Today’s military is a unique force in my opinion. What makes the US Military so unique is that we have an all volunteer force. With that volunteer force there are rules and regulations that need to be followed because serving our country is a privilege. The 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy is claiming that even though it may be considered an infringement on human rights and freedom of expression, it protects the rights of the rest of the military and opens a loophole for gay men and women to serve in the armed forces. Other countries have successfully integrated gay men and women into their militaries and compared the treatment of other "minority" groups in the military. Is the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy really effective or even necessary for our militaries?
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy means that service men and women are not questioned about their sexual orientation, and they are not to talk about their sexual orientation. In 1993 U. S. Congress passed a federal law forbidding the military service of openly gay men and women serving in the military. Even though Congrees created the law, it was up to the military leadership to carry it out. Opposing viewpoints states:
(Wagner) In the early 1990s, large numbers of military personnel were opposed to letting openly gay men and lesbians serve. President Bill Clinton, who promised to lift the ban during his campaign, was overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition, which threatened to overturn any executive action he might take. The compromise that came to be known as "don't ask, don't tell" was thus a useful speed bump that allowed temperatures to cool for a period of time while the culture continued to evolve.
The unit cohesion is premised on the assumption that ...
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...gal Reason to Appeal the DADT Ruling." RSN Freethought San Marcos 21 October 2010, Print.
Lochhead, Carolyn. "Democrats aim to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'; Obama supports lifting the ban on open gays in military." San Francisco Chronicle 23 July 2008: A1. Print.
O'Keefe, Ed. "Minorities disproportionately discharged for 'don't ask, don't tell' violations." Washington Post 17 August 2010, Print.
Schwartz, John. "Ban on Gays In the Military Stays in Effect." New York Times 13 Nov. 2010: A10 (L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.
Service members Legal Defense Network, ""Conduct Unbecoming: Sixth annual report on Don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue, don't harass.” (2000): 1. Print.
Whitlock, Craig, and Greg Jaffe. "Pentagon supports ending 'don't ask, don't tell' law for gays in military." Washington Post 3 February 2010, Print.
From the end of the draft in 1973 to the military data from 2003, the number of women in service rose from 2 percent to 12 percent. A sample of military women studied in 1991 showed 69 percent to have experienced sexual harassmen...
Frank, Nathaniel. Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America. New York: Thomas Dunne, 2009. Print.
Horowitz, David. "Why Gays Shouldnt Serve." Faigley, Lester and Jack Selzer. Good Reasons Researching and Writing Effective Arguments Fifth Edition. New York: Pearson, 2012. 352-356. Article.
In 1950, President Harry S. Truman implemented discharge policies for homosexual service members in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This would allow military leaders to discharge any service member who was thought to be homosexual. In 1992, during President Bill Clinton’s campaign, he promises to lift that ban. Not being able to do just that, President Clinton issued a directive referred to as ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. This stated that no service member should be asked about their sexual orientation. Mackubin Thomas Owens wrote the article “Gay Men and Women in the Military Disrupt Unit Cohesion” in 2009 right after President Clinton was again calling for the end of forcing homosexuals to live in secret. In his article he states that homosexuals living openly in the military will take away from military effectiveness and put the other service member’s lives in danger. Throughout most of the article he uses other resources, polls and opinions on the matter verses clearly stating his own. Most of the resources he uses are military connected or
...l was looked at again and now former Senator Barack Obama decided to push the issue again and stated that if he ran for presidency he would get the bill appeal so homosexuals could serve openly in the military. Homosexuals were glad to have someone in their corner that was willing to look into the law and make it constitutional. When Obama begin to run for office, he stated that he would try to have the bill appealed in 100 days of office. The gays and lesbians stood behind Obama in his race because they felt that the law could be changed and it would be in this time era. The bill was not exactly appealed in the “First 100 Days of Office” but it was brought up and it was a force to be reckoned with. In December of 2010, the House & Senate voted in favor to repeal the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell." President Obama then signed it into law December 22, 2010.
Allen Berubé uses this book to describe the persecution of homosexual men and women in the U.S. Army. In Coming Out Under Fire, Berube explains the challenges faced by homosexuals trying to serve the United States and the awakening of the gay rights movement. Berubé examines in depth and detail these social and political confrontation. It was not simply written to explain how the military victimized homosexyals, but as a story to explain the dynamic power relationship developed between gay citizens and their government. Which then allowed both parts to change and grow. His story is the timeline of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” from 1916 until 2003. The military had to decide if homosexuality was or was not compatible with war. They decided it
The focus of the book helps understand the true importance of books like Gay New York, Coming Out Under Fire, and Men Like That by explaining the progress made in the United States regarding the acceptance of the gay community into society. Consisting of six chapters that cover many issues regarding the government, including the military, welfare, and immigration. Much like in Coming Out Under Fire, Canaday points out issues gay men and women faced following World War II. From the mid-1940s into the late 1960s, the state crafted tools to overtly target homosexuality (Canaday, 2009). Policies were enacted that explicitly used homosexuality to define who could serve in the military (Canaday, 2009). Much has changed since then, considering the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed. Canaday’s main argument in the book is that sexual citizenship was built into the federal bureaucracy as it was being created, and this needs to be more attended to by historians (Canaday, 2009). According to Canaday, the foundations of sexual citizenship are the reason the United States has such an issue with securing universal gay rights. Issues in the South are also addressed, much like in Men Like That. Religion and the power it has in the country limits many initiatives that support gay
After the eighteen long years of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which limits gays from being open about their sexuality in the military services, was finally brought to its end. President Barack Obama signed the reverse of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on December 22, 2010. It was also stated that “The services will no longer separate service members under DADT (U.S. Department of Defense). Nevertheless, homosexuals should have the opportunity to serve in the military because the job had nothing to do with anyone’s sexual orientation.
...l use of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, or sexual perversion.” This piece of legislation addressed the years of charges that homosexuals posed a security risk to the government. The new order defined both disloyalty and security risks in order to separate the two. Homosexuality was no longer to be confused with disloyalty, but the stigma remained. President Truman’s Executive Order 9835 applied only to a few military branches and the State Department; Eisenhower’s applied to the entire federal government. This did not change any of the discriminatory practices of any of these branches, but validated their previous actions under presidential order. This order also made possible the exclusion of over 1700 homosexuals from employment over a five-year period. This made the denial and concealment of their homosexuality even more important than before.
Rich, C., Schutten, J., & Rogers, R. A. (2012). “Don't Drop the Soap”: Organizing Sexualities in the Repeal of the US Military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” Policy. Communication Monographs, 79(3), 269-291. doi:10.1080/03637751.2012.697633
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) is what Veterans using the VA Healthcare system refer to when discussing sexual harassment and sexual assault that takes place in military settings. “Much of the research literature with military veterans identifies the population of interest through the use of MST screening, for which a positive response can indicate a range of experiences, including rape, sexual Assault, experienced by the veteran during military service” (Street & Stafford, n.d.). Although most people focus the attention on women service members being the victims in a lot of the cases at VA clinics, “data indicates that 50% of survivors are actually men. For example, a 2011 review (Allard, Nunnink, Gregory, Klest, & Platt, 2011) of peer reviewed articles published up to December 2009 identified 74 articles focused on MST, but of those, only two articles focused on men only” (O’Brien, Keith, & Shoemaker, 2015). Sexual Trauma does not only occur during training or peacetime, the stress of war could be associated with rising rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment. “Research with Persian Gulf War military personnel conducted by Jessica Wolfe and colleagues found that rates of sexual assault (7%), physical sexual harassment (33%) and verbal sexual harassment (66%) were higher than those typically found in peacetime military samples” (Street & Stafford, n.d.). None the less, whether a service member is male or female or off to war vs training on US soil, the traumatic experience of falling victim to sexual assault forever change a person’s well-being. “Physical and sexual assault contribute to long-lasting physical and emotional suffering among men and women across the life span” (Bryan, McNaugton-Cassill, Osman, & Hernandez, 2013) therefor suicide rates are rising in sexual assault victims “because they adversely affect the victim’s sense of identity and self-worth, such that the victim begins to perceive him- or herself
Throughout the years, I have seen the nation’s values, and beliefs change. When I first joined the military, it was not ok to be a gay or lesbian Soldier. Then the military’s culture was challenged, and the rules changed to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which means, I will not ask you, and you will not tell me, or if you do, we will have to take action. Which meant a military
The Army provides fair treatment and equal opportunity for service members, their families, and the civilians who work within the Department of the Army regardless of their color, race, religion, national origin, and sex. These characteristics will not be the basis for training, assigning, promoting, or managing any service member. In addition, the Army supports an atmosphere that is free of discrimination and violation. Within the Army, the EO policy applies both on and off post, and during duty and non-duty hours; the policy also applies to working, living, and recreational environments. Equal opportunity violations considered one of the biggest difficulties that face today’s military, therefore, both juniors and seniors NCOs are obligated to maintain a positive EO program in their assigned units, and prevent any equal opportunity violations.
The US Military has a long history and jaded history of issues with sexual assault. The number of women sexually assaulted in the US Military is 5% higher than that of women in the ficivilian population; there are an estimated 20,000 sexual assaults on women service members each year. This is not, however, a strictly female problem; it is estimated that nearly half of...
Sexual assault in the military has become one of the most controversial of all issues that have been discussed over the years. The topic has received extensive media coverage and has contributed to multiple media scandals. According to a Newsweek report done in 2011, women are more likely to be assaulted by fellow soldiers than killed in combat. The Department of Defense estimates approximately 19,000 sexual assaults occur per year amongst military personnel. That number is stifling considering that in the last year only 1,108 troops filed for investigation, and of those only 575 cases were processed. Out of the 575 processed cases only 96 went to Court Martial. Obviously from the numbers, sexual assault is a serious issue in the military. Much like in the civilian world there is bias when it comes to the guilt or innocence of the attacker, as well as the validity in the accounts of the accuser. I believe that the system in place may inadvertently contribute to the continuous rise in sexual assaults and that if this system isn’t fixed quickly, it will be detrimental to the organization as a whole. Sexual assault has seriously negative impacts on service members and their families. That impact carries over to their work, limiting mission readiness, and undermining national security.