Navy Times Editorial Blasts “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” Policy As “Failed”...

Navy Times Glenn A. LeCarl December 5, 2006 06:45 PM


Navy Times Glenn A. LeCarl December 5, 2006 06:45 PM

Excerpted from an editorial by Glenn A. LeCarl, a member of Naval Academy Alumni Association, published in the December 11, 2006 edition of the Navy Times:

"With "don't ask" under scrutiny, alumni group should take lead"

Members of the Navy and Marine Corps community who have watched from a
distance the Naval Academy Alumni Association rebuff lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered alumni may want to start paying closer
attention. This defacto "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and the insular
approach behind it, impacts not just this gay alumnus but the association,
academy and the sea services.

That DADT is a failed policy, and an untenable one as well, is reflected
in the Defense Department's ongoing struggle to meet recruitment goals. In
this time of war, the absurdity of discharging otherwise qualified
military personnel, including those in critical fields, solely because of
their LGBT identity, and discouraging thousands of others from seeking
military service, is plain. Moreover, any official policy predicated on
one group's inequality will not stand.

The ground beneath this current policy has already shifted. A solid
majority of Americans, according to numerous polls, believe lesbians and
gays (unfortunately, bisexual and transgendered people are not normally
specified in poll results) should be allowed to serve openly. In the newly
elected Congress, bipartisan support for DADT's repeal will grow. Cook v.
Rumsfeld, a constitutional challenge filed in 2004 by the Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network on behalf of 12 service members discharged under
DADT, is also moving forward. And as Americans witness the despicable
protests occurring at military funerals, borne of anti-LGBT bigotry,
remaining support for DADT is likely to erode further.
From Navy Times.

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