American military leaders and soldiers have acknowledged for years that gay men and women have long served admirably and quietly, and sometimes heroically, in their midst. But until now this oppressed group has had to live a lie to serve their country and put their lives at risk. With Saturday’s surprising move in the Senate to rescind the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule imposed in 1993, that undue burden soon will be eliminated.
Saturday’s milestone vote, which followed a similar vote in the House last week, won’t break that barrier overnight. The legislation allows the Pentagon to complete an educational program to prepare the military for the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” That may take several months, officials say. In the interim, however, it should be obvious that strict enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule should be relaxed. America’s military forces already have ousted more than 14,000 members due to this onerous and cruel rule; gratuitously adding to that number now would be absurd.
Indeed, it should not require yeoman work to get the military ready to be fair to gay men and women. A broad survey of troops in every branch of the military says they already know that gay members serve alongside them. The vast majority of those polled in the survey said it would be no big deal to adjust to allowing gays to serve openly.
That should go without saying. Normal rules of conduct already prescribe strictures to protect men and women service members’ integrity and to ensure a nondiscriminatory environment. Allowing gays to serve openly shouldn’t be much of a leap. Schools, businesses and corporate America have established such a nondiscriminatory norm. The military’s focus on discipline and cohesion certainly should speed accommodation to the new policy.
Still, the Senate’s vote, sought by the Pentagon and aided by eight Republicans (though none from senators from Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama), must be regarded as a historical marker in gays’ and lesbians’ long struggle for parity with their heterosexual peers. In fact, the decision strikes a significant blow to other existing strictures that blatantly discriminate against gay people. It almost certainly will hasten the day, for example, that gay marriage, as a citizen’s transcendent civil right if not a religiously embedded sacrament, will be widely recognized as a logical attribute of this nation’s core, constitutionally protected civil rights.