Every year, 1000 men and women are kicked out of the military for being gay. Today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen will meet with Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss halting this discrimination.
Homosexuality has always been persecuted in the American military. In 1993, President Clinton began the fight to allow openly gay men and women into the military. His efforts, however, only established the current policy, which was still a significant accomplishment. But as American society as a whole has become more open to the LGBT community, it seems tragically archaic and contradictory to our established values. Ending the ban was one of Obama's many major campaign promises that he reaffirmed in his State of the Union. Lifting this ban would be a tremendous step to ending discrimination against the LGBT community.
But opposition is strong. Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, argued, "Our service members wear the uniform to fight and win wars, not serve as liberal-social-policy guinea pigs. The sexaul environment the President is trying to impose upon the young men and women who serve this country is the antithesis of the successful war-fighting culture, and as such should be rejected." Apparently, Mr. Perkins has forgotten about the most cliche pillar of the conservative value system: Live and let live. Even if you do believe that homosexuality is the "antithesis" of the war aspect of our culture, I would argue that institutionalized discrimination is the antithesis of every aspect of our culture. Sanctioning discrimination against one group inevitably leads to discrimination against others. Gates, Mullen, and Obama seem to agree.
Lifting the ban would be a challenge. If Gates and Mullen are not successful in lifting it entirely, they at least hope to lessen its impact and prepare the way for the eventual overturning of the policy. However, the president and democratic leaders seem happy to allow the proposal to languish for at least a year- as neither view it as a political win.
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