Washington Post Urges Repeal

This morning's Washington Post includes an editorial urging Congress to repeal the ban on openly lesbian, gay and bisexual service members, noting that it is Time to End 'Don't Ask'.

Citing a "Report of the General/Flag Officers' Study Group" released this week by the Michael D. Palm Center of the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Post called the group's findings "devastating."

"Attitudes in the military are changing," wrote the editorial board. "Allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly 'is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline, or cohesion.'" The article concludes by exhorting readers, "That reexamination should be the beginning of the end of 'don't ask, don't tell.'"

We couldn't agree more.

You can send a letter to the editor applauding this morning's editorial by emailing letters@washpost.com.

-Victor Maldonado

Are you Smarter than an 8th Grader?

Click here to view a video produced by 8th grader Tucker Jepsen as part of a National History Day contest in which he competed. It is a useful primer on the history of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and a good look at what America’s next generation is capable of.

Let’s hope that the American public hears what this young man has to say and honors the service of all American patriots by urging lawmakers to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell."

The next generation is watching.

-Victor Maldonado

Colorado Newspaper Editorial Calls for Repeal

The Daily Camera, the daily paper of note in Boulder, Colorado editorialized this weekend on the need to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Editorial writer Erika Stutzman writes, "It's hard to imagine that Truman desegregating the armed forces 60 years ago was such a bold move, given that minorities had been fighting for the United States since before it’s founding -- but it was. Although national polls have shown the majority of Americans think gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly in the military, there is strong resistance within the military itself. But the U.S. military faced -- and eventually conquered -- the same resistance in its ranks over racial desegregation. The government should end 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"

The editorial, which follows SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis's recent tour of Colorado, can be read by clicking here.

-Victor Maldonado

The Right Time

Hearst columnist Marianne Means (pictured) has a great column in this morning's Jamestown Sun (in Jamestown, North Dakota) about the need - now - to dump "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and allow lesbian and gay troops to serve openly.

Looking back at the 1993 debate on gays in the military, Means writes that, "The fight over gays in the military was an echo of the crusade by many of the same aging macho guys to keep women away from the battlefield on grounds they would prove a distraction that would weaken the spirit of real warriors. Quaint, pea-brain stuff, but politically potent at the time."

And looking to the future, she sees sure signs of progress.

"An aggressive Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., the popular new chairman of a previously moribund House Armed Services Committee subcommittee, is going to stir the pot," Means writes. "Tauscher has said that she would hold hearings that she hoped would lead to the policy’s repeal. She promised to 'begin the necessary education process' for the change. She also denounced as 'wrongheaded' the comments by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace that homosexuality is immoral. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates later declined to reappoint Pace to a second term."

Now, Means concludes, is the "right time" to lift the ban.

"As violence and social turmoil escalate in Iraq, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker pleaded with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to allow him more well-qualified staff members and to ease some of her security rules," she recalls. "He complained about not enough “right people with the right skill sets.” What skill sets? Opposition to abortion, as a required job criterion in the Justice Department? Or a familiarity with Middle East culture — and even an ability to speak the language?"

"We have learned a great deal about what it means to be gay in the past two decades. It is not a moral 'choice.' It is who you are. And that doesn’t mean that you are a danger to your country and can’t be a good soldier, if that’s what moves you."

To read the full column, click here.

- Steve Ralls

Serving Cowards & Demagogues

This morning's Baltimore Sun has a stinging rebuke of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Sun editorial page issues a strong, unequivocal call for repeal and leaves no doubt about how the paper feels about the law.

"Congress should take its cue to quickly dispatch the infamous 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that denies the most fundamental personal freedom to the men and women who are fighting to protect such freedoms for all other Americans," the paper says. "Military leaders are often quoted anonymously by politicians who defend the policy as necessary to maintain unit cohesion, as though the presence of openly gay or lesbian soldiers, sailors or aviators would lead to some kind of frat-house fracas. But over the 14 years since the policy was adopted, many in the top brass have had a change of heart."

The editorial wraps up with an unflinching view about why the law still stands. "This policy of pointless discrimination perhaps serves only cowards in Congress and demagogues on the campaign stump," it notes. "Anyone who truly supports the troops will vote to treat all of them with the dignity and respect they deserve."

If you're a Maryland resident, please consider a letter to the editor, praising The Sun's position and thanking them for standing up against federally-sanctioned discrimination.

- Steve Ralls

Washington Post: Maintaining Ban is Shortsighted & Unjust

This morning's Washington Post includes an editorial from the paper calling for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Post still holds the record for the most pro-repeal editorials; the paper's editorial board has demanded an end to the law more than a dozen times. (Just a few of the other Post editorials can be found here, here, here and here.)

Responding to the recent story about the military posting recruitment ads on an LGBT website, The Post writes that, "Since 1993, more than 11,000 people have been discharged from the services because of their homosexuality. Of those, 800 were in positions deemed 'mission-critical' by the Pentagon. Those would be combat engineers, medical professionals and linguists (58 of whom spoke Arabic) -- the very people the Army, Navy and Air Force were looking for when their job postings showed up on GLEE.com, which stands for Gay, Lesbian & Everyone Else."

"The whole sorry episode," the paper concludes, "highlights the absurdity of the ban on openly gay people in the military. Israel, Australia, Britain and 21 other countries have no problem with gays and lesbians serving openly in their armed forces. With its military stretched to the breaking point, the United States should follow their wise lead. That it doesn't is as shortsighted as it is unjust."

We couldn't agree more.

You can send a letter to the editor applauding this morning's editorial by emailing letters@washpost.com.

- Steve Ralls