Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups





















« NASA Scientist: 70% of Observed Global Warming Due to Natural Oscillations of Pacific Ocean | Main | Washington Post Rips Obama on Iraq Deceptions »
July 23, 2008

House Subcommittee Reconsiders "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

For the first time in 15 years, members of the House are holding hearings about the policy which is aimed at maintaining discipline and unit cohesion in the military. Last year, Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee tried, but were prevented by members of their own party who were not eager to revisit the issue. This year the Military Personnel subcommittee manage to put it back on the calendar.

DADT has had a rough couple of months. A recent poll shows 75% of Americans believe that gays should be able to serve openly in the military (though only 50% of military vets agree). In May the Ninth Circuit ruled that DADT is subject to "heightened judicial scrutiny" because it burdens a fundamental right to engage in private, consensual sex. A few weeks later, the First Circuit did too, though it upheld DADT due to deference to military.

I suspect that even stronger constitutional grounds exist to overturn the policy. The right found by the Court in Lawrence is tenuous at best because Justice Kennedy failed to provide a standard for scrutinizing laws. The better argument for holding DADT unconstitutional is that it burdens gay soldiers' and sailors' right to marry (an argument made possible because of Massachusetts and California). The right to marry has unambiguously been regarded as fundamental and laws which burden it are subject to strict scrutiny.

Setting the legal arguments aside, DADT should also be repealed because it's just bad policy. Deroy Murdock, writing at NRO, says that Don't Ask, Don't Tell "deserves a dishonorable discharge." I agree. But his reasoning misses the point:

Pentagon officials evidently trust military inductees with felony rap sheets more than they do law-abiding gay GIs. Having relaxed academic, age, and weight restrictions to achieve recruitment goals, the Defense Department has granted “moral waivers” to criminal convicts. Simultaneously, it uses the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to jettison gays in uniform, usually for merely disclosing their sexuality...

Last year, the Army gave moral waivers to 106 applicants convicted of burglary, 15 of felonious break-ins, 11 of grand-theft-auto, and 8 of arson. It also admitted five rape/sexual-assault convicts, two felony child molesters, two manslaughter convicts, and two felons condemned for “terrorist threats including bomb threats.” [...]

Conversely, expelled military personnel include Arabic linguists and intelligence specialists who help crush America’s foes in the War on Terror.

The policy was created because of military concerns that allowing gays to serve would cause problems with morale, discipline, and unit cohesion. DADT was a compromise which ended the prohibition on gays in the military and replaced it with a prohibition on (1) men and women who engage in homosexual acts; (2) men and women who say they are gay or bi; and (3) men and women who get or attempt to get a same-sex marriage. Big difference there, right?

But it wasn't about whether gay enlistees were trustworthy. The issue was whether allowing gays to serve would hurt the military. In the 15 years since, it has been made clear that allowing closeted gays to serve does not present a morale or discipline problem. The question remains, however, whether allowing gays to openly serve would. It's not about trustworthiness or fairness or, as Murdock writes tongue-in-cheek I hope, "the children." Hopefully, the House subcommittee will confine itself to consideration of that crucial question and not how much it hurts gays' feelings to be excluded.


digg this
posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:46 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
AZ deplorable moron : " I would like to attract owls to our property. May ..."

OrangeEnt: "Thanks, Derak. I have raised beds, but a small yar ..."

All Hail Eris, Cat Slave: "Nimbus is gorgeous! Some cats aren't pets, just w ..."

sex Sex cam: "Since June 2007, when Facebook to start with allow ..."

Prager's Pinups: "Well, I guess I miscalculated. Was doing my workou ..."

Grumpy and Recalcitrant: "*looks at time of post* *looks at watch* Alrig ..."

Chairman LMAO, AI Expert: "That raccoon was trying to find a way into the hou ..."

NR Pax: "[i]4 What great hosts you are! Posted by: KT at O ..."

Grumpy and Recalcitrant: "Re # 204: Nicely disarmed spam whichever COB did ..."

Notsothoreau: "I should put up my camera and see what eats here. ..."

Grumpy and Recalcitrant: "@53/Eromero: "[i]You, my friend, are a Renaissanc ..."

Skip : "https://tinyurl.com/4tzkx9jc This is one of our r ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64