About 13 years ago, Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) not only supported the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he also helped write it. He’s since come around.
In 2005, Meehan championed the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal the policy based on the belief that the ban undermines national security at a time when the military is struggling to recruit soldiers. As Meehan said in May 2005, “In a time of war, it’s outrageous that the military continues to discharge thousands of experienced, courageous, dedicated service members, with many of the critical skills that are needed in the war on terror, for reasons that have nothing to do with their conduct in uniform.”
Meehan’s bill, oddly enough, garnered 122 co-sponsors, including three Republicans. Of course, in a Republican-led House, the measure couldn’t get so much as a hearing, better yet a floor vote. Of course, it’s not a Republican-led House anymore.
Two leading House Democrats said yesterday that they intend to reverse the 13-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays and lesbians in the military when Congress comes under Democratic control in January.
Representative Martin T. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, said he plans to hold congressional hearings early next year of the House Armed Services Subcommittee, which he is likely to chair, on a bill that would allow homosexuals to serve in the armed forces.
“We will have hearings, and then we can have an honest dialogue with members of Congress,” Meehan said.
“I believe, and have always believed, that once people see the facts, it will become clear that this is a policy that actually hurts national security and hurts the military.”
I don’t think that’s true — ardent backers of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy know the facts but don’t care — but I’m actually looking forward to the debate anyway.
It’s inevitable that the right will somehow whine about gays being … what’s the word … too “icky” for military service, but Meehan is doing this the right way — by emphasizing military readiness. The armed forces need qualified, well-trained volunteers in a time of war, and right now, we’re kicking those qualified, well-trained volunteers out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Moreover, it’s costing taxpayers a fortune and, for that matter, many of the discharged service members held critical jobs in the military, including troops in fields such as military intelligence, battleground medicine, and linguistics.
It offers Congress, and the public, a choice: who wants to put a nonsensical culture war above national security?
Obviously, this won’t be easy. A full repeal would struggle to get a majority in the House, would probably face a filibuster in the Senate, and would no doubt draw a White House veto. Still, it’s about incremental progress.
Even those who strongly support ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” acknowledge they probably don’t have the votes to change the policy, but hearings would be a first and important step toward educating Congress and the public, said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonprofit group that is working to end the policy.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, a lot of education to be done,” Ralls said.
I’d like to think the education would be easy. Ask a typical American, “The U.S. military recruited and trained a linguistic specialist who can translate intercepted terrorist messages, possibly about attacks on American soil. Do you a) want that linguist on the job, possibly saving American lives; or b) want that linguist to be kicked out of the military forever because he or she is gay?”
As I see it, it’s only a matter of time before this absurd and indefensible policy is thrown on the trash heap of bad ideas.