You know that society is moving toward the acceptance of gay relationships when Joint Force Quarterly , a prestigious journal published by the National Defense University Press for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff gives the top prize in its 2009 essay contest to a systematic dissection of the U. S. Military’s policy of Don’t Ask. Don’t tell.
Col. Om Prakash of the U. S. Air Force wrote “The Efficacy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” while a student at the National War College.
He concludes:
The 1993 “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law was a political compromise reached after much emotional debate based on religion, morality, ethics, psychological rationale, and military necessity. What resulted was a law that has been costly both in personnel and treasure. In an attempt to allow homosexual Servicemembers to serve quietly, a law was created that forces a compromise in integrity, conflicts with the American creed of “equality for all,” places
commanders in difficult moral dilemmas, and is ultimately more damaging to the unit
cohesion its stated purpose is to preserve. Furthermore, after a careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if
homosexuals serve openly. In fact, the necessarily speculative psychological predictions are
that it will not impact combat effectiveness. Additionally, there is sufficient empirical
evidence from foreign militaries to anticipate that incorporating homosexuals will introduce
leadership challenges, but the challenges will not be insurmountable or affect unit cohesion
and combat effectiveness. Though, as Congress clearly stated in 1993, serving in the military is not a constitutional right, lifting the ban on open service by homosexuals would more clearly represent the social mores of America in 2009 and more clearly represent the free and open society that serves as a model for the world. Ultimately, Servicemembers serving under values they believe in are the most effective force multipliers.