Originally Posted by KeyPilot
Surprised not to see a thread about this already.
After 18 years, the US has ended it's "don't ask, don't tell" policy towards those openly gay serving in its military.
The end to a discriminatory policy which denied millions of Americans the right to serve their country with pride and honour? Or a politically correct move which will undermine the operational effectiveness of the world's greatest military?
Or merely that those of us who have actual knowledge of the US military when DADT was instituted are fed up with the distorted and deceptive way the media is dealing with this issue.
And that we understand that this "repeal" was inevitable, and the expected end-game that DADT started.
All I hear on the media mirrors the OP's incorrect evaluation of DADT as a "a discriminatory policy which denied millions of Americans the right to serve their country with pride and honour".
In reality, DADT
ALLOWED thousands of homosexual Americans to serve in the military without fear of the previous enforcement of a section of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice which specifically described same-sex sexual activity as a criminal offense.
This section (and the associated legal policies) had required investigations into even
rumors of homosexual activity, required criminal prosecution of those found to have engaged in such acts, and sent those convicted to military prison for at least 2 years before receiving a Dishonorable Discharge.
I saw several cases where exactly this was done during my 8 years in the USMC (1981-1989).
DADT replaced this with
no investigations without evidence, and an administrative discharge for those whose sexual orientation or same-sex sexual activities became known to the military.
Once DADT (which was actually a
policy [Defense Directive 1304.26] ordered by President Clinton) was issued, it was apparent that this would only be in place for a time, and then homosexuality would inevitably be completely legalized in the US military... the only question remaining was how long until that happened.
To those of us who remember before 1993, this is not unexpected... and the vast majority of ex-US military (and a majority of serving US military) do NOT see this as being bad for the military.
After all, DADT already allowed homosexuals to serve for the last 17+ years, and military discipline didn't collapse... so there is nothing to worry about now... the only real change is that they can "come out of the closet" and not worry about being discharged or prosecuted.