PERMISSIBLE PREJUDICES: Responding to bigotry based on religion, morality, ethics, psychological rationale, IV

Homosexual Servicemembers have had to compromise their personal integrity by keeping their sexuality secret.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
By Om Prakash*

¨The 1993 “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law was a political compromise reached after much emotional debate based on religion, morality, ethics, psychological rationale, and military necessity. What resulted was a law that has been costly both in personnel and treasure. In an attempt to allow homosexual Servicemembers to serve quietly, a law was created that forces a compromise in integrity, conflicts with the American creed of “equality for all,” places commanders in difficult moral dilemmas, and is ultimately more damaging to the unit cohesion its stated purpose is to preserve. Furthermore, after a careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly. In fact, the necessarily speculative psychological predictions are that it will not impact combat effectiveness. Additionally, there is sufficient empirical evidence from foreign militaries to anticipate that incorporating homosexuals will introduce leadership challenges, but the challenges will not be insurmountable or affect unit cohesion and combat effectiveness. Though, as Congress clearly stated in 1993, serving in the military is not a constitutional right, lifting the ban on open service by homosexuals would more clearly represent the social mores of America in 2009 and more clearly represent the free and open society that serves as a model for the world. Ultimately, Servicemembers serving under values they believe in are the most effective force multipliers.¨

The Efficacy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” By Om Prakash, read it all, click HERE

*Colonel Om Prakash, USAF, wrote this essay while a student at the National War College. It won the 2009 Secretary of Defense National Security Essay Competition.

UPDATE: Pentagon Can't Explain Why DADT Kicks Out So Many Women. Because That'd Be Discriminatory, read it all, click HERE

¨Continuing a lovely trend, the United States military removed a disproportionate number of women under Don't Ask Don't Tell than men. If you'd like the Pentagon to explain to you why this might be, they can't: even "inquiring" about the statistics could violate DADT. Huh?

Though only 15 percent of all active duty and reserve military personnel are women, some one-third of all 619 DADT dismissals last year were women. Maybe that's better than 2007, when 46 percent of Army discharges were women (though they accounted for only 14 percent of the total), or the Air Force's 49 percent discharge rate (with women making up only 20 percent of personnel). In 2006, "about 35 percent of the Army’s discharges and 36 percent of the Air Force’s were women."

·Thanks to Colonel Om Prakash, USAF
·Thanks to The National War College
·Thanks to The 2009 U.S. Secretary of Defense Essay Competition
·Thanks to The Episcopal Cafe
·Thanks to Queerty, at the right side bar
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing