Doing the right thing; reaction to the DADT repeal

After 17 years and over 13,000 discharges later, the Senate passed the repeal of Dont Ask Dont Tell (DADT), the policy that barres gays from openly serving in the United States military. After everything I have two responses, 1) Bravo to the senate and 2) its about time.

The repeal of DADT is not only morally the right thing to do, it is more practical for the military. Since the policy was implemented in 1993, over 13,000 service men and women have been kicked out of the military. Often these people have highly technical skill sets that are not easily replaced and take time and money to replace. The policy has seen the number of our foreign language speakers go down 10 percent, people who are vital when fighting wars all across the globe.

However aside from being practical, the repeal is just flat out morally the right thing to do. Serving your country is the most honorable thing someone can do, and by forcing people to withhold and hide information about themselves that they have no control over is flat out wrong. Also public opinion is drastically in favor of the repeal. A December ABC poll shows that 77 percent of Americans say gays should be allowed to serve openly, an extremely high and telling number about where the country has come on their opinions of open service. This shift in opinion represents a growing empathy for people born differently in one way, but who love their country just the same as anyone else.

A round of applause should also go out to the 8 Republicans who voted across party lines to end DADT. Senators Collins, Snowe, Voinovich, Murkowski, Brown, Kirk, Ensign and Burr who chose to put principle over politics to end this policy, and they should be commended for that. Also, Scott Brown is continuing to prove that he may stick around for more than just the remainder of Ted Kennedy's term, Brown's moderate stance on many issues is refreshing from a Republican Party seemingly overtaken by ideologues.

So bravo to the Senate for having the courage to pass the repeal, but a heartfelt congratulations should go out to the thousands of service men and women who will now be able to serve openly for the country they love, they deserve it wholeheartedly.