Don’t ask, Don’t tell

Melanie Slocum
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

On Dec. 17, 2010 the Senate voted to repeal the 17-year-old Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, which prohibited the LGBT community from serving openly in the military.

The act prohibited any openly gay or lesbian service members from being asked about their sexual relationships and marriages and also banned LGBT service members from telling others about their sexual orientation. The repeal reflects the federal government’s intention to make sexual orientation less taboo in the military.

The Senate’s 65-30 vote on the policy was preceded by the House’s vote of 250-175 on Dec. 16. Censure circulated through Capitol Hill as Republicans and Democrats debated the effectiveness of the policy and its constitutional alignment. Both California senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein voted in favor of the repeal. San Diego’s congressional representatives Brian Bilbray (R-50), Duncan Hunter (R-52), and Darrell Issa (R-49) voted against the repeal while representatives Susan Davis (D-53) and Bob Filner (D-51) voted in favor of it.

The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy was met with slews of constitutional challenges and political warfare during its 17 year run.

Much recent attention to the policy was brought forth by California native and former First Lieutenant, Dan Choi, who was discharged from the military after coming out during an interview on The Rachel Maddow Show. Lt. Choi argued in an open letter to Congress and President Obama that the policy was unconstitutional and actually hindered military effectiveness, “My subordinates know I’m gay. They don’t care. They are professional.”

The policy was originally supported by the idea that the presence of openly homosexual members in the military would pose risks to the order, morale, and cohesiveness in the military atmosphere. However, over 17 years, many like Lt. Choi have worked to discredit this idea and instead argue that forcing service members to lie about their identity created more of a hindrance on military effectiveness and morality while simultaneously perpetuating the same moral problem the policy was intended to diminish.

However, the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy has not been made official. Though the repeal was passed in both the Senate and the House, and President Obama has signed it into law, the bill requires that the president, Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must each certify that the bill will not detract from military readiness. From there, the military has 60 days to officially implement the repeal.

Local San Diego Representative Duncan Hunter has introduced the Restore Military Readiness Act which would require additional signatures for the repeal’s implementation. This could potentially threaten the fate of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal by slowing down its implementation and extending the status quo. While the congressional passage of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal has slowly opened closet doors for many homosexual service members, it might still be a matter of time before they are able to take the first step out.