DADT : Gay & Black Glossary

DADT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) The policy of the US military that requires homosexuals in the military dishonestly pass as heterosexual. The majority of Americans want to discontinue it. The courts have ruled it unconstitutional. Yet the practice continues. Open service is the term used for a military without DADT. I am of two minds about this. I am in favour of anything that makes it difficult for psychopaths to murder innocent people and be paid for it by the taxpayers. DADT fits in that category.

I think the objection to gays in the military is that, no matter what the official celibacy policy, the gay soldiers will get more sex than the straight ones, even if just on shore leave. This could lead to resentment. But that is a specious argument. The military already accepts gays. Through DADT, it just wants to force them through the indignity of pretending to be straight. It is roughly like a policy of allowing women in the military, where as a policy to discourage them, they accepted only if they dress up in male garb and pass as men. It is a most peculiar policy, requiring people to lie.

President Obama, as commander in chief has the authority to end DADT without consulting congress or the senate. However, he refuses to do that. He also challenged the court ruling demanding it end. Obama is clearly not sincere when he says he supports repealing DADT. He is not as two-faced as Senator McCain, but two-faced enough to lose support of the gays who helped put him in the White House.