John Bolton on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell:' "People Can Have Any Sexual Orientation They Want"

Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress at 12:00 PM on September 29, 2009.

Appearing on the radio show "Stand Up with Pete Dominick" yesterday, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton tried hard to avoid giving his personal opinion on whether “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” should be repealed. "You know, I honestly have not thought through all of the implications on that. It’s not an issue I have opined on," he said, adding, "I don’t have a specific opinion on it." Dominick pressed Bolton:

DOMINICK: Couldn’t one just simply say that we’re compromising our national security without allowing experts to serve in our military – Arabic linguists and weapons experts – just because of their sexual orientation?

BOLTON: I don’t have any trouble with anyone having any sexual orientation that they want. How that specifically relates to military personnel policy, I have not thought specifically about, and I like to think about things before I opine on the subject.

Audio after the jump...

Bolton generally doesn’t spend much time deliberating whether to send troops into conflicts (such as Iran, North Korea, and Somalia), but when it comes to the sexual orientation of those soldiers, he needs time to think about it.

Tagged as: bush, un, john bolton, don't ask don't tell, u.s. military, ambassador to the un

Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report.