[華盛頓郵報]同志軍人在中東
資料來源http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29240-2003Mar25.html
EDITORIAL-
No Gays Except . . .
IN THE YEARS since the "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gay service
members went into effect, the U.S. military has discharged a steadily
increasing number of men and women because of their sexual orientations,
although they wished to continue serving their country. Then the United
States went to war. And suddenly, according to a new report from the
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), the witch hunts dropped off
sharply. In 2001, 1,273 people were discharged for being gay. Last year,
by contrast, 906 were discharged. The sharp decline, the SLDN notes, is
consistent with the military's behavior in past wars. When their services
are truly needed, it seems, the threat that gay men and lesbians supposedly
pose to unit cohesion doesn't loom as large.
Not all gays in the military are being protected by having skills critical
to the war on terrorism or the war in Iraq. We have previously noted the
irrational discharges of military linguists who acknowledged being gay.
More of these cases, the SLDN report warns, are coming down the pike. But
the larger pattern is that tolerance increases as necessity requires. And
that would be all for the good if the military would only learn the obvious
lesson from it: that gay men and lesbians fight honorably during wartime
without deleterious effects on any military effort. That being the case,
they should not be drummed out of their positions once the military again
has the luxury of indulging this last socially acceptable bigotry. "Don't
ask, don't tell" works against our military preparedness, is unfair to
patriotic Americans and, as a policy, has failed miserably. It must be
repealed.
c 2003 The Washington Post Company
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