Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Written By:
Eleanor Sciannella

Assistant Editor

Published:
Nov. 09 2009

In a recent article in the Washington Post, “I Didn’t Tell. It Didn’t Matter.” an ex-Navy member recounts his experience as a gay man in the Middle East. Joseph Rocha describes how much he loves his country, and how he worked to become a part of a military unit that worked with dogs and explosives. He thought that under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy, as long as he did not say that he was gay or break any rules, then he would be safe. It turns out that he was completely wrong. The conversations within the unit revolved around prostitutes and the latest parties.

When Rocha did not take part in this talk, they assumed that he was homosexual. This resulted in all kinds of emotional and physical abuse. Some of the more grotesque forms of abuse included simulating oral sex during a practice training scenario and sitting in a feces-filled dog kennel. The DADT policy was created during the Clinton administration in 1993 as a compromise between those who wanted to keep gays and lesbians out of the military and those who wanted them to be able to serve. It prevents military officials from performing investigations into the sexuality of people who may be gay. If someone explicitly says that they are gay or lesbian, then they will be discharged from the military. The policy supposedly “protects” gays and lesbians, but it also protects bigots and abusers. Gays and lesbians do not have rights in the military. For example, Rocha knew of a heterosexual woman who said she was a victim of sexual abuse, but the offender was a friend of the chief, so instead of punishing him, the chief said that he had heard that the woman was a lesbian. One cannot sexually assault someone who does not exist. There have been discussions of repealing the DADT policy within the Obama administration.

Obama has made many promises to the gay/lesbian community that he plans to repeal the policy, but has yet to come up with a timeline of how and when this will happen. It is in the best interest of the military, those serving and the country as a whole for this policy to be repealed. How can the military expect to win wars if their personnel are too busy hazing others in their unit? The military cannot expect to recruit the numbers they need if horror stories like Rocha’s continue to surface. It takes a really cold-hearted person to want to fight for an institution that allows these things to take place. To be successful, the military must keep the moral of their soldiers up and love for the country strong. It is amazing that Rocha still wants to serve his country after the nightmare he lived through.

The military cannot expect that this will be the same for every gay or lesbian soldier who experiences this. Besides the obvious ethic reason for repealing the policy, the military simply cannot afford to treat their gay and lesbian members in this manner. In a live online discussion about his article, Rocha reveals that the country cannot shell out another 363 million dollars to uphold the policy any longer and cannot lose the 13,000 high skilled troops if there were to discharge all the gay or lesbian members.

It is a mystery why the military would refuse to admit thousands of people to fight for them solely based on their sexual orientation. Rocha also says that research shows that unit cohesion is not affected by the inclusion of gays and lesbians. The military therefore has no real basis for an argument against allowing open gays and lesbians to serve in the military.