Don't Ask, Don't Tell Leaves Women Unemployed

Obama’s recent promise to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” from the military has many GLBT service men and women rejoicing. What’s the point, after all, of having a National Coming Out Day yesterday if you know doing so will jeopardize your job?

There are at least 8.8 million gay, lesbian and bisexual people in the United States. Asking between 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 people to not disclose information about their loved ones and personal life—to simply live an existence of silence—has proven to be a pretty inhumane act. These soldiers  are bonding on battle grounds, caring for one another, becoming a new family.

Could you imagine not being able to call your girlfriend or boyfriend in front of a fellow soldier because it violates “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”? How about not showing pictures of your loved ones while your fellow soldiers are passing around theirs, reminiscing of home?

How about being kicked out of the military after being found out? Because of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, many good soldiers were shown the door after they were discovered to be a member of the GLBT community some way or another. Not only is this sheer discrimination, it’s also hypocrisy: the government job that’s always claiming shortages is kicking out people based on sexual orientation. What a way to remedy that situation.

Women in the Air Force have been particularly ostracized by the law. According to Pentagon statistics, openly gay women in the Air Force were discharged three times higher than their male counterparts. This inequality was represented in each military branch, but in the Air Force it was particularly prominent—even though they only made up 20% of the personnel in the first place!

Approximately 619 people have lost their jobs in the military due to sexual orientation. And the justification behind this measure has been that gays in the military would, apparently, “create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”

Now that’s pretty disturbing. We offer protection to practice whatever religion you’d like in the military, which is a choice—do people fear “coming out” as a Christian or a Jew? Homosexuality, which is not a choice, has instead been shunned, with the protection of homophobes higher on the agenda rather than the protection of a large percentage of the population.

Hopefully Obama’s order to nix “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will result in a little more compassion and acceptance. After all, if the government won’t accept gay people as members of the community—or its own work force—how can we expect to make headway against discrimination in our schools, other places of employment, and the rest of the country?