DADT Sucks!

In the last couple of weeks, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy has made the headlines as it seems that everyday the U.S. army is losing more valuable people simply because they're gay, as if the military could afford to.

• first a linguist in Arabic, Dan Choi was fired after announcing that he was gay on television. The reason for firing him was that he had "negatively affected good order and discipline in the New York Army National Guard" (ABC News)

.. as if the army had too many translaters of arabic to start with.

• Then, even more troubling is the case of Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, a F-15 fighter pilot with nine air medals, including the medal of heroism. The reason why it's more troubling is that it is a cruel situation - this man served for 18 years and was only 2 years away from full retirement. Because of this discharge, he will not even qualify for retirement benefits. (Air Force News)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell is more than 15 years old, society has changed and it is time to repeal that law. I understand that Obama made that promise in his campaign. I also understand that the Obama administration has a lot on his hands, and I can even understand that the president wants to change the law through regular channels (by asking Congress to repal it) for the long run - and clearly that's a break from the previous administration that ignored the law. However, in this particular case, it seems a but of urgency to at least stop implementing it until it has been reviewed.

Jon Stewart had the best argument to give those conservatives hung up on this principle that gays cannot be in the military - play the fear factor, it'll work.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
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