ‘ ‘ Given the nature of civil rights progress over the last 100 years, it’s likely that gay people will continue to gain rights and privileges that most people take for granted. It’s likely that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will be struck down, regardless of moral qualms that some people have against homosexuality. But still, is now the right time? ‘ ‘ ‘ It seems like this isn’t the best time to radically alter the nature of the military, given that the United States is waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention suffering a major recession. The law does have a point ‘mdash; allowing gay people in the military could disrupt troop morale and cohesiveness. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s also likely that the military is simply set in its ways. Path dependency, the idea that past decisions affect current choices and policy, is a useful way to look at this tendency. The military simply could be wary of gays and lesbians because it always had in the past. While changing the law could create some immediate difficulty, the increasing tolerance of society at large indicates that the problems would pass over time. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s certainly bold of Obama to tackle such controversial legislation so early in his term, and he deserves praise for holding true on this campaign promise. ‘ ‘ ‘ While this could just be a political move to gain support from the LGBT community, it seems as though Obama truly feels interested in reforming the military, from ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to closing the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba. ‘ ‘ ‘ Overall, the existing law is openly discriminatory and probably wouldn’t pass if it were proposed in Congress today rather than 16 years ago. Given that the U.S. is progressing toward greater tolerance and acceptance, scrapping the law is one more step forward, and doing it now is better than doing it later.