Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The Senate voted to repeal DADT Saturday, with both Sen. Pryor and Sen. Lincoln voting yes. The bill now goes to President Obama because the House has already voted for repeal. In Arkansas, Rep. Snyder voted for repeal while Reps. Boozman and Rep. Ross voted not. Rep. Berry, who apparently has checked out of his office early, did not vote.

My position on DADT has been pretty firm: This should be primarily a military issue and not a moral/social one. If the military supports the ban, uphold it. If the military supports repeal, repeal it. It’s hypocritical and cowardly for the rest of us to dictate this policy from our air-conditioned ivory white towers.

That said, I don’t think the military has come to enough of a consensus to warrant a change. The Marine Corps is definitely against it. Moreover, Democrats should not have pushed through the matter during a lame-duck session.

That would mean that, with Republicans controlling the House, DADT would not be repealed no matter what the military wants. But the voters have spoken, and elections have consequences.

3 thoughts on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

  1. Interesting point, but I wonder what consensus means in terms of total percentages… is 60% of enlisted men saying overturning DADT would have no adverse effect a consensus, 70%; 80%?

    Also, if we used that logic and we needed clear consensus among military leaders before making a change, at what point would the military have been integrated… probably not during the Truman administration.

  2. Hello, my friend. I don’t know how you define “consensus.” I thought this was a little short of that. But it’s obvious that a consensus inevitably will be reached.

  3. Regardless of how we define consensus, I’m gratified that at last this unjust policy has been repealed and gay men and women don’t have to be dishonest about who they are to serve in the military (and it will be good to have some of Arabic linguists who had been discharged under DADT back and serving).

    Hope you’re having a good January so far.

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