Chicago Tribune Editorial: Dump ‘don’t ask’ - The military can handle the challenge of admitting gays

Chicago Tribune Editorial: Dump ‘don’t ask’ - The military can handle the challenge of admitting gays
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
March 8, 2010
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-gays-20100308,0,7729885.story


Some of the nation's highest military officers have a difference of opinion on a major issue of government policy.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has come out in favor of repealing the Pentagon policy that bars open homosexuals from serving in the ranks, as proposed by President Barack Obama. The Army and Air Force chiefs, Gen. George Casey Jr. and Gen. Norton Schwartz, say they're not convinced now is the right time to lift the ban. Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Conway says "the current policy works."

In some places, people kill each other over political disagreements. But these officers would have no trouble fighting alongside each other in spite of their varying opinions. Soldiers, airmen and seamen are good at overcoming their differences to carry out a mission.

Could the American military survive the presence of gays and lesbians in its ranks? As a matter of fact, it already has. Since 1993, when Congress passed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring openly homosexual personnel, some 14,000 have been kicked out. Nearly 4,000 voluntarily depart each year.

Gays have always been there and always will be. What difference would it make if they could be open about their identity? Probably not much.

One poll found that most service personnel know or think that a member of their unit is gay, and most of these say the knowledge doesn't affect cohesion. For that matter, Gen. John Shalikashvili, former head of the Joint Chiefs, points out that the ban on gays was suspended "without problems" during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The service chiefs who want to keep the "don't ask" policy seem to think foreign militaries' experience has no relevance to our military. In recent decades, more than two dozen countries have decided to admit gays, including Israel and Britain, and the problems that critics feared have not materialized. No one has explained why the U.S. military is incapable of handling a challenge that so many others have met.

Casey says the change would be too much of a burden "on a force that's fully engaged in fighting in two wars." But postponing a change until the nation is at peace could mean a delay of many years. And wartime seems a particularly bad moment to sacrifice the training and dedication of so many service members who happen to be gay.

Decades ago, many people in the U.S. military didn't welcome integrating blacks or women into their ranks. Today, it's hard for young people to wonder why all the fuss.

Someday, long after "don't ask, don't tell" is history, posterity will wonder the same thing.