Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Get Lost. Errr, No, Wait, Come Back!!

On Sunday, May 6, 2007, Stars and Stripes published a story about Jason Knight, a sailor who was discharged from the Navy in 2004 under the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. As has been the case for thousands of qualified military personnel since this policy was implemented, he was essentially told "Go away, we don't like your kind around here." And then a funny thing happened . . . nine months later, he was recalled to active duty. The article states that he is now being completely open about his sexuality, and "He’s better than the average sailor at his job," according to one of his direct supervisors.

So what's it going to be, Department of Defense? Are gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines automatically unfit to serve or not? There have been dozens of ludicrous stories as a result of DADT (Bleu Copas being asked if he was involved in community theater comes to mind), but this really takes the cake. The cake that, apparently, the DoD wants to have and to eat, too.

As previously noted in this space, I had written to my congressman, Eric Cantor, regarding HR 1246, the bill that had been introduced by Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass calling for the repeal of DADT (and which is currently, for some reason, languishing in committee). To his credit, Cantor (or more likely somebody on his staff) sent me a letter acknowledging my input. I will now follow up with him, as well as write to both my senators.