Don't ask Don't tell

Don't ask Don't Tell has been coming up a lot in the media lately and it came up in my Agrumentation in Debate class as a topic to debate over. The repeal of this policy failed to be lift which bans open gays to serve in the military. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-vote-repeal-ban-gays-military/story?id=11685658)  In one of his speeches, Obama states that he will end the Don't Ask Don't Tell law. It allows openly gay men and women to be discharged from the military that was passed by Congress in 1993.    (http://www.sldn.org/pages/about-dadt) Since 1994 13,500 members who have served in the military were fired because of this law being passed. In Obama's reign alone there are been around 400 soldiers discharged from the military for being openly gay and sent home. Lady Gaga is one of the biggest advocates for gay, lesbian, and bisexual rights for equality. She has made several speeches on repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell towards the Senate. Where she states that those are being gay profiled and have become targets where their things are unrightfully searched. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/lady-gaga-senate-repeal-dont-ask-dont-tell-message-11664111) This law creating inequality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transexuals was put forth while Clinton was in office. The originial concept was to protect the gays from wrongful discrimination and safety, but this compromise was never kept. There is a lack of safety because harrassment cannot be discussed unless theyre looking for a full out investigation which can lead to discharge. The Pentagon surveyed 72,000 service members and the survey found that 80% of members have heard either offensive language, derogatory names, jokes or remarks about gay men and lesbians in previous years. 85% believed those commetnts were tolerated to some extent. 37% of members stated they have witnessed or experienced an incident that THEY considered anti-gay harassment. (http://www.soulforce.org/article/808) The reason this hits so close to home is because I have a gay relative and even though I know they have no motivation to join the military openly, it's the moral of the story. It's the fact that he can't join it openly even if he is happy with the way he is and his lifestyle because all in all they are discriminating the LGBT community creating greater inequalities than any of us could imagine. (http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/09/reed-scores-gop-for-blocking-d.html)