Bill Proposition for Dont Ask, Dont Tell

8/7/2019 Bill Proposition for Dont Ask, Dont Tell

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Charles Juhnke

U.S. Government Period 4

12/14/10

Ruiz

Title

This measure shall be known as and may be cited as the Dont Ask, Dont Tell

Revised Bill of 2010 and 2011, or abbreviated DADT.

Findings and Declarations

A revised version of the original Dont Ask, Dont Tell Bill was announced to the

House of Representatives Tuesday, December 14th, 2010. The bill will be voted on

tomorrow in the House of Representatives, says Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The bill will allow the United States Pentagon to end the ban restricting gay and lesbian

soldiers to serve openly in the military, which has been held for close to 20 years (2,

Washington Post). Currently, the United States does not allow homosexuals to serve openly

in the military, which would be considered discriminatory. It was deemed Unconstitutional

by U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips under the First and Fifth Amendments, stated in the

case Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America (4, Examiner.com). This also

restricts those individuals to be able to perform their duties and jobs to their full potential,


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because they have to be constantly thinking about what they do/say/how they act. It can also

weaken the United States and restrict it from using valuable tools that may be at their

disposal. A report made by the Government Accountability Office showed that back in early

2005, at least 800 dismissed service members had skills the Pentagon referred to as Mission

Critical and out of those members, 54 were Arabic-Language Specialists (3, USA Today).

This is throwing away valuable resources that the U.S Military could use and which could

contribute greatly to our work in the Middle East. The United States Pentagon released a

report back in November that was aimed towards how soldiers would feel or how they would

be able to function/continue functioning if gay and/or lesbian individuals were allowed to

serve openly in the military. In that report, it showed that 70 percent of military serviceman,

if they worked with an openly gay/lesbian military colleague, would have either a positive,

mixed, or nonexistent affect on their abilities to work as a soldier. On the other hand, 60

percent of combat Marines said that, if they worked with an openly gay/lesbian serviceman,

there would be a negative impact on their performance as a soldier (1, Daily Caller). This

bill needs to be passed, because it has the potential to help the United States further our

efforts in the Middle East, as well as to cease to be the simple-minded, backwards society

that many see the U.S as.


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Purpose and Intent

The purpose of pushing for this bill to pass is that this could be the change for the

United States to truly be the place that people of all shapes and sizes to come and experience

what is so familiarly coined The American Dream. For this to happen, we must first get

past the way that we continue to discriminate against people of different orientation than

what is seen and thought of as normal or mainstream. This means that this bill must be

passed. Some may feel that this bill cannot be passed due to fear of someone that may be

homosexual being around them. This homophobic attitude has held up in debate in Congress

for a long time, but may finally be put to rest. Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., was one of the

people who introduced the revised DADT bill in the House today. He returned from Iraq on

February 23rd of this year and talks about his experience in Iraq. He said that People in need

of medical specialists couldnt care less about sexual orientation (3, USA Today). Other

representatives have spoken out about their own personal experiences having to do with gays

in the military. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said that her husband was cared for by a

lesbian nurse (3, USA Today). So from one stand point, the military could allow

homosexuals into the military to serve openly and gain people that can help the injured

soldiers, speak Arabic and have very good fighting skills and battle tactics. From the other

stand point, the military could continue to not allow gays and lesbians into the military, lose

valuable translators, doctors/nurses, soldiers/generals, and continue to be seen as the nation

that continues to discriminate against people, all just because they want to be themselves and


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be able to speak and act freely, like the straight United States citizens get to do. That would

have a very deleterious effect on the armed services said Judge Phillips (4,

Examiner.com). True, it may affect some people that could be very uncomfortable working

with/being near someone that may be gay or lesbian. And if those people that are feeling

uncomfortable about that are soldiers/service members that could make it so they dont

function at 100% efficiency. On the other hand, being a homosexual soldier/service member

could be fairly close to that, in the sense that they wouldnt be able to operate at 100%

efficiency, like how they were trained. This could affect the life back home away from the

military. If this bill passed, the United States would be one step closer to passing a gay

marriage bill in some to all states, because discrimination towards a certain group of people,

not allowing that group of people to marry is also unconstitutional. That would put the U.S.

one step closer to being the country that truly does accept everyone for whom they really are.

Proposal

One major restriction that must be emphasized is about the actual asking part of

DADT. If one service member asks another if they are gay or if they are lesbian, it is not

required for the person that was asked to answer the question. This is true with the current

bill that is being proposed, but confusion can occur here when reading or talking about it.

Another restriction that must be addressed is the obvious reason for why some people may be

homophobic, especially towards homosexual men; having sex in the military, or


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relationships in the military between gay or lesbian couples where sex may be suspected. The

same rule of being caught applies to people of both sexual orientations, straight and

homosexual. It says in the military that if you are caught having sex in the military, you will

be dismissed. This should be the exact same with homosexual service members/soldiers. Just

as it is not fair to restrict gays to serve openly in the military, it would also be unfair to not

allow a discharge if cause having sex while in the military. Similarly to this is the fact that

homosexuals, (it is thought of towards homosexual males more than females) just because of

their sexual orientation does not mean that they want every man or woman that they see. This

is a homophobic stereotype and should simply be dropped in this matter.

Severability

If anyone the bill is deemed unconstitutional, that part will become a void section and

shall not go into effect if the bill is passed. But in the event of one section/part of the bill

becoming a void section, that action/correction to the bill will not veto the rest of the bill.

One section being cut shall not and will not veto/cut the rest of the bill.


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Worked Cited Page

1. Moody,Chris. "Dont Ask, Dont Tell repeal bill to be introduced in HouseTuesday | The Daily Caller - Breaking News,Opinion,Research,and Entertainment." N.p.,

14 Dec. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/14/dont-ask-dont-tell-

repeal-bill-to-be-introduced-in-house-tuesday/

2. O'Keefe, Ed. "Federal Eye - House to vote Wednesday on new 'Don't Ask,Don't Tell' bill." Blog Directory (washingtonpost.com). N.p., 14 Dec. 2010. Web. 14 Dec.

2010. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-

eye/2010/12/the_house_of_representatives_w.html?wprss=federal-eye

3. Diaz, Alan, and AP. "Bill targets 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' - USATODAY.com."News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World -

USATODAY.com. N.p., 12 Mar. 2007. Web. 14 Dec. 2010.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-02-27-dont-ask-dont-tell_x.htm

4. Estrella, Sarah. "Have courts had enough of homophobia? Federal judge rulesDADT unconstitutional - National Sex & Relationships | Examiner.com." NationalNews,

National Information,National Events - Examiner.com | Examiner.com. N.p., 10 Sept. 2010.

Web. 14 Dec. 2010. http://www.examiner.com/sex-relationships-in-national/have-courts-

had-enough-of-homophobia-federal-judge-rules-dadt-unconstitutional

Documents

Bill Proposition for Dont Ask, Dont Tell