Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Lately, there has been a lot of discussion about gays in the military. What is the issue with having homosexuals in the military? Why are so many people objected to it? And what is this thing everyone keeps talking about, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”
There is a history behind this act of discrimination. It started in the early 20th century when there was intolerance for African-Americans to fight in war, continuing back from the Civil War in 1861. Later on in history around the mid 1900’s this law was reversed and African-Americans were allowed to fight in war. In the 1980’s, the topic of homosexuals came up, and ideas started to become intense. The military made a policy that gays are not allowed to serve in the army. Several important military members came out publicly and announced their homosexuality and attempted to fight this law through the legal system. In 1980, when the government banned gays, there were approximately 17,000 men and women found to be gay in the armed forces. That means that about 20% of men and women in the military were not even allowed to defend their own country in the 1980’s.
How can a country ban human beings from defending their own country just because their hormones react in a different way than others? A country that demands a democracy, freedom of speech, and free rights will not even allow men and women to fight just because of their sexual orientation!? What does it matter what their private preferences are, or what they do when not on duty? There is no reason for this country to care about the personal life and the sexual life of a normal person who is asking no more than to help defend this country.
As said by an anonymous YULA student, “Gays should be allowed to fight, as long as they are doing what they are supposed to be doing while on duty.” Whether this person is correct or not, who says that a gay will misappropriate any more than any other heterosexual?
In 1993, Congress passed a law proposed by then President Bill Clinton stating that as long as it is not publicly announced, gays can fight in the military; this legislation is known as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT).
According to DADT, in order for a gay to fight in the military, their homosexuality cannot become known publicly, and if it is, they are immediately forbidden from the army.
According to the Service Members Legal Defense Network’s website (http://www.sldn.org/pages/about-dadt), most people, in the military and around the country, do not mind there being gays either fighting alongside them or for them. For the few that do not want gays fighting with them, it is for reasons such as feeling uncomfortable showering next to a gay person, or if there is any need to huddle in a field for warmth. DADT is in a hot topic of conversation now. Democrats and Republicans have been voting, but have not been able to come up with a final verdict on repealing DADT or not.
There are many politicians that are in favor of repealing DADT, including Barack Obama who stated as a campaign promise, “I will end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” According to Barack Obama and many politicians, repealing DADT will give the right for gays to be open about their homosexuality in the military -- like it should have been all along! The repeal of DADT will finally end a long history of discrimination in the army that should never have started in the first place.