Military wants Don'tAskDon'tTell repealed
" For quite some time, U.S. troops have supported repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. A December 2006 poll of servicemembers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan found 73 percent of those polled were “comfortable with lesbians and gays.” A 2004 poll found that a majority of junior enlisted servicemembers believed gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, up from 16 percent in 1992.
The military’s leadership is finally catching up to its troops. On Sunday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy that the military was ready to accept gay servicemembers if Congress repeals DADT:
With a national election looming, a cadet asked about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law and what would happen if someone took office who wants to change it. “It’s a law, and we follow it,” Mullen said. Should the law change, the military will carry that out too, he said.
“We are a military that is under the control of our civilian elected leaders,” he said. “It has served us well since we’ve been founded. That is a special characteristic of our country and I would never do anything to jeopardize that.”
Mullen’s statement is a refreshing change from the military leadership’s traditional approach under the Bush administration. In March 2007, then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace publicly stated that homosexuality is “immoral.” He said that he supported DADT because “we should not condone immoral acts.” At the time, Defense Secretary Robert Gates refused to condemn Pace’s remarks, calling the general “one of the finest people I’ve ever worked with.”
Even public discussion of DADT has been considered taboo.
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Service people are overwhelmingly comfortable with gays and lesbians serving in the armed forces. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen favors accepting gays and lesbians in the services.
Do you think Congress will repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell ruling?