Don't Ask, Don't Tell

After watching the State of the Union address last week, I was rushed with a few conflicting emotions. Many of the ideas seemed great, but the key word was "ideas." Turning on the news the next morning, I expected to hear political commentators arguing over taxes and health care reform, but instead, I heard something that may have been the smallest input of the entire speech.

Waking up to HLN, a sister station to CNN, I was overwhelmed with the amount of callers and bloggers discussing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. I remembered that President Obama had included this in his speech, but only at the end and it was only briefly discussed. What seemed to be the smallest, least discussable statement became the most heated debate in the media. Now, almost a week after the address, political commentators are still arguing over it!

One caller called into HLN, stating that the government doesn't know what's right for the military, only the military know what's right for the military. Another woman followed by saying, men might feel uncomfortable knowing they are sleeping in the same room as a homosexual. I have news for you, they already are! The policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" simply means that a soldier cannot be openly gay. If it is kept a secret, the soldier is fine. So under the current ruling, these soldier are in fact sleeping in the same room as homosexuals, yet they don't know it. So what will be the difference when these people are classified as "gay." Many of these soldiers may still choose to keep their sexual preference a secret.

To me, with the important matter of our economy, it seems insane that the matter of homosexuals serving the country is even an issue. Brooke Anderson, a reporter for HLN, said this morning that if this decision to allow homosexuals in the military, it will be the first decision of it's kind since African Americans were allowed to openly serve. That worked out okay didn't it?