Better Late Than Never...
On Saturday, Aug 4th, Joe Sestak and 4 other Democratic Congressmen joined the other 126 co-sponsors of a bill to end the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The new bill, H.R. 1246, The Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2007 now has 131 co-sponsors.
The purpose of this Act is to institute in the Armed Forces a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation.
In other words, to stop kicking out valuable soldiers from the military just because they may happen to be gay. Prior to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the policy was open discrimination and bigotry where soldiers could be interogated about their sexual preferences and removed. The current policy prohibits a direct investigation, but still requires gay soldiers to hide who they are, and is quite simply: "Un-American". Unfortunately, in the 1990's, it was the best policy that progressives could get past the bigots.
Even today, the military classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Maybe they should classify bigotry as a mental disorder.
Not long ago, 55 Arabic translators were discharged from the military once their orientation was uncovered. One in particular had his emails read during a routine fishing expedition looking for fraud in some department. This translator hadn't been asked and hadn't told, but was discharged just the same (and he WANTS to serve). These translators are crucial to the safety of soldiers in Iraq because they translate insurgent communications about ambushes and road-side bombs. There was information about 9/11 that didn't get translated until 9/12 because we were short-handed.
As John Stewart put it on the Daily Show: "Some people rather would rather be killed by a terrorist than saved by a gay hero."
The vast majority of the current generation of soldiers, most under 25, don't have a problem with gays serving openly (and many of them have shown integrity by not ratting out their fellow soldiers). There are still some old homophobic bigots running the show that are preventing progress, but, hey, they can't live forever (just like the slave owners).
It is long past time that the current institutionalized discrimination was abolished.
Back to Joe....
While I had hoped Joe would have been one of the original co-sponsors, I have even greater hopes that his involvment and military credentials will provide some movement on this issue in Congress. For some, it may raise their awareness, for others they may be inspired by Joe example, and a craven few may simple use Joe as political cover to justify support to their less-progressive constituents.
Whatever gets the job done.
Though I still feel very strongly against Joe's Iraq vote last May, I am pleased that Joe is getting it right with his support of a bill that truly honors the soldiers and improves their security.
The purpose of this Act is to institute in the Armed Forces a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation.
In other words, to stop kicking out valuable soldiers from the military just because they may happen to be gay. Prior to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the policy was open discrimination and bigotry where soldiers could be interogated about their sexual preferences and removed. The current policy prohibits a direct investigation, but still requires gay soldiers to hide who they are, and is quite simply: "Un-American". Unfortunately, in the 1990's, it was the best policy that progressives could get past the bigots.
Even today, the military classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Maybe they should classify bigotry as a mental disorder.
Not long ago, 55 Arabic translators were discharged from the military once their orientation was uncovered. One in particular had his emails read during a routine fishing expedition looking for fraud in some department. This translator hadn't been asked and hadn't told, but was discharged just the same (and he WANTS to serve). These translators are crucial to the safety of soldiers in Iraq because they translate insurgent communications about ambushes and road-side bombs. There was information about 9/11 that didn't get translated until 9/12 because we were short-handed.
As John Stewart put it on the Daily Show: "Some people rather would rather be killed by a terrorist than saved by a gay hero."
The vast majority of the current generation of soldiers, most under 25, don't have a problem with gays serving openly (and many of them have shown integrity by not ratting out their fellow soldiers). There are still some old homophobic bigots running the show that are preventing progress, but, hey, they can't live forever (just like the slave owners).
It is long past time that the current institutionalized discrimination was abolished.
Back to Joe....
While I had hoped Joe would have been one of the original co-sponsors, I have even greater hopes that his involvment and military credentials will provide some movement on this issue in Congress. For some, it may raise their awareness, for others they may be inspired by Joe example, and a craven few may simple use Joe as political cover to justify support to their less-progressive constituents.
Whatever gets the job done.
Though I still feel very strongly against Joe's Iraq vote last May, I am pleased that Joe is getting it right with his support of a bill that truly honors the soldiers and improves their security.
2 Comments:
I was at a meet-n-greet with Joe the first week after he entered the race. He was asked a question about his stance on Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell, and it was clear at the time that he was in favor of a policy of non-discrimination.
Whatever the reason for his slight delay, I'm pretty certain that it didn't have to do with disagreement with the concept. Joe's very specific and detailed about language, and he may have been trying to influence some arcane bit of wording for all we know.
Daddy D-
I'm sure Joe didn't disagree with the concept. My surprise at his delay was mostly due to how he made a specific point early in his campaign against the current policy. I read the bill. It's one of the least arcane. It even prohibits discrimination against heterosexuality (which is pretty sharp and never would have occurred to me to include).
Shortly after Joe's Iraq vote, I actually did send his office a letter asking Joe to step up on this issue because I felt it would increase troop security. I really would have liked to have seen it attached to that Iraq spending bill. I think the Republicans would have choked on that one. Maybe Joe can get it attached to the next funding bill in September.
We cut Federal funding to all sorts of organizations that engage in this kind of discrimination. Why should the military be exempt when they are spending our tax dollars and causing greater peril to our troops by discharging essential personnel?
As for why Joe chose to get in now, it really doesn't matter, since he is in and it may lead to others coming on board.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home