Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Generally speaking I don't like to post more than one post a day, but since I doubt anyone is reading this blog except for my friends, love you guys ^_^, and as sometimes happens an issue has come up that makes me rather upset and I feel the need to write to get my anger out. The issue tonight is Don't Ask, Don't Tell America's insane policy on gays and lesbians in the military. Hold on to your seats kiddies as I once again get political on you!

Let me start off by saying that I think America, as a nation, spends far to much on the military. We take money away from education and other things our society is lacking in and give it our military, which to me isn't right. We are spending TONS of money on a war in Iraq that is unjust, started by a "president" that never should have been the president to begin with and that we should get out of ASAP because of those two reasons. I do understand the NEED to have a military in order to protect our country, but the amount we spend on ours is absurd and we should be spending that money on things like education, which this country is lacking in pretty much EVERY category! Having said all that, I also believe that EVERYONE should have the right to serve in the military if they wish. As the situation stands now, some people aren't allowed to serve.

Gays and lesbians can't serve if they are honest with who they are. They can lie and stay in the closet and be allowed in, but this involves a life of secrecy and fear. In the documentary called Ask Not a former soldier talked about how when she went out with her girlfriend to dinner, she had to look around the restaurant to make sure there was no one she knew. If there was and they saw them, she ran the risk of being turned in for "homosexually conduct". This to me is absolute BULLSHIT!

Don't Ask, Don't Tell or DADT was put into place by president Bill Clinton because, in my opinion, he caved to pressure from the right wing of this country. He regrets putting the law into place today accord to the documentary, which shows a voice over of him saying just that to an interviewer. He should have just done what Harry Truman did in 1948, when he signed an executive order saying that African Americans would be allowed in the military no matter what and not be segregated, Clinton should have done the same thing only for gays and lesbians! Basically saying FUCK YOU to everyone who thinks that it is wrong. But no he caved, and put into law something he would later regret. A lot of the support for DADT comes from the argument that gays and lesbians would cause problems with the unity of the military. This is proven wrong by the other countries that ALLOW gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.

There are 25 countries that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly. They are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay. And NONE of them seem to have ANY issues specifically about gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. In fact most people in these countries, as is the cause here in America, don't GIVE A FLYING FUCK whether they are fighting with openly gay people in the military. According to the film 70% of soldiers in THIS country could give a rats ass if someone is gay and serving with them in the military and yet we still have this INSANE law!

The U.S. military is loosing a large portion of the best and brightest because this law exists. People who are ready, willing and able to fight and possible die for this country are being lost everyday because of "homosexual conduct". There are reports everyday about recruiting numbers NOT being where the military wants them to be. Hmmm, let me think how we could possibly help FIX this problem........Let every single gay or lesbian person who wants to serve openly as a gay or lesbian soldier join?!? Yeah, pretty sure that would at the very least HELP, if not fix the problem completely! Why are we denying people the right to join the military? Other countries have already proven the stupidity of the right wings lead argument, so why are we still having this problem?

I want our president to have the courage to do what Harry Trueman did in 1948. Say fuck you to all the ignorant, stupid people in this country and sign an executive order TELLING the military that they will accept gays and lesbians who are open about who they are! DADT is an INSANE law that NEEDS to go!