Does Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell Help Terrorists?
I understand what President Clinton was trying to do with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but I disagreed with it then and I still do. We’ve all heard stories about people getting kicked out of the military for being gay despite completely honorable records and substantial skills. Did you think that was unfair? I do. Now, if that person were imposing his/her sexuality onto others who weren’t interested, that is another thing. However, there should be no different rule for homosexuals who do that than for heterosexuals. Ask any woman who has had a guy come on to her over and over again despite her clear refusal. It’s sickening.
Stephen Benjamin was an Arabic translator for the Navy who graduated in the top ten of his class and spent two years (2003-2004) helping troops interpret Arabic. He wanted to go to Iraq, but he was kicked out of the Navy because someone found out he was gay. His NYTimes Op-Ed, Don’t Ask, Don’t Translate, is worth a read.
“The lack of qualified translators has been a pressing issue for some time — the Army had filled only half its authorized positions for Arabic translators in 2001. Cables went untranslated on Sept. 10 that might have prevented the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Today, the American Embassy in Baghdad has nearly 1,000 personnel, but only a handful of fluent Arabic speakers.”
It also bothers me that so many men and women who act as Arabic interpreters are being kicked out of the army because of their sexual orientation. Is there a fear that a gay man will be so consumed with sexual urges when he spots the hot UPS guy deliver that day’s packages that he’ll mis-translate a crucial message and end up getting our troops killed?
This concept that homosexuality is so deviant that one can’t belong to that group and concentrate on anything other than sex doesn’t make sense. Gay & Straight people can be obsessed with sex to the point of distraction 24/7. However, most people can focus on their job, education and express their sexuality at the appropriate time, including homosexuals. I’m still waiting for someone to give me an explanation for why it’s important that Arabic translators be heterosexual. So far, I only see terrorists benefiting from this policy.
Angela Winters– www.politopics.com
opinions powered by SendLove.to
6 Responses to “Does Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell Help Terrorists?”
Angela,
DADT was a compromise solution implemented by Clinton and Congress. At the time it was thought that open homosexuality in the military would hurt military effectiveness. For similar reasons, women were banned from combat positions for many years.
Attitudes change and they are changing with DADT as well. I think policymakers were wise to not enforce a drastic cultural change on an institution as important as the military. Over time, I think many, if not most, in the military would like to see DADT go away and allow openly gay people to serve, so I look at DADT as a temporary step on the way to full integration of gays.
Even so, there are challenges ahead. Many military benefits are based on legal spousal relationships – relationships that are not legally recognized in the US for gay people. So society still has a ways to go in that regard as well.
Sometimes you just have to make the change and force the people to deal with it. Like the integration of the armed services or integration of schools, or the freeing of the slaves, or suffrage for women.
[...] UPDATE: A personal perspective of an Arabic translator published in the New York Times. (Thanks to TMV contributor Angela Winters.) [...]
Entropy, I do think it’s time for DADT to go away. You’re right it *was* a compromise and societies do change. It’s time for DADT to go.
The British has done away with the restriction of homosexuals from joining the military. I didn’t see their straight servicemen fleeing in fear, did you?
Rambie,
I’ve always opposed DADT on principle, even when I was in the service. I knew 3 gay people while I served and would not have “turned them in.” Even though I opposed the policy itself, many did not, and the military culture in the 1990′s was simply not ready for sudden and complete integration. Chris would like to force institutions like the military to conform to one set of social mores, but that is dangerous in the case of the military. A little over a decade has passed and I think the military could accept the integration of gays, so I agree that DADT should go.
Agreed, the military of the 1990′s wasn’t ready and there was too much misinformation about “gays” that just made it worse.