Tuesday, November 30, 2010

It's time

It’s time for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to finally take its place alongside Jim Crow laws, segregation and anti-miscegenation laws in the dustbin of history.

The American public supports allowing gay troops to serve openly by 58% to 27% against.  The survey of the military about to be released shows that 70% of those serving say that repeal will have positive, no or mixed results.

We all know that there are currently thousands of gay troops risking their lives every day for America.  We also know that thousands of hard-working, valuable troops have been thrown out of the armed services because of this stupid law.  Forcing them to live a lie in order to serve their country is a violation of their civil rights and morally wrong.  Dozens of countries around the world, including most of our allies, allow gay troops to serve openly without incident.

The only thing that stands in the way of repeal is the Republican party which, despite the clear majorities across the board in favor of repeal, clings to their bigotry.  They trot out the same tired arguments about unit cohesion and morale, without any facts to back them up.  They claim to represent the “will of the people” but ignore what everyone is saying but their narrow, homosexual-hating base.  In the future John McCain will be spoken of in the same way as George Wallace, a staunch defender of antiquated, bigoted policies long after everyone else realized what was right and just.

There is no rational reason for continuing this policy.  The American people don’t want it.  The military doesn’t want it.  The military leaders don’t want it.

So get rid of the damn thing.

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