A laudable vote

Opinion: June 11, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Kathi Wolfe

McClatchy-Tribune

I applaud Congress’s recent historic votes to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the 17-year-old policy that prohibits openly gay men and lesbians to serve in the military.

On May 27, the House of Representatives voted 234-194 to overturn this policy. That same day, the Senate Armed Services Committee, by a vote of 16-12, moved the bill to the full Senate, which will take it up in the next few weeks.

First step

These historic votes are only a first step toward removing this unjust policy that requires gay and lesbian service members to keep their sexual orientation hidden.

The repeal won’t take effect until 60 days after the Pentagon delivers a report on Dec. 1 on how integrating openly gay men and lesbians would impact our armed forces.

Then, President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs head Adm. Mike Mullen would have to certify that repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” wouldn’t harm the military.

Since its inception in 1993, the policy has led to the cruel dismissal of more than 13,000 gay and lesbian service members, not because they were bad soldiers but because they chose to be forthright about who they were.

Mullen put it best when, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year, he said: “I cannot escape being troubled that we have ... a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

Times change

In 1993, when “don’t ask, don’t tell” was implemented, only 44 percent of Americans supported gay men and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. Today, 75 percent of Americans support repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” according to a 2008 ABC News/ Washington Post poll.

If soldiers are willing to sacrifice their lives for us, the least we can do is permit them to be open about who they are.

Kathi Wolfe is a writer for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.