How about let's don't "don't ask, don't tell"
Today was a good day for civil rights. Today the military's "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy died. It's not official yet; President Obama still has to sign it into law. But it has cleared both houses of Congress, and that's pretty awesome.
It's hard to remember, but DADT was actually a fairly progressive law when it first went into effect 17 years ago. Before 1993, homosexuals were investigated and thrown out of the armed forces with impunity. In an effort to end the witch hunts, Congress and President Clinton compromised and enacted DADT. Under this policy, military leaders could not ask a soldier's sexual orientation and the soldier was forbidden to disclose it. If a soldier came out of the closet, then it was game on for the military's Cotton Matherses. Almost 13,500 soldiers have been discharged since 1993.
I am not at all surprised DADT was repealed. Like every other method of discriminating against homosexuals, it existed on borrowed time. It was on the wrong side of history. Although America is a center-right country in the short term, it is progressive in the long term. It might take a while (longer than many would like), but we get it mostly right eventually. Not perfect, but mostly right.
It's hard to remember, but DADT was actually a fairly progressive law when it first went into effect 17 years ago. Before 1993, homosexuals were investigated and thrown out of the armed forces with impunity. In an effort to end the witch hunts, Congress and President Clinton compromised and enacted DADT. Under this policy, military leaders could not ask a soldier's sexual orientation and the soldier was forbidden to disclose it. If a soldier came out of the closet, then it was game on for the military's Cotton Matherses. Almost 13,500 soldiers have been discharged since 1993.
I am not at all surprised DADT was repealed. Like every other method of discriminating against homosexuals, it existed on borrowed time. It was on the wrong side of history. Although America is a center-right country in the short term, it is progressive in the long term. It might take a while (longer than many would like), but we get it mostly right eventually. Not perfect, but mostly right.