Thursday, February 4, 2010

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

In recent news, the topic of gays in the military has come under scrutiny. The Republican party has decided to argue that the policy of "Don't ask, Don't tell" in the military needs to end. And with the help of President Obama, the law may be repealed. I believe that if a citizen of this country wants to join the military to help protect this country, their sexual orientation should hold no precedent over that. I believe that the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy has been a good one, but there are always going to be the worry that the gay member of the military will be found out. How does whether one like men or women, affect one's ability to serve his or her country. As long as no sexual relations, which are banned for any member of the military are occurring, gays in the military should be allowed to serve. I don't have a concrete opinion on the policy, because i don't know how it would really affect the comradarie of a company in the military. But as for now, as long as one's work is not affected by your sexual orientation, then sexual orientation should not be considered when one wants to join the military.

-Jane Hayashi-

3 comments:

Andrew said...

A couple of things.

"The Republican party has decided to argue that the policy of "Don't ask, Don't tell" in the military needs to end. And with the help of President Obama, the law may be repealed."

Do you mean the Democrats or am I just unaware? This would surely be an embarrassment for the Republicans or at least it should. They're gradually trying to liberalize their social policies, which is just absolutely pathetic, so you may be right, but I just want clarification.

"I believe that if a citizen of this country wants to join the military to help protect this country, their sexual orientation should hold no precedent over that. I believe that the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy has been a good one, but there are always going to be the worry that the gay member of the military will be found out."

Their sexual orientation doesn't hold precedent. That's what the policy is all about. Even if they're found out, which is of their own accord since "coming out of the closet" is of their own free choosing, the policies don't promote any discrimination in response. The military isn't concerned about your sexual orientation. This is what homosexuals have always wanted, but at the same time I guess that's what they apparently and suddenly don't want. I know ... confusing and inconsistent.

Jane said...

Andrew, from what I have read it is the Republican party trying to liberalize their views, and the top military people are finally saying that the law should be repealed. And what I meant about sexual orientation holding precedent is, that if there are any slips of the soldier talking about their being gay, they could be turned in and discharged from the military. Although their sexual orientation does not directly effect their serving, indirectly it causes dissent with secrets and constant wariness of others.

-Jane Hayashi-

Francis Wang said...

"the policies don't promote any discrimination in response. The military isn't concerned about your sexual orientation."

The intent of the policy is to specifically discharge those members of the armed forces who are discovered to be homosexual, due to the fear that their "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."