Last week, President Obama stated that he believed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which he had previously defended, was unconstitutional.
This was an important move for Obama because it finally showed him moving to the left on the issue of gay rights. In the past, the LGBT community had been unsatisfied with Obama's willingness to fully support them, and this move won him a lot of favor.
Unfortunately, Obama found himself dealing with another controversy later in the week, when he filed an appeal with Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, asking them to temporarily uphold the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, which was repealed by Congress in December.
Don't Ask Don't Tell prevents openly gay people from serving in the military, and many activists for LGBT rights had been trying to get it repealed. In the aftermath of Obama's appeal, many wonder if his quote about DOMA was simply lip-service for the LGBT community, done purely for political purposes.
At The Spectrum, we do not believe this is the case. Controversial or not, the best way to implement the repeal of DADT is through a slow, gradual process that will allow the military to adjust to the changing set of rules.
Consider what happened with the Civil Rights movement in the '60s. Many parts of the act were implemented too quickly and, as a result, chaos and rioting ensued. No one would deny that ending segregation was a great thing, but had the process been eased into a bit more, there may have been a lot less violence.
The counter-argument to this would be that allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military is simply the right thing to do, just as ending segregation was the right thing to do, and therefore it should be implemented as soon as possible.
While The Spectrum believes the repeal was the morally correct decision, we also understand that it takes time to create a gay-friendly military.
When looking at this, it's important to realize that many homosexual troops would still be fearful of homophobia in the military, and even though they could serve openly without being kicked out, many would still choose not to reveal their sexual orientation.
This is why waiting to implement the appeal is a good move. It would give the military time to employ efforts such as sensitivity training, and create an atmosphere where there is a greater understanding of homosexuality. Also, straight troops would feel less uneasy about serving with gay troops.
To be clear, we are not accusing the military of being homophobic. We are simply saying that there may be some unease about allowing openly gay troops to serve, while many gay troops would be fearful of homophobia if they were to reveal their homosexuality. Taking that into consideration, having a transition period to work through that unease is logical.
We fully support the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and have no qualms with openly gay troops. With that said, there nothing wrong with taking some time to make sure the process is implemented correctly.
