Don't Ask – Don't Tell

In 1993 Bill Clinton tried to fulfill a campaign promise to end discrimination against gays in the military. One thing he hadn't figured in his equation was the unwillingness of the military brass, including General Colin Powell, to accept that. The result was a law referred to as Don't Ask – Don't Tell (DADT) – a compromise that allowed gay men and women to serve as long as they kept their sexual orientation a secret.

And, as Andy Griffith used to say when describing the opera Carmen, "the curtain falls and time passes."

In the intervening years, public opinion about homosexuality continued to change. Because more gay people were brave enough to be open to others about their sexual orientation, more people who thought they didn't know any gay people found out they were wrong about that. And when the person being discriminated against is no longer some unknown person, but someone you happen to know is a fine human being, you start to see things in a different way.

Now the curtain has opened again, and we see that DADT is actually hurting us. More than 13,000 men and women have been discharged from the military under DADT, men and women who have had skills the services sorely need. The classic example of that is Arabic-speaking translators. DADT is a policy that dictates, "Unlock gun, fire at foot."

Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy, a bronze star veteran of the Iraq War, is co-sponsoring the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1283) to repeal the law that implemented DADT. So far he has lined up 153 co-sponsors for the bill. Congressman Murphy (who looks like he's about 20 years old) makes his case for the bill here.

Colin Powell says it's time to "review" DADT. It certainly is. President Obama has said he will sign H.R. 1283 if it reaches his desk.

Addendum: I forgot to acknowledge Andrew Tobias as the person who inspired me to make this post and gave me the link to Congressman Murphy's interview.