The Obama administration has requested people in the military and their families to make use of an online inbox to anonymously comment on the impact of its proposal to abolish the “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell” policy that has been in place since the Clinton administration. An unnamed official on the official Army website is quoted as saying, “The inbox will enable servicemembers and families to offer their thoughts about how a repeal of the law that prohibits gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military might affect military readiness, military effectiveness and unit cohesion, recruiting and retention, and family readiness….”
Karen Johnson of the Family Research Council asked for my comments on this development for their radio program. Here is my unabridged response:
Don’t ask, don’t tell is a policy that was devised to balance the privacy of soldiers as regards to their sexual orientation against the strong sense of cohesion and trust in one’s fellow soldiers demanded by the nature of the life and death struggle that is the military endeavor. In the highly charged climate around this issue, I believe that the solicitation of anonymous input before any decision to change policy is wise for two reasons. (1) Given the current policy, gay military personnel who wish to comment for or against the change could not otherwise identify themselves as gay in commenting, thus preventing those assessing their responses from knowing pertinent factors that affect their answers; (2) Responders who have concerns about sharing close quarters with openly gay persons might otherwise be inhibited about speaking frankly about their concerns out of fears of violating political correctness.
A 1995 Dept. of Defense study found that 78% of women in the military had experienced some form of sexual harassment on or off duty. As placing men and women in close quarters has caused morale problems for women in the military with regard to unwanted advances from male military personnel, removing the protection don’t ask don’t tell provides to both gay and straight soldiers is a major change of policy which will require policymakers to have a candid in-depth understanding of the emotional concerns both of those who favor and those who oppose such a change, unencumbered by fears of violating current policy or of scorning political correctness.
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D.
Minaret of Freedom Institute
www.minaret.org
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