Obviously it will mark an important milestone in the long road of equality and justice when the day finally arrives when gay men and lesbians can serve their country openly and with pride. That gay and lesbian service members are currently forced to live a lie and deny their loved ones and families is a reminder that the struggle for equal rights for all very much continues.
A common point of opposition to repealing the discriminatory and counterproductive “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy is that lifting the ban will lower troop morale and weaken unit cohesion. This of course ignores the attitudes of service members themselves. According to a 2006 poll, 73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays. Further, one in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan and Iraq personally knows a member of their unit who is gay.
And now, a video spoof of the Kesha song “Blah, Blah, Blah” made by troops serving in Iraq is spreading around the web. In it, troops do a pretty funny take reacting to news that gays and lesbians can finally serve openly. Quite frankly, I had no idea so many service members were such…talented dancers or so good with glow sticks!
Of course all of this was done in jest and it is very likely that none of the troops featured in the video are gay. What it does show is that all of these phantom fears about morale and cohesion being threatened by open service are completely misplaced. I once heard someone say that DADT is a policy that was written and supported by men who were born in the 1930s and 40s and who came of age in the 1950s and early 60s and whose impact falls on troops who were born in the 1980s and early 90s and came of age in the early part of the 21st century. It is in many ways a relic of the past that continues to do actual harm in the present day. It’s time for it to go!
