Don't Ask, Tell: Repeal DADT

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested there’s no time to debate the end of the military’s discrimination against gays because of the national backdrop of economic crisis, duo-war, and unemployment.

Curiously, I’ve never heard him complain about Congressional proposals to legislate a college sports playoff system or delaying confirmation hearings for important executive branch appointees. He didn’t appear to be pressed enough for time to forgo holidays and recess periods. Hell, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear Mitch was talking through his (ass)hat.

Yet, he’s right in one respect, we could save a lot of time… by repealing DADT now. Because of Bill Clinton’s jelly-like backbone and former Sen. Sam Nunn’s intransigence, we created the most cockamamie, stick your head in the sand abortion of a policy imaginable 16 years ago.

The premise of DADT is laughable. Essentially, the homophobes pretend there are no gays in the military while gay people in the military pretend they aren’t gay. The most common argument for this is that unit cohesion and morale would be hurt by anyone a little light in the combat boots.

What a load of crap!

Gay soldiers have existed since armies first went on the march and pretending they aren’t there is self-delusional. Some homophobes argue they are afraid gays would spy on them in the shower. But only if gay soldiers said, “Hi, I’m Bruce, I’m gay, and I’m here to fantasize over your rock hard hunk of burning manhood,” first. My suspicion in these cases is that the worriers probably have a honkin’ set of man-boobs and don’t go near the showers anyway. In other words, they’re poor candidates for ogledom.

As for the unit cohesion angle, I’d suggest that soldiers who didn’t follow orders are piss poor soldiers you want to weed out anyway. An army that would allow the perceived threat of gay solders to destroy unit cohesion isn’t an army – it is a heavily armed street gang.

The US military has been through these “wrenching” changes before. Truman’s desegregation of the military was supposed to have been the ruination of our defense, yet entire units of the military didn’t fall apart over it then and don’t now. To be sure, there will be the occasional asswipe cracker-under-arms who won’t like his superior’s decisions. But, I suspect a superior officer who unnecessarily and recklessly leads his troops into a firefight wouldn’t be the belle of the ball either. The unifying principles for soldiers here is that you do as you’re ordered to the best of your ability, whether it be charging a machine gun or sharing a tent with a gay soldier.

I’m glad the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff supports striking the law down. I’m glad The Messiah has remembered his promises and gotten surgery to strengthen his spine after first swimming like a jellyfish from the debate last year. I’m glad there is growing Congressional support for tossing this inane law. But, I’m dismayed there are still Congressmen willing to argue about something that should be a no-brainer – and as a nod to Mitch’s fear of too much time being spent in debate – with a simple voice vote to which there would be no credible dissenting howls. After all, many of these people put great store in the word of commanders on the ground during the wars of Czar Chimpster the Second. Admiral Mullen’s boots on the ground should be listened to now.

Now if some brave soul, like President Care Bear or even Mitch himself, would stand up and say, “You know, gay marriage causes no direct harm to anyone, so what the hell, let’s stop posturing,” there’d be no reason to waste so much time on debating it.

Especially in the face of economic crisis, war, unemployment, and college playoff systems.

Cross posted at The Omnipotent Poobah Speaks!