Comments on: What needs to happen to change ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ http://blog.coachsappho.com/2009/06/08/notodontaskdonttell0609/ Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:41:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Barb Elgin http://blog.coachsappho.com/2009/06/08/notodontaskdonttell0609/comment-page-1/#comment-1372 Barb Elgin Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:29:30 +0000 http://blog.coachsappho.com/?p=957#comment-1372 Beautifully said, Linda. And, as a veteran, you know the issues firsthand. The cool thing is, we will continue to fight until we become another western nation that allows open service. Continue to fight and believe. Eventually, the truth DOES win out! Beautifully said, Linda. And, as a veteran, you know the issues firsthand. The cool thing is, we will continue to fight until we become another western nation that allows open service. Continue to fight and believe. Eventually, the truth DOES win out!

]]> By: Linda Thomas http://blog.coachsappho.com/2009/06/08/notodontaskdonttell0609/comment-page-1/#comment-1360 Linda Thomas Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:32:17 +0000 http://blog.coachsappho.com/?p=957#comment-1360 Both my partner and I are retired military and saw first hand the results of DoD's policy against gays in the military. Then Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) came along and although it precluded the military from asking about a servicemember's sexual orientation, it also created an environment of double pretension incompatible with the high level of integrity required from our servicemen and women. That is, the military pretends gays and lesbians don't exist, and the gays and lesbians pretend they aren't. I've had the privilege of working with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) at www.SLDN.org. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to repealing DADT and representing servicemembers who get into trouble with DADT. Today's Supreme Court Decision may seem like a setback, but according to SLDN, if the Court had taken the case, it wouldn't have determined the constitutionality of the law -- yes, DADT is a law. It would only at it's best, referred the particular case in question back to the District Court to be tried on it's merits. The best approach to repeal DADT is to fight fire with fire. Our opponents claim allowing gays and lesbians open service would impact unit cohesion, morale and good order. We have to continue to drive home how far from the truth that is. In fact, in my experience, the pretension required by gay and lesbian servicemembers in the military is the problem. It requires servicemembers to hide a major portion of who they are and ensures they can't "bring their whole selves to work". It is time to join the 26 other westernized nations in allowing open service for our gay and lesbian servicemembers. I am still hopeful President Obama will make it happen. It's up to us though to keep the pressure up on our legislators...we can make the difference. Take a look at my SLDN blog entry for Memorial Day last year: http://www.sldn.org/blog/archives/memorial-day-what-it-means-to-me/ Take Care, Linda Both my partner and I are retired military and saw first hand the results of DoD’s policy against gays in the military. Then Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) came along and although it precluded the military from asking about a servicemember’s sexual orientation, it also created an environment of double pretension incompatible with the high level of integrity required from our servicemen and women. That is, the military pretends gays and lesbians don’t exist, and the gays and lesbians pretend they aren’t.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) at http://www.SLDN.org. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to repealing DADT and representing servicemembers who get into trouble with DADT. Today’s Supreme Court Decision may seem like a setback, but according to SLDN, if the Court had taken the case, it wouldn’t have determined the constitutionality of the law — yes, DADT is a law. It would only at it’s best, referred the particular case in question back to the District Court to be tried on it’s merits.

The best approach to repeal DADT is to fight fire with fire. Our opponents claim allowing gays and lesbians open service would impact unit cohesion, morale and good order. We have to continue to drive home how far from the truth that is. In fact, in my experience, the pretension required by gay and lesbian servicemembers in the military is the problem. It requires servicemembers to hide a major portion of who they are and ensures they can’t “bring their whole selves to work”.

It is time to join the 26 other westernized nations in allowing open service for our gay and lesbian servicemembers. I am still hopeful President Obama will make it happen. It’s up to us though to keep the pressure up on our legislators…we can make the difference. Take a look at my SLDN blog entry for Memorial Day last year: http://www.sldn.org/blog/archives/memorial-day-what-it-means-to-me/

Take Care, Linda

]]>