Wednesday was Veteran’s Day. It’s a wonderful holiday and one that I wish we all could take a little more time to appreciate. Our service men and women give a lot for us; they work hard for us and tragically, sometimes they die for us. All men and women who dedicate their lives to service to their country deserve to be recognized for the great contribution they have made to our livelihoods and to the place we call home. We should all pause and take a moment to reflect on our veterans and the great sacrifices they make for our country.
However, I also want to take this time to recognize those who have attempted to make that commitment to our country but have been ousted due to an unfair and discriminatory practice currently employed by our military.
I’m talking about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, a 1993 law passed by President Bill Clinton which requires the discharge of any openly gay, lesbian or bisexual service members. According to the Service Members Legal Defense Network Web site, more than 13,500 service members have been discharged under the law since 1994.
In a time when we are fighting two wars overseas, there is no reason for us to be turning away capable men and women. This is especially true at a time when U.S. military leaders have declared that a troop surge of up to 40,000 more service men and women to Afghanistan is needed. It is an outrage that there are people who want only to serve their country but are denied because of a ridiculous, outdated, discriminatory law.
To ask anyone to make that choice—the choice between being true to oneself and showing the world who you are, and the choice of serving your country—is completely unfair. There are those under the current policy who still choose to serve, but to do so they must live in a constant veil of secrecy. During downtime they must be careful who sees them out with their significant other. They must use caution when holding hands in public or stopping to share a sweet kiss while waiting for the bus.
We as Americans laud ourselves as living in the land of the free, the home of the brave. We believe ourselves to be a tolerant country and yet we force people who are not only our own citizens but also those who wish to serve us in the greatest way possible to hide who they are. How is that tolerant?
One of the bravest things I believe a person can do is to go up against societal norms and traditional expectations to be true to themselves. A land that is truly free wouldn’t tell someone that he or she cannot both be true to him or herself and serve his or her country. How can it be that the land of the free and the home of the brave is both not so free nor do we seem to truly appreciate some of the bravest persons?
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell should never have been enacted. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. It is time to truly respect our servicemen and women, no matter their ethnicity, creed, religion, or sexual orientation. The law is a blight upon our military and our country’s reputation.
Thankfully there are many dedicated people across the country who are working hard to end this injustice. I urge you to help them in any way you can. I urge you to speak up against the law. I urge you to write your politicians across the board to support a repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
You can go here to find out who your senators are and to write them e-mails or letters urging them to fight to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. You can also support the Service Members Legal Defense Network, which provides free legal service to LGBT service members, by making a donation.
We need to end discrimination now and repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is one of the first steps toward accomplishing that goal.
Contact CU Independent Opinion Editor Ellie Bean at Beanee@colorado.edu.
