The Right's Desperate Last Ditch Arguments to Keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

The arguments against repealing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) are really getting desperate. Having run out of both logic and support from the military community, conservatives who want to retain this discriminatory policy are grasping at straws, hairs, and the most outrageous fantasies to fuel their arguments. And even some supporters seem to be getting cold feet.

Let’s do a roundup, shall we? Starting with the most horrifying, let’s consider Bryan Fischer, spokesman for the American Family Association. Most of Fischer’s screeds run the usual course of anti-LGBT, super-conservative Christian Fundamentalist illogic. On this topic, he equates male/male sex to terrorism. Follow this carefully: Fischer sees all gay men as likely carriers of HIV, and believes that sex with an infected individual automatically communicates the virus, resulting in a death sentence. Safe sex? Never heard of it. Anti-viral treatments? What are those? Even more jaw dropping, Fischer declares that if gays serve openly in the military, they will inevitably end up on the battlefield where emergency blood transfusions may be necessary, in which case they’ll infect their straight comrades-in-arms. Got that? Gay = HIV positive = infecting all your buddies = death. Fischer completely misunderstands not only gays but also medicine, and assumes that the military doesn’t bother to test its blood supplies. Is there anyone this doesn’t insult?

An ever-so-slightly less offensive but perhaps even sillier argument comes from Missouri Democratic Representative Ike Skelton, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (who ought to know better, or at least feel some responsibility to learn). Mr. Skelton doesn’t want DADT repealed because he fears it might shine a light on the issue of homosexuality, in which case parents will have to explain it to their seven-year-olds. “What do mommies and daddies say?” he asked reporters. What do they say, Mr. Skelton? Perhaps they say that it’s a great big world, with lots of different people in it and everyone has the right to live and love as they see fit.

Or, in your world, maybe tell them that everybody’s exactly the same, exactly like them, and exactly like you, Mr. Skelton, which is to say white, out of touch, unprepared for the 21st century, and far too privileged for their own or anybody else’s good. How’s that for an answer, Mr. Skelton? (And if you think that's tough, check out what GetEqual has to say about Rep. Skelton's comments.)

Even among some supporters of repeal, there’s been increasing hand wringing over the supposedly huge challenges it presents:

• “Gay soldiers may need separate barracks!” Why? To pander to heterosexual panic, which the aging Pentagon leadership seems to feel much more than the young men and women who will be affected?
• “The change might threaten unit cohesion and battle readiness!” Again, why? We’re talking about acknowledging an existing truth. There already are gays and lesbians in the military. Repealing DADT is not going to change the way they do their jobs, except to make them less stressful on a personal level and allow them to serve their country longer.

There are certainly real issues to address around the repeal of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (not least the fact that nobody's asking the LGBT people who will be affected what they think). But the panicked squeals we’re hearing from the right, as well as the well-meaning but wimpy worries from some on the left, are not helping.

Let’s all try to grow up a little, shall we?

by Cristian Asher