Since Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed Congress with the plan to review "don’t ask, don’t tell," I’ve heard every argument for "don’t ask," ranging from "Gays will ruin the good standing order of the military" and "I’ll have to deal with soldiers beating them up," to "What if they look at me in the shower?"
All of the arguments against gays serving openly speak more to the paranoia and prejudice of those who are opposed than they do of gays. When it is pointed out that the same arguments were made when President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military for minorities, you will always hear "Blacks can’t hide the fact that they’re black."
Let’s make this clear: Blacks and other minorities were not hated due to their skin color. The color of their skin was simply the door to a whole slew of hate and bigotry that had been espoused for centuries, just as gays now find whom they sleep with is being used as the door to hatred toward them.
For hundreds of years whites touted the superiority of the white race. Most of us find this abhorrent now, but the same arguments are used against gays, which is why the current situation is no different than the desegregation of the military.
It’s not about the ability to hide whom or what you are. It’s about, as Mullen said, our integrity as a military to treat every soldier the same, regardless of how they’re different. Gays would still be expected to follow the same policies as straights. Dissolving "don’t ask" doesn’t change that.
Sgt. Daniel WilliamsHerat province, Afghanistan