The Hidden Effects of "Don't Ask Don’t Tell"

Posted by Abe Forman-Greenwald, Brave New Foundation at 3:00 PM on June 23, 2009.

When President Obama recently chose Sonia Sotomayor as his Supreme Court nominee, he singled out her "practical understanding of how the law works in the everyday lives of the American people." It is now time for Obama to apply that standard to the families of gays and lesbians who choose to serve in the United States military. A practical understanding of the effects of "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" on the partners of gay service members would quickly reveal its failures.

As a producer of the documentary series In Their Boots, I have been privileged to meet a number of recent veterans and their families.  These vets face many complex issues to which there are no easy solutions. From a lack of mental health resources to the struggles of integrating back into civilian society, there are difficult policy choices that must be made in order to best serve our nation’s veterans and their families. However, one issue facing military families has a clear and obvious solution. By repealing "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell," our government could allow gay service members to communicate with their loved ones openly while on deployment, and it would save millions of dollars currently wasted by discharging essential military personnel during wartime. How’s that for a 2 for 1 deal?

Many people, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have advised the president to hold off on repealing "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" because "we’ve got a lot on our plates right now." I don’t think that’s a good enough answer for the gay or lesbian partner who cannot openly communicate with a loved one currently deployed overseas. That’s not a good enough answer for the civilian partners who would not be notified by the military in the event that their loved ones were injured or killed.

Nobody knows how many committed gay and lesbian partners there are here at home waiting for their loved ones to return. They are forced to remain silent and invisible—by law. These partners have made great sacrifices, along with all other military families, and must be given the rights to which they are entitled. Any practical understanding of the effects of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” would reveal that the law is ineffective, inequitable, and should be repealed immediately.
 

Tagged as: iraq, gays, military, afghanistan, lesbians, barack obama, homosexuality, don't ask don't tell, in their boots