Ethics Bob

Until 1993 homosexuals were banned from the U.S. military, and military investigators worked hard to search out and discharge closet gays and lesbians. Then in 1993 Congress passed the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law (aka DADT) to prevent President Clinton from opening the military to gays and lesbians.

The law frees the military from the obligation to search out and discharge homosexuals (“Don’t ask”), while prohibiting service members from disclosing their homosexuality (“Don’t tell”).

Now the Obama administration has set out to do away with DADT, and allow gays and lesbians to serve openly. The Secretary of Defense has started a year long study into how to best implement the change. America’s military leadership recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gen. George Casey, Army chief, and Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief, feared that repeal could cause stress on a force that is fully engaged in two wars.

Adm. Gary Roughead, Navy chief, kept his thoughts to himself, emphasizing the importance of the planned study. Gen. James Conway, Marine Corps Commandant, wants present law unchanged—no need for a study, just have the President back off.

The hero was Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To him, the issue was truth and integrity.

“Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.
“For me, personally, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.
“I also believe that the great young men and women of our military can and would accommodate such a change. I never underestimate their ability to adapt.”

Tags: don't ask, don't tell.Mike Mullen, ethics, Gary Roughhead, gays, George Casey, homosexuals, integrity, James Conway, lesbians, military, Norton Schwartz, Obama administration, Secretary of defense

This entry was posted on February 27, 2010 at 10:08 pm and is filed under military, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.