Don’t repeal ‘don’t ask’ - Marine Corps Community, discussions, blogs, photos & video - Marine Corps Times

Don’t repeal ‘don’t ask’

Democrats in Congress are rushing to pass legislation repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” perhaps because they fear they won’t have the majority they’d need to pass this legislation after the Pentagon’s current review is complete later this year.

For them, it may be a civil rights issue. But for many of us in uniform, it’s an issue of great concern, for a variety of reasons:

Existing laws

By going forward with the repeal, existing laws will have to be changed, including Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice — which declares sodomy a punishable crime and can serve as the basis for separation from military service.

The intent of Article 125 was to preserve good order and discipline as well as dignity. To remove or amend laws like this is immoral. Is the next step to demand that the public, the law, medicine, psychiatry, religion and other social institutions unquestioningly accept these acts as normal?

Where did we get such laws? The same place as our Founding Fathers who shaped this country — the Bible. Romans Chapter 1 provides good insight as to why we should not change this law.

Open Discrimination

Some paint this as an issue of discrimination. The fact is, the military is one of the most openly discriminating organizations within the federal government. The military discriminates based on age, height, weight and intelligence. Thus, openly discriminating on how people conduct themselves sexually is perfectly acceptable.

Unit Readiness

With the requirement to maintain a higher level of readiness rates, military units can find themselves in a bind if a service member becomes infected with HIV.

Those who have been infected with HIV are protected by law from having to disclose their illness. Unfortunately, if one member is infected and has sexual relations with others in the unit, then multiple members can be infected — not only reducing readiness rates, but severely affecting morale.

Furthermore, studies show that homosexual relationships are, by and large, not monogamous, which elevates this even more as a viable concern. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the rate of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men is more than 44 times that of other men and more than 40 times that of women.

Critical jobs

Some proponents of repeal base their argument on the idea that we have needlessly separated military members who were performing critical jobs.

That may be true. However, we have lost more personnel in critical jobs — and in jobs in general — based on weight standards. Furthermore, the most recent statistics do not bear out the conclusion that the loss of homosexuals serving in the military has an adverse affect. Being homosexual, in and of itself, does not qualify an individual for any particular skill-set within the military.

Good order and discipline

Units look to remove as many distractions as possible in order to ensure good order and discipline. Addressing the distractions that come with openly serving homosexuals would be problematic, especially in close quarters such as berthing, showers and restrooms.

Keeping men’s and women’s facilities separate helps maintain good order and discipline. What do you do when some service members object to having openly gay people among them in these areas? This situation will not help foster or maintain good order and discipline.

Lawmakers already have begun their push to change the law. But there is still time to change their minds. If you think like I do, ask your congressman to answer this question: How will removing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy help our service members achieve mission success in the defense of our nation?

———

Lt. Col. Alex Chatman has served 22 years in uniform and is assigned to the Washington, D.C., area.