Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal

     Don't Ask, Don't Tell is at last being repealed. CNN had a nice video (above) about the history of the policy, which was started under President Clinton as a compromise to let gays and lesbians serve in the military. Repealing the policy is obviously a step forward, because any kind of law that treats a group of people differently is simply unfair and unjust.
     The main support of Don't Ask, Don't Tell comes from apparently homophobic troops that say they would be uncomfortable with gays openly serving, and would potentially leave the armed forces because of it. At least one survey showed about a third of the troops held this view, which lead to worries that repealing the policy would weaken the armed forces.
     First of all, a third of the armed forces leaving over this seems very unrealistic and secondly, even if they did, repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell is still the right thing to do. Our troops are meant to defend freedom, and if our own troops aren't free to serve as who they are, what is the point?

     Lastly, I'd like to offer a personal anecdote for current soldiers or potential soldiers that may be worried about this. In High School, I was on the wrestling team (Greco-Roman), and more than one guy told me they wouldn't want to wrestle because it was too gay. I CAN ASSURE YOU the last thing you are thinking about while struggling to pin your opponent is how gay it is. I should hope this would be the same for troops. A uniformed solider is a professional, and they have a job to do. In a line of work as stressful as that, sexuality should be the last thing on a solider's mind, gay and straight alike.

Original Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/21/military.dadt/index.html?hpt=hp_t1