Don't ask, don't tell, policy - Essay Example

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy Due to the amount of protesting that the United s has seen in regard to the rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, the infamous Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy in the United States military has become one of the most controversial policies. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy, also known as DADT, is a policy that forbids the United States military from attempting to ascertain or reveal if any of its members or applicants consider themselves to be something other than heterosexual.

Furthermore, this policy allows them to deny people that are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from participating or acting in military service (Loverde, 2010). One of the greatest arguments against this policy is in regard to what an individual’s sexual orientation has to do with serving in the United States military. Being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is not a physical anomaly or something mental or psychological that would prevent that person from performing their military duties to the best of their ability.

It is a way of life, but not something that effects how a person lives or serves their country. As such, a person’s sexual orientation should not be considered when a person is trying to join the military to fight for the freedom of their people, a concept which is seen as almost hypocritical: people of the gay community are not free to be themselves when wanting to join the military, yet the purpose of the military is to continue to fight for the freedom of people that are still oppressed, which can be seen as the gay community in the eyes of the United States military.

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy is among one of the most discriminatory policies in existence in the United States. In a country that prides itself on openness, acceptance, and diversity, the military fails at displaying many of these concepts (Belkin & Bateman, 2003). Bluntly stated, the United States military sexually discriminates every time that an openly gay, lesbian or bisexual individual makes it know that they want to join the military, though this accusation is often denied and a nonsense excuse is made up as to why people open about their orientation should not be in the military.

The most favorable of these excuses is the living arrangements, with the military being concerned about the comfort of its members should an openly gay person join their ranks and their close living quarters. It should be none of the military’s concern what the sexual beliefs of their members are, just as long as they are physically, mentally and emotionally fit enough to be at war. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy has seen its days in court as people try to fight against such a ridiculous policy.

Many polls have also been undergone and the results speak for themselves. 75% of Americans believe that openly gay people should be given the same right to serve in the military; 37% feel that the policy is much too harsh; and 57% of Americans favor gays serving openly (Cohen & Dropp, 2008). If they want to stand up for what they believe in, and this includes both being openly gay and in the concept of freedom for all humanity, then there should be nothing to stop them. If a person wants to fight for their country, their sexual orientation should not be the one thing to hold them back.

They want to serve their country, yet they are being denied the opportunity because they have different sexual beliefs than others. Sexual orientation serves no purpose to the fighting of wars and the obtaining of freedom. The United States military stands for freedom for all, and that includes for the people that do not live within the United States or are not citizens of this country. While this is a great goal and something definitely worth fighting for, the United States military should also focus a little more on what is closer to home: the oppression of its gay, lesbian and bisexual community.

Works CitedBelkin, Aaron, and Geoffrey Bateman. Dont Ask, Dont Tell: Debating the Gay Ban in the Military. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003. Print.Dropp, Kyle, and Jon Cohen. "Acceptance of Gay People in Military Grows Dramatically." Washington Post. N.p., 19 July 2008. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. .Loverde, Anthony. A Silent Force: Men and Women Serving Under Dont Ask, Dont Tell. New York, NY: AuthorHouse, 2010. Print.