U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips of California ruled Sept. 9 the military’s policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was unconstitutional. She ruled restricting homosexuals from serving openly violated both the First and Fifth Amendments.
 
While it’s encouraging to hear such a ruling, the fight is far from over for some of our men and women of the military who are forced to conceal part of what makes them who they are.
 
Although Phillips may have ruled this way, it didn’t have much of an effect.
 
The Obama administration, which has been pushing for the repeal of this law for some time, claimed Phillips would be overstepping her bounds were she to halt the policy, which is still being debated by Congress. Instead of possibly striking the finishing blow to this vile law, we are forced to sit through our politicians bickering along party lines.
 
Never was this as evident as on Sept. 20, when the Senate failed to get the numbers needed to go through with repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” with a vote of 56-43.
 
Not a single one of those 56 were Republicans.
 
That vote should not only be taken as a blow to those service members it directly affects, but to our nation as a whole. By continuing the process of kicking out members of the military based only on their sexuality, we will continue to lose valuable assets in national defense. On top of the personal problems it inflicts, there is no reason for us to continue this horrible policy.
 
Since its creation in 1993, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,000 military personnel. In what way does losing this many people, including translators and other specialists in critical operations, make our country’s security stronger?
 
On top of this, there is also a price tag attached to this policy. The cost of recruiting and training personnel to replace those discharged has cost the country $5.55 million from 1993 until 2008, according to the Palm Center. Losing money while losing troops — sounds like a great deal, doesn’t it?
 
Despite what Republicans might argue about it being a moral issue, if we look at most of the world, we can see this is nothing more than an excuse for their bigotry. We are easily in the minority when it comes to letting homosexuals serve openly in the military, yet we continue to cry out about how free we are.
 
Compared to the at least 25 countries who allow open service, however, this policy smears our claims of equality.
 
In a study done by the
Government Accountability Office in 1993 on four of these countries, the inclusion of homosexuals was found to have not created any problems whatsoever.
 
Only three other countries in NATO ban openly homosexual citizens from serving in the military.  China is the only other country permanently on the United Nations Security Council to do so.
 
Unlike most of the world, there seems to be a significant percentage of the population which cannot put aside their (misguided) beliefs about other people’s lifestyles to allow our country to properly defend itself. They do so even when the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and more than 100 retired generals and admirals agree with the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
 
Yet, shocking enough as it is, these are also the same people who are so pro-national defense.
 
The concern for unit cohesion many of these people say they have is not a concern backed by scientific studies. Along with the previously mentioned Palm Center study, we also have Gen. David Petraeus, who claims a person’s sexuality really isn’t important in combat situations.
In the end, all that matters is we continue to maintain the safety of our soldiers and our country, while still remaining true to what we stand for. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fails in both regards, and it is for this reason our senators must repeal it and forget about the political posturing.
 
Zachary Davis is a 19-year-old history sophomore from Warsaw, Poland. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_zdavis.
 
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