The Nonsense of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

While an assistant professor of religious studies at Missouri State and pastor of Pitts Chapel United Methodist Church in Springfield, I wrote a piece in The News-Leader entitled, "U.S. Discriminates Against Gays" (1/29/1993, p. 6A). Here is what appeared in print.

"The opposition to the new president's [Bill Clinton's] desire to lift the ban against homosexuals n the military is reminiscent of support of the ridiculous exclusion of African Americans and women from the service ranks in our recent past.

"Whereas the dynamics are somewhat different in each case, the negative responses to the inclusion of others who are characterized or labeled or lumped together as different or strange (or "queer") belong to the same genre: ignorance, stupidity, fear of unfamiliarity and change, and the complex of superiority.

"The question of sexual preference that is posed to a person who would like to enter the armed forces should be abolished--just as the question of race and gender should be. This is to say that a person's sexuality is that person's business and should not be considered as a factor in that person's ability to execute one's duties.

"Because of the stereotypes and prejudices justified by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a homosexual person is regarded as having no other dimensions of personality other than homosexuality.

"It is the result of these biases that might make some homosexuals outspoken and public about their sexual preference, but it does not characterize all who are homosexual in orientation, as it does not characterize all who are heterosexual.

"Given people's prejudices, lifting the ban on homosexuality in the military is not a simple matter. The expectations of those who are homosexual should not be any different than the expectations of those who are not.

"Many persons condemn homosexuality and transfer dislike upon homosexuals because of some biblical understanding of God's hatred of and Paul's distaste for homosexuality. But it is not clear whether the immorality of Sodom of Gomorrah is sexual in natural and whether the criticism of homosexuality therein is the irrefutable divine word or the inexorable contemporaneous cultural prohibitions to which biblical writers were assimilated.

"Nevertheless, denying homosexuals the right to participate in the military is discrimination at its worst and should not be tolerated by people who enjoy the benefits of democracy because they are white, male, and have a sexual orientation or preference that is not gay!"

Seventeen years later, my position has only grown stronger. It is way past the time when this country should remove any barriers to equal opportunity from anyone's path. A person's sexual orientation should not mute, ostracize, or otherwise interfere with that persons access to the structures, processes, and services of the society, and it should not shield anyone from the dislike or uncomfortableness of others. Rather, homosexuals are full citizens and must be accorded all of the rights and privileges granted to other citizens; discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgendered persons along with their allies should not be tolerated one iota in the body politic. Once and for all, we must abolish any forced silence upon homosexuals in the military and remove any and all of the restrictions placed upon them. It is scandalous to our humanity that we have been so hostile, xenophobic, and homophobic in our addressing this issue!