Friends of mine who are knowledgeable about the homosexual issue and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy responded to the first part of this column, and I learned things I didn’t know. I already corrected something in part 1 regarding the DSM manual.
What follows is a note I received regarding ‘DADT’:
We actually don’t want to return to DADT, which was Bill Clinton’s ridiculous policy that essentially made it hard to really enforce the 1993 law.
It used to be that Republicans wanted to get rid of DADT and just stick to the letter of the law (no homosexuals, period; and yes, it was OK to ask). Now we want to return to it? That’s just another example of successful liberal incrementalism. If we call for overturning the repeal, what we want to return to is the outright ban of homosexuals in the military.
The actual law passed by Congress in 1993 to this day (2010) bans homosexuals serving in the military. According to the Center for Military Readiness (CMR), the Clinton administration decided to ignore the 1993 law (and a subsequent court ruling that it should remain in force), “and perpetuated deliberate confusion by retaining its inconsistent ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in Defense Department enforcement regulations.”
CMR continues:
It is significant to note that the vague phrase “sexual orientation,” stated twice in Bill Clinton’s original “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” proposal, was not incorporated anywhere in the law that Congress actually passed. Members of Congress recognized that the phrase would be difficult to define or enforce…. The routine inquiry about homosexuality can and should be reinstated now; no additional legislation is required.
Activists keep complaining that this convoluted policy does not “work.” The most relevant question is, “work to do what?” If the goal is to allow homosexuals to serve, Clinton’s permissive “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations do not go far enough. But if the goal is to preserve military morale, discipline, and readiness for combat (it is), then the Clinton policy goes too far-in the wrong direction. Everyone can serve our country in some way, but not everyone is eligible to serve in the military.
American taxpayers pay billions of dollars a year to cover the cost of treatment for those with HIV and AIDS in the United States military. That’s unacceptable.
I am very grateful to my friends for their help. There is a lot to learn, and if we’d be a lot better off as a country if our supposed Republican leaders would keep learning as well.
A lame duck Congress and Barack Obama can’t, through legislation, undo the horrible health realities that accompany the GLBTQ (etc.) “lifestyle.” They can’t vote to make it normal or healthy any more than they can pass a bill which turns a rectum into a vagina.
