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Before President Bill Clinton enacted “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell“, the government had a military wide ban against homosexuals serving in its ranks. Part of his Presidential campaign highlighted his desire to reverse this ban if he took office. But by the time he claimed the White House in 1993, he had compromised. Instead of allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military, he decided it was best that everyone just kept quiet about it.
I suppose at the time it was better than seeing veterans stripped of honors and unceremoniously discharged because of their bed mates. And Bill was only trying to do what he thought was right while also appeasing the GOP.
He meant well, I suppose.
Fifteen years later, our military is still functioning within these obtuse boundaries. Some feel safe within its boundaries and some, who find their honesty falling into the wrong hands, are still getting discharged.
Notable examples are the dozens of Arabic speaking soldiers who have been discharged for homosexuality. (Cause who needs to know what the Iraqi’s and Afghan’s are saying anyway.)
Since the laws enactment, approximately 12,000 soldiers have been given the axe. But the strain of fighting a two front war have caused recruitment and retention to relax “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. It’s become arbitrary.
All signs are pointing towards the next President reconsidering its value in todays military. After 15 years of this nonsense, I couldn’t agree more.
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Ms. Missive on 
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January 30th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Equal Rights Clause.