Should "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Stay or Go?

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy established in 1993, has been controversial to some people. The article “Obama seeks stay on don’t ask, don’t tell ruling” by Charlie Savage, tells about how Obama wants the military policy to remain the same, after. Clifford L. Stanley of the department of defense argued that we should not restructure a major policy that has been in effect for years. Some people think that the policy is unconstitutional, but I think it is the right policy.

I think that it’s fine for people to be open with their sexuality. Anybody should be able to express their sexuality and feelings, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t ever encounter judgments. I think that it’s a good idea to keep the policy, just because it has a big effect on what people will interpret that person to be. Some may think that people in the military shouldn’t have to keep it personal if they don’t want to, but think about it- will homosexuals be able to sleep at night feeling safe from judgments?- Maybe not.

Obama said “anybody should be able to serve, and they shouldn’t have to lie about who they are in order to serve”. The policy however doesn’t involve lying about sexuality, but not knowing about their sexuality. It has no need to be abolished, and it helps protect our soldiers from judgments. Sexual orientation shouldn’t define us as a good or bad person, but sometimes knowing somebody’s sexuality just isn’t necessary.