Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Twenty-eight years ago I joined the Navy right out of high school. When I joined, the last three questions you were asked before you signed on the dotted line where as follows:

1. Are you currently using illegal drugs?
2. Are you a homosexual?
3. Have you knowingly lied about any part of your application?

If you answered yes to any of them you were disqualified on the spot.  At the time I was 17 years old and the three questions seemed straight forward and basic, and they had no impact on my life one way or another.

I seriously didn't think twice about them because I thought they were stupid questions. Of course I was also not using drugs and I am heterosexual so it was not a big deal either. I also came from a fairly small farming community and we never even really discussed people who were gay, it was just assumed that everyone was straight. Although that was not true, it was just assumed. In basic training we had three people removed from our unit because there was either a question of their sexuality, or they admitted they were Gay and they were processed and discharged. So out of the original 80 people there were three known people removed because of a part of their life they could not control.

Again, at the time, I was young, fairly naive, and it didn't seem like a big deal because, in my mind, they already knew it was against the rules and they joined anyway, so it was all their fault.

Youth and stupidity are wonderful things.

As time moved on I started attending schools in the military. They were pretty intensive, and they had fairly high failure rates so people were washing out left and right. Occasionally there was a student who was just no longer in your class. You never really knew if they failed out, they were busted for drug use,  or were removed for another reason. You also knew not to question it, because in the military when it came to sexuality, the suggestion that you may be gay, or fraternized with known Gays, would possibly cause an investigation that could end your career. Unlike in the real world, in the military you are guilty and treated so until it is proven otherwise.

You also didn't jokingly call someone Gay in an official setting, because you just never knew who would take it wrong and there we are back to the previous sentence. Later I moved out to a deployment. I was stationed on a small ship, the USS Knox (since decommissioned) and there were around 250 of us who lived together in very close quarters. If you play with math you know the odds are in a group of that size, from a set of guys who comes from all over, there is a very good chance a few of your shipmates were Gay.

The government has something that is required to be posted on various walls on every military installation, it is a large poster marked as Articles of the UCMJ(Uniform Code of Military Justice). This is a listing of rules, above and beyond the laws enforced in the civilian world, that all active military personnel are required to abide by. Normally they were placed on the wall near a chow hall or bathroom where you could read them while you were waiting around in line with time to kill. In the military homosexuality is considered a violation of the UCMJ Article 125, which states:

Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense. Elements.

1. That the accused engaged in unnatural carnal copulation with a certain other person or with an animal. (Note: Add either or both of the following elements, if applicable)
2. That the act was done with a child under the age of 16.
3. That the act was done by force and without the consent of the other person.

Explanation. It is unnatural carnal copulation for a person to take into that person’s mouth or anus the sexual organ of another person or of an animal; or to place that person’s sexual organ in the mouth or anus of another person or of an animal; or to have carnal copulation in any opening of the body, except the sexual parts, with another person; or to have carnal copulation with an animal.

It almost feels like a large portion of that article was written for a very specific purpose; To make it legal to openly persecute homosexuals. With the exception of pedophilia, or being caught engaging in non-missionary position sexual activity in a public location, this article is rarely enforced against the straight community. The noticeable exception is when a divorce goes bad and the spouse of the service member wants to ruin their career too.

So. What do you do if you find that someone you work with, confide in, rely upon, lay your life on the line for every day, is Gay? Well, if it was up to the military you would immediately turn them in, and they would give you a nice pat on the back. In reality. You ignore the situation and never bring it up with that person. Why? Because it is none of your damn business. Well, and this is someone you rely upon to back you up, and you basically trusted them with your life.

This was also long before the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was enacted. I know several of people I was stationed with were definitely Gay or Lesbian. This was never mentioned to them, and the topic was never broached in normal conversation.

I am certain most of the people around them where pretty certain they were Gay too, but the same rule applied. Why did no one turn them in? Because they did their job and they did it well, just like everyone else. In fact in most cases if someone was brought up on charges it was because they slipped up in a very public way and there was no way to ignore it. Now, anyone who has ever served in the military already knows for a fact there are Gays and Lesbians actively serving our country. It has been that way for years, and it will be that way no matter what laws or rules they come up with that state otherwise.

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule just made it easier for people around them to not have to report them. Basically it gave their friends, co-workers, and superiors the defense of saying "They never told me they were Gay."

It was major step in the right direction, but it was not a solution to the actually problem.

It actually did nothing for the rights of the Gay service members. It was not called "Do not Investigate, Do not Infringe Upon."

Many members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered) Community do want to serve their country, and are willing to put their lives on the line to defend the freedoms of our country; but they are told they are unwanted because they will ruin the morale of those around them, or they will put others at risk because of their sexual preferences, or my favorite, people will let them get injured because they are Gay.

That is a load of crap.

It's amazing how such narrow mindedness is allowed to be public policy to this day. We have openly Gay politicians. Openly Gay congressmen. Openly Gay doctors,  lawyers, teachers, musicians, actors, and yes even clergy. But, Gay soldiers, sailors, and airmen are going to cause the downfall of society.

Allowing openly Gay people to serve will not weaken the military, it will strengthen it by allowing people who already serve, but every day have to hide who they are to themselves and everyone around them to step forward and be more part of the military family.

Ironically the same arguments they used to keep women from serving in the military not so long ago, are being used to keep openly Gay people from serving  today. In fact, they are raising even a bigger stink about Gays than they did women.

Anyone who is Gay, or has close Gay friends in their lives know that homosexuality is not a choice, it's not a disease, or mental illness. It is just who they are.

They no more chose to be Gay, than I chose to be straight.