keep it on the dl
there are gay people helping our country
by melaniekartzmer

Last week, Darren Manzella got released from the U.S. Army under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” This is the ridiculous law signed by Bill Clinton that essentially allows gay people to serve in the military as long as they don’t tell anyone, and forbids the military from inquiring about sexual preferences. The act also prohibits people from engaging in any homosexual acts. Originally, Darren was a combat medi, and later served as a liaison officer. He had served two tours of duty in Iraq and was promoted three times in six years.

Darren Manzella came out to his supervisor who said everything would be okay. When CBS asked for gay people in the military to tell their story, Manzella volunteered, thinking he could give voice to the estimated 65,000 gays serving in the military. A week after the story aired, he was discharged.

The fact that this policy still exists is an embarrassment to our country. We claim to be this free, enlightened, egalitarian society, and we’re fighting against an intolerant, repressive, extremist group. Yet for some reason we are so fearful and intolerant of homosexuality that we refuse participation of gay individuals even if it hurts the broader war effort. They are members of the most highly trained military force in the world, but somehow all of that training is meaningless because their sexual preference trumps everything.

Are we even a tolerant society? Sure, we fought for years for minority groups to gain equal rights, but what does it say when we won’t even accept gay people in the military, the institution protecting our country!? One of Obama’s campaign promises was to repeal this law, yet it has not been done. I’d tell him to get on that, before more people receive honorable discharge and we lose valuable officers. The military has already released 13,000 lesbians, gays, and bisexuals according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

It’s especially frightening looking at the people who were recently discharged, notably multiple Arabic translators, people who we need desperately and only have so many of. On the days leading up to September 11th, messages between Al Queda members came into our security agencies to be translated, but never were until it was too late. Sure, there are millions of messages, but if we had more Arabic translators, the faster we could understand the possible threats facing our country. More than 55 Arabic language specialists have been discharged from the U.S. military since 1994 because they are gay. We’re fighting a war in Iraq, and have millions of Arabic messages coming into the National Security Agency, yet they don’t get translated in a timely fashion because of our lack of linguists. Pathetic.

An appalling example of this is the experience of a man named Ian Finkenbinder. Ian served with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and his job title was cryptologic linguist. He translated radio transmissions, interviewed Iraqi citizens with important information, and tried to find more native Arabic speakers willing to work with the military. He played a large role in keeping U.S. soldiers safe and trying to gain the support of Iraqi civilians. He received the Army Commendation Medal while in Iraq, as well as the Good Conduct Medal and the Army Achievement Medal. Ian got tired of having to hide who he truly was, and decided to serve openly. His commander was reluctant to discharge him because of his rare skills, yet he received honorable discharge under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

This needs to end. We can’t afford to risk the lives of our military members for the sole purpose of ensuring no gays serve. The United States needs a better policy, one that is more in line with our free society values. Barack Obama and Congress have to power to do just that, once they realize that this is a priority.