Effective immediately, the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy is no more!
In light of the recent federal court decision that prevents the military from expelling openly gay service members, the Pentagon has alerted all of its recruiting commands to immediately begin accepting openly gay and lesbian recruit candidates. Recruiters were told that if a candidate admits he or she is openly gay, and that person qualifies under normal recruiting guidelines, their application must be processed. However, recruiters are still forbidden to ask a candidate if they are gay as part of the application process.
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was implemented during the Clinton administration, as a compromise to stop instant discharges of military personnel solely on the assumption of their sexuality. The policy was never meant to be a permanent solution and was, at the time, considered a band-aid for the much larger issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The policy was long considered unconstitutional, and surprisingly took many years to reach the courts for a definitive ruling. The military has long been against an openly gay policy, arguing it will affect morale within the ranks. To date, there are several factions which are already preparing an appeal to the judges ruling, in hopes of overturning the bench rule and reinstating the limitations of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Recruiters are being reminded to “manage expectations” of all applicants by informing them that a reversal of the court decision might occur, whereby the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy could be reinstated. Or in other words, expect a long, hard fight from those who want to protect their false illusion that there are no gays already in the military, and there never will be.
