“GET ‘DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL’ DONE!”

 In 2007, Barack Obama detested the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy which hindered homosexuals from expressing their “same-sex orientation”. Initially, the policy restricted homosexuals from talking or asking anything related with sexual status. The bad thing with this policy is that gays and lesbians in the military could not openly disclose their status and if they do so, they were discharged (Chapter 27). In other words, gays and lesbians were allowed to work if they agreed to hide their identity.  The issue has raised a debate where proponents argue that gays and lesbian should have their rights to expressing their status while opponents argue that they will harm the public acceptability, harm the military units, unit cohesion, mutual trust and confidence.  For this reason, Barack Obama asserted that Gays and lesbian have their rights and they should be treated with fairness and justice. Barack Obama had a putative passion to repeal the policy. The key point in this chapter is that the policy contributed to controversy and it became a public debate (Chapter 27).  The root cause of controversy was that even though the policy allowed gays and lesbian to participate in military, they are many cases of discrimination. During Obama administration, gays and lesbians faced a senseless discharge where the total number of women and men who were discharged was 169 and 259 respectively (Chapter 27). For this reason, Obama believed that the policy was wrong and there was a need for repeal to ensure justice and fairness to African Americans and sexual minorities. At this point, the members of the congress showed an interest in amending the policy and implementing a new policy which could end discrimination on sexual orientation. However, Obama was nicknamed as a coward president since he failed to fulfill his promise in repealing the policy. Despite the fact that Obama had said that he will unite with Congress and military to claim the rights of gay American, he failed to respond to this issue (Chapter 27).

 The relevant issue that is discussed in this chapter is the current status of gays and Lesbian in America. Gays and lesbians are facing a high level of discrimination when it comes to serving the public. Despite the fact that President Obama and his congress had the idea to repeal the policy, the number of discharges is high. The point is that homosexuals face challenges in military services and this has contributed to a debate   that holds different perceptions-persistent presence and persistent hostility (Chapter 27). The issue of gays in armed forced started many years ago where gays were being excluded.  The rate of the problem has increased since communities believe that gays and lesbians are a threat to the society and ineffective fighter in the armed force. To address this issue, Clinton administration enacted the policy which has worked to stop the consensual sodomy (Chapter 27).The relevant point in this chapter is that the policy is flawed as it allows the homosexual people to work in a certain condition. In other words, homosexuals’ status affects the morale and discipline in the armed force.  It is believed that homosexual people have deviant behaviors and disrupts the operations. In the armed force, homosexuals cannot participate since it is believed that they will harm the unit cohesion-task and social cohesion. Task cohesion means that employees should unite to achieve effectiveness while social cohesion means that employees should unite to build mutual trust. In the military environment, the unit cohesion is important and lack of unit and social cohesion will contribute to unit ineffectiveness. The relevant issue is that the exclusion and discrimination are rooted from the idea of social and task cohesion. In the military, task and unit cohesion are inseparable and there are needed for military operations. However, the military fail to understand that homosexual do not affect task cohesion but rather improves performance and increases social cohesion.

 

 This is the high time to change the military system and eliminate the culture wars. Since the policy was created, homosexual’s people have faced senseless discharges from military services (Chapter 27). People should eliminate the negative attitude and perceptions and focus for reappraisal. Note that homosexual people do not affect unit cohesion in any way but rather they should be allowed to openly serve in the military to increase the efficacy.  Homosexual are excluded in the military services for different rationales such as sexual misconduct, harm the unit cohesion and more (Chapter 27). However, it is important to note that the rationales are not credible and the point is homosexual people are good American who have the capability in improving performance and efficacy.  It is high time to avoid the incredible justification and consider the role of homosexuals in task completion and achieving common goals.  The military should value the rights of homosexual and create a policy which will address the heterosexuals’ conduct and a policy that will alter their negative attitudes toward homosexuality. There should be military programs designed to change the attitudes and beliefs, and eliminate racial conflict. The program will foster civil working relations, task and social cohesion.

 

Reference

Chapter 27. “GET ‘DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL’ DONE!”