Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- No More

I didn't watch the recent GOP debate but apparently they pretty much came down on the side of the unworkable "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which has been used to get rid of gay and lesbian military personnel -- including some very valuable intelligence analysts and Arabic language experts (which we don't have enough of). Duncan Hunter (best known in these parts for trying to take over a portion of the Channel Islands of the Santa Barbara Coast as a hunting preserve for his friends) suggested that because most soldiers are conservative and of the "Judeo-Christian" persuasion, the'd be opposed to serving with such immoral people.

Well, it turns out that Duncan and his friends may not be talking to military personnel after all.

Nathaniel Frank, a researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara (yes the university in my current place of residence), argues in an LA Times editorial that this policy is wrongheaded and needs to be ended -- something that a number of high ranking current and former military leaders agree with.

So consider:

For those who remain unconvinced, some facts. Since the war in Iraq began, military members -- enlisted personnel and officers, active duty and retired -- have begun to reverse their opposition to openly gay service, complaining that the policy wastes valuable talent just when the military needs all the help it can get. Last week's letter from the 28 generals and admirals was only the latest wave in a sea change in military opinion. Back on Jan. 2, Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in the New York Times that discussions with military personnel had helped change his mind about gays in the military, and he now believes that there is no need for the ban. Other senior officers also have reversed course. Adm. John D. Hutson, who backed the policy in 1993 and whose responsibilities as judge advocate general of the Navy included enforcing the ban, also has said it's time for it to end, citing a "more enlightened population."

Polls echo his assertion. A Zogby poll from December 2006 found that 72% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war vets are "personally comfortable" with gays, and an Annenberg poll from 2004 concluded that, for the first time, a majority of junior enlisted personnel favor letting gays serve openly.

It's time, I believe, to move on to a more enlightened position! Don't you think!