By: Ashley Wrigley

For those of you who somehow missed the DADT debate, DADT is the seventeen-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prevents gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. The repeal was passed in 2010 voted 65-31 but will not take effect until President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Congress certify the military is ready for the change. Following the certification, a 60-day grace period will begin before the policy is officially lifted.

There’s a lot of controversy over this. Many feel that the military isn’t ready for the ban to be lifted. Many are appalled the policy was allowed to exist as long as it did, including gay activist groups who feel President Obama didn’t act forcefully enough on the issue. Still, some compare this struggle for full acceptance to the Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Rights Movement, and there are some things to consider here.

First of all, the Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Rights Movement were problematic and resisted at nearly every turn. We overcame the bigotry to a certain degree and have been able to start the slow progression forward. However, it is important to remember that we only overcame the discrimination to a certain degree. Just because the educated youth and intelligent elders have no problem with their fellow man and feel that men and women are created equal does not mean that everyone else does. That said, we can call them ignorant and racist and sexist, or whatever the qualifying term may be, but that solves nothing except to state a truth that was already present. We still have a long way to go in making this country a place where people love each other and respect each other no matter what color their skin is, and a place where women aren’t treated incompetent or considered sexual wall-hangings in the corporate world. All of the hatred and bigotry still happens all over the country; it’s just more of a “dirty word” than it used to be. Many people have changed, and it’s up to the younger generation to continue to out this poison.

If gay men and women are ready for the potential and very likely abusive repercussions of lifting the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, then I’m all for fighting the good fight. Thomas Aquinas said, “ordering things to ends belongs to those to whom the ends belong,” and I tend to agree. I think moving on from the prejudices against homosexuality is a move in the right direction, but I also believe Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has served and continues to serve the military well until we as a nation can move beyond tolerance and into understanding and acceptance. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was set up to protect both parties involved. Keep in mind that most people going into boot camp these days are eighteen year old kids with an almighty high school education and barely any brains to think for themselves. They’re “mature” enough to be molded by someone else, and the military feeds off of that. Nearly every John coming out of boot camp has a six-month high of adrenaline where all they want to do is compare nut sacs and hit things, and the military encourages it. So next to that, being openly gay can be potentially problematic.

One of the prime concerns of lifting the ban voiced by a fellow friend in the military is unit cohesion. There are many reasons why it can fail, and one openly homosexual among a bunch of straights is just one of the causes. Unfortunately, young military men just sit around and talk about breasts and vaginas all day in some the most derogatory and disgusting ways possible, and if you don’t know this to be true, you know absolutely no young man in the military. Right now, there’s no place for homosexuality in that kind of social situation. That’s just a fact. Some might say: socialize with other people, but that goes against the bonds attempting to be formed. A successful unit cannot afford cliques.

Sexual identification is just one of the ways young people bond. When two men or two women are on the same page about it, there are no doubts to prevent bonding; many young people were raised to be paranoid about sexual orientation, and their concerns and feelings shouldn’t be registered merely as acts of ignorance and hate. Being vulnerable to another person is hard, especially when it’s difficult for someone else to understand that person. Men and women have enough problems trying to measure up to certain ideals. Young women may be taught that models are airbrushed fakes and that beauty is on the inside, but, regardless, they feel held to that same plastic standard that everyone else is silently held up to. Men also have issues understanding what really makes a man. Football? Muscles? Facial hair? We’ve all seen the reality TV shows about homosexual teens struggling to fit in the hormone-hot-zone of their youth, but heterosexual teens have just as many problems. Every voice should be heard and considered.

Everyone has a right to fight for what they believe in—gay, straight, black, white, male, female, space alien. Helping people understand that is more challenging. The biggest part of ending the hate is to help everyone understand one another, which cannot be done if both sides are pointing fingers. No matter the frustrations, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. overcame the ugliness in the world by walking in peace and love. Both outside and within the military, the fight to accept sexual orientation is still on. We’re in the midst of it, not the aftermath, meaning we all must work just as hard as before to end the cycle.

We like to pretend everyone is as grounded as we want them to be, but that’s all it is: pretend. Be mad, write your rants, but there are two sides to every situation, at least. I’m a giant advocate of the “my way is right and yours is wrong, so get the heck out” policy, but I’ve been told that makes me an ignorant jerk, so I’m passing along the message. Lifting the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is a great way to initiate the process of acceptance, but a lot of what is flashing around the web sounds like people are demanding others to be accepting, and judging them if they aren’t, and we already know from history how successful forcing ideology on others has been.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40777922/ns/politics-white_house/
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dont-ask-dont-tell-senate-advances-repeal-ban-gays-military/story?id=12429640
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/18/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal_5_n_798636.html