Despite the fact that former General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili, former Defense Secretary William Cohen and many Republicans have come out in favor of allowing gays to serve openly in the military, the GOP candidates issued an across-the-board “no” on the issue in last night’s New Hampshire presidential debate.
Not a huge surprise, but the lack of thoughtful consideration and understanding of the current national feeling about it was both telling and disappointing. Recent polls have consistently shown that a majority of the American public favors repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
Aside from Romney, who actually flip-flopped once again in support of discrimination, this line-up of bigots wouldn’t consider changing the policy at this point in time, with a few agreeing that such a consideration would be “disruptive”.
Disruptive is discharging 58 talented Arabic linguists as we’re losing a war in the Middle East, just because they’re gay. For these candidates, pandering to their bigoted base is more important than thoughtfully considering the national security of the country.
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General Pace’s Remarks Ignite National Debate on Gays in Military [tr]
More Gay Linguists Discharged Under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ [tr]
