Thursday, May 24, 2007

A Gay Linguist Is Still A Linguist

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" must be one of most idiotic policies in the armed forces concerning their personnel since the days of segregation. Homophobic morons claim that knowing there is a gay individual amongst the ranks reduces moral or some crap like that and it actually got passed into law. The reality is that many people do not care and those that do can generally be convinced by example that gay people are pretty much like the rest of us and can serve their country just as well as someone who is straight.

One of the examples brought into question in recent years is the number of Arabic linguists who have been discharged from their service because of their sexual orientation. In all, 58 have been let go. That means over a thousand hours a week is lost when we could have been deciphering information from Al Qaeda and other nefarious sorts all over the Middle East. One ex-linguist recently gave an interview to give his side of the story.

From the AP:

Former Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Stephen Benjamin said his supervisor tried to keep him on the job and urged him to sign a statement saying he was not gay. Benjamin said his lawyer advised against signing because the statement could be used against him later if other evidence surfaced.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Benjamin said he was caught improperly using the military's secret level computer system to send messages to his roommate, who was serving in Iraq. In those messages, he said, he may have referred to being gay or going on a date.

"I'd always had been out since the day I started working there," Benjamin said. "We had conversations about being gay in the military and what it was like. There were no issues with unit cohesion. I never caused divisiveness or ever experienced slurs," said Benjamin, who was in the Navy for nearly four years.

"I'd always had been out since the day I started working there," Benjamin said. "We had conversations about being gay in the military and what it was like. There were no issues with unit cohesion. I never caused divisiveness or ever experienced slurs," said Benjamin, who was in the Navy for nearly four years.

Benjamin's story blows holes in the current law on the books, the one the Pentagon vows to follow, despite all of the evidence that shows the law is a failure. Thankfully outgoing Rep. Marty Meehan is taking up the issue and trying to force a change.

"At a time when our military is stretched to the limit and our cultural knowledge of the Middle East is dangerously deficient, I just can't believe that kicking out able, competent Arabic linguists is making our country any safer," Meehan said.

Meehan has organized a letter signed by 40 other members of the House to seek an investigation on the sanity of letting all of those linguists go. It isn't a repeal of the law, but it is a start. The issue is just one small piece of the picture that shows the policy is a sham and that we need to treat all of our soldiers equally, no matter who they want to sleep with.