Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell's Moral Dilemma

Randy Brown
ENG 122-C15
November 28, 2009
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Military’s Moral Dilemma
Since the early 1990’s, the United States military has allowed homosexuals to serve under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.  This policy allows gay men and women to serve only under the pretext that they will not tell anyone about their sexual orientation and will not commit any homosexual act during their time in service.  Recently, this policy has come under much scrutiny, and many people have begun to push to allow gays to openly serve.  With President Barack Obama pushing to have this policy removed, many think that it will only be a matter of time before gays can serve without having to hide who they are.  There are many sides to the argument, ranging from logical to the arguably completely irrational.  Advocates for the policy are often viewed as homophobic, and those pushing for the policy’s repeal are seen as left-wing activists.  Despite the heavy divide between individuals on both sides of the argument, no one seems to be able to justify forcing someone to lie, or, at least, no one seems to be able to justify an individual hiding the truth in order to serve his or her country.  Some service members and civilians believe forcing someone to do so is a massive blow to the values that men and women serving in the Department of Defense are expected to live by.  Don’t Ask Don’t Tell violates military values and should be repealed.
In the 1992 presidential election, a young, charismatic William Clinton was playing saxophone on MTV and breaking through to demographics not mobilized since the sixties.  The US Military had just led a coalition of international forces on a successful campaign to crush Saddam Hussein’s forces and push them out of Kuwait.  During Desert Storm and Desert Shield, women had their mettle tested in combat for the first time since the Department of Defense had opened up most non-combat military occupational specialties to them in the early eighties.  The political and cultural climate in the United States was changing.
One of the campaign promises President Clinton made as a candidate was the promise to allow gays to openly serve in the military; this would prove to be a difficult task.  Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was a compromise on President Clinton’s vow to allow gays to openly serve, a vow which received significant push-back from Congress when he tried to make that original promise become reality.  Many critics say that Clinton gave in with Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but the former president sees it differently.  Both houses of Congress had just passed a piece of legislation to completely ban gays from serving in the military.  In an interview on CBS, the former president says the legislation had been passed by a “veto-proof” margin and that it prevented his being able to make an executive order allowing gays to serve (Farber).  General Colin Powell, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a key player in getting Don’t Ask Don’t Tell passed, and, according to President Clinton, GEN Powell had promised him a much more tolerant policy than what was actually enacted (Farber).  Clinton was under the impression that as long as gay service members did not talk about their conduct at work they would be free to “go to gay bars, [and] march in gay rights parades” (Farber).  This was a very different Don’t Ask Don’t Tell than was actually enacted, and, in practice, it gave gay service members no more freedom to serve than they had enjoyed prior to its enactment.  Moreover, after the act was passed, there was a push in the military among some commands to seek out gays and process them out of the military (Brown).  The prejudice of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell became painfully apparent.
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell prohibits gays from openly serving in the military.  Officially the policy is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Act, Don’t Harass.  It not only prohibits homosexuals from being asked about or talking about their sexual orientation, but it also prohibits them from engaging in any homosexual conduct.  Homosexual conduct is defined in Department of Defense Instruction 1332.12, section H as:
“conduct…[including] homosexual acts, a statement by a member that demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts, or a homosexual marriage or attempted marriage.  A statement by a member that demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts is grounds for separation not because it reflects the member's sexual orientation, but because the statement indicates a likelihood that the member engages in or will engage in homosexual acts.  A member's sexual orientation is considered a personal and private matter, and is not a bar to continued service under this section unless manifested by homosexual conduct” (Stanford).
Depending on the chain of command, which is responsible for enforcing policy, this conduct could be as simple as a hug.  If a service member’s chain of command receives credible, quantifiable information that calls the person’s sexual preference into question, an investigation is launched; consequently, that individual could be discharged in a very short amount of time.  Recently this has been one of the leading arguments in favor of the removal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; many competent, capable Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Coastguardsmen, and Marines have been discharged for their sexual conduct even though the Department of Defense has had trouble finding enough people to fill the roles in its all volunteer military.  Some heterosexual service members, regardless of their stance on homosexuality, took issue with the policy.
Ask any Soldier serving in the United States Army about the Army Values, and he or she will be able to recite the seven values as well as a detailed explanation as to what each one means.  Some will have favorites that they feel are the most important for one reason or another; the military, just like the country it defends, is diverse.  The Army has taken its values—loyalty, duty, respect, selfless-service, honor, integrity, and personal courage—and formalized them in its doctrine.  This formal, quantifiable means of evaluating character is present in all five branches of service; the values are not identical but are essentially the same and represent a moral foundation grounded in integrity.  These values are at the core of military service because the men and women of America’s armed services have to be able to trust the person serving, and, in the reality that the War on Terrorism has posed to this nation, they sometimes have to be able to trust the person fighting next to them.  Trust can be a very difficult and sometimes elusive concept to cultivate under “normal” circumstances, and this becomes even more of a hardship without some moral common ground to facilitate that bonding.  Heterosexuals and homosexuals, under policies prior to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell had been serving under a common set of values that included honesty.
The policy on homosexuals serving in the military prior to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell did not violate the common value of honesty.  It was discriminatory and biased, and it was rooted in the sort of direct prejudice which racial minorities and women had been forced to suffer throughout the past century; however, it did not officially force people to violate the values they would be expected to live by in order to serve.  Don’t Ask Don’t Tell does exactly that.  This conflict has brought into question the Department of Defense’s reasoning. 
The Department of Defense probably could have maintained more credibility under its previous policy of completely banning gays in the military.  Homosexuals had just as much freedom in the military as they currently do, and they had to falsify or hide the truth to serve; they were not, however, doing so under an official policy.  Telling an individual to lie about his or her sexual orientation in order to serve, requires the person to violate the moral code that those in uniform are expected to serve by from the very minute they raise their hand at the Military Entrance and Processing Station to recite the “Oath of Enlistment.”  This policy is in direct contradiction of all five branches’ moral foundation.  One cannot force someone to lie and still expect him or her to live by a code of integrity and honor. 
Those in favor of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell have several fairly logical points.  Retired Sergeant Major of the Army Brian Jones, who held the Army’s senior enlisted position, says that "[a]llowing homosexuality in the military would cause unnecessary sexual tension and disruptions to good order, morale, discipline and unit cohesion…This would erode the very qualities of military service that presently appeal to potential recruits” (CNN).  This argument is one of the most popular and is rooted in the idea that homosexuals, if allowed to openly serve, will be prone to trying to engage fellow service members romantically.  This would likely prove to be problematic for heterosexual Soldiers.  The argument also purports that some people would choose not to join the military for fear that they would be the target of unwanted advances from homosexuals.  The perceived backlash from recruits has not been the only argument; maybe even more salient for some is the opposition that has come from elected leaders.
There has been significant opposition to the repeal of the policy from many in Congress.  Senator John McCain, for example, said President Obama’s push to repeal the policy is “a political promise made by an inexperienced president or candidate for president of the United States” (Shiner).  Many service members would suggest differently though; several surveys have found that the majority of those serving in the military would have no issues with the policy’s repeal.  One survey of service men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq found that serving alongside homosexuals has “no significant impact on unit cohesion or readiness”  (Bender).
The issue of fear among heterosexuals of advances by openly gay recruits assumes promiscuity in the homosexual community, which is not necessarily the case.  Homosexuals are no more promiscuous than anyone else; some may be promiscuous, but many more are not.  The idea that gays are going to make passes at their comrades and cause problems in their units is rooted in ignorance and stereotypes.  Perhaps one of the strongest arguments against the preconceived notion that homosexuals are inherently promiscuous is the ongoing state to state battle for same sex marriage rights.  Another argument, rooted in prejudice, is also something to which homosexuals have become too painfully accustomed.
Another argument against the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which is at least partially rooted in the first, is that gays will experience undue hardship if allowed to openly serve.  Homophobia is without a doubt common in the military, and it would be ridiculous to think that some gays would not face some persecution.  Not allowing gays to serve for this reason is preposterous.  This is no more logical than preventing a baby from being born based on the assumption that it will eventually die.  This problem will not be solved by preventing gays to serve; it will have to be addressed through command policy within the military and education programs that control ignorance and intolerance in the ranks.  The argument ranks with the argument that allowing men and women to serve side-by-side will result in harassment.  There is male on female harassment in the military, but dismantling these integrated units would only serve to reinforce the argument; the answer has been a “no-tolerance” policy for sexual harassment.  A similar policy prohibiting harassment based on homophobia would serve equally effective and preventative.
Yet another argument is that there would be logistical problems as well.  Would gays get their own bathrooms?  Showers?  Do we allow gay men to serve in all male units, or will they be limited to the types of specialties and units that females are in now?  These are no more valid a reason for preventing gay service than homophobia.  These problems do not come from homosexuals; they stem from homophobia in heterosexuals.  In some units, males and females are sleeping in co-ed tents during exercises and deployments.  The professionalism of the unit determines the morale and conduct of its troops for the most part.  “Scotty P worked us until we were dog-ass tired.  None of us were thinking about having sex,” one former Soldier said of her First Sergeant and his policy against segregated living quarters (Sharp).
There has been a recent push to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and it is very likely that the policy’s days are numbered.  The American public’s opinion on homosexuality has improved drastically since 1993 when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was enacted.  The Department of Defense has been conducting surveys within its ranks to get a feel for how service members would react to homosexuals being allowed to openly serve.  There have been several big steps taken toward repeal already; the federal government has seen significant infighting between its branches.  Federal judges have put the policy’s constitutionality in question, President Obama has its repeal on his presidential agenda, and several senior military officials including Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have spoken out against it. 
Nearly all of the issues Congress, the Department of Defense, and commanders have with homosexuals being allowed to openly serve are rooted in problems generated by stereotypes and phobias that are no more rooted in fact than was Thomas Jefferson’s notion that blacks were intellectually inferior to him and thus had little potential to contribute to society.  Any time a group is on the brink of a breakthrough for its own civil rights, fear, intolerance, and ignorance throw hurdles in its way.  The same perceived potential for promiscuity between males and females was surely raised when women’s service was expanded in the early eighties.  African Americans were excluded from certain jobs for night-blindness and a perceived limited mental capacity.  Both were limited because of fear that they would be persecuted based on their race or sex. 
Admiral Mullin told Ana Marie Cox in an interview for GQ Magazine’s Men of the Year Issue that he has “a very difficult time leading an organization—one of whose pillars is integrity—and asking people to lie every single day they come to work” (Cox 2).  This comment by the military’s senior and most respected uniformed official is a significant departure from the “party” line, and it reflects the change in political climate; it speaks volumes for the discrepancies between Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the core ethics of the United States Military.
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell stemmed from a stalemate between President Clinton and Congress over whether or not to allow gays to openly serve.  This compromise was successful in accomplishing absolutely nothing; not only  did gays end up with exactly the same situation they always had, but passing the policy put the spotlight on them and caused commanders, and sometimes vengeful fellow troops, to seek out gays and sometimes discharge them from service under the new policy.  The policy is arguably a contradiction of what service members are supposed to stand for and should be taken as a personal insult to anyone who wears a uniform.  Morally, it is evident that the Department of Defense has to either allow gays to openly serve or ban their service altogether, but the latter would be nearly impossible. This policy is one of the most counter-intuitive military policies in American history and is a glaring black eye on American policy as a whole.  The only way to make egregious wrong right politically, ethically, and morally is to allow homosexual service members to serve openly in the United States military.
 
Works Cited

“104 retired military brass against ‘don’t ask-don’t tell’.” CNNPolitics. CNN, 17 Nov. 2008. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
Ana Marie Cox.  “A Different Kind of Fighter.”  GQ Dec. 2010.  Web
Brown, Julian.  Personal Interview.  2010
Bryan Bender.  “Survey raises doubts on ‘don’t ask’ policy.” The Boston Globe 10 Nov 2009.  Web.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue.  Stanford Law School Robert Crown Law Library, 2001.  Web.  30 Oct. 2010
Farber, Dan. “Bill Clinton: Colin Powell Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy Fell Short.” CBSNews Politics. CBS, 21 Sep. 2010. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
Sharp, Jackie Ann.  Personal Interview.  2010
Shiner, Meredith.  “John McCain: ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ works.” Politico 29 Nov. 2010.  Web.