Two Very Different Perspectives on the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy

Amanda Udis-Kessler on why it’s time
for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” supporters to “make the sacrifice”
and work for its repeal, and Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
on why we need to resist the U.S. “war machine.”

Thanks to my friend Paula for alerting me to Amanda Udis-Kessler’s article on Tikkun Daily Blog.

Before sharing an excerpt from Udis-Kessler’s article, however, I’d like to highlight the perspective of queer activist and author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore. She advocates shifting the focus from working to repeal the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to dismantling the “U.S. military machine,” one that is plundering indigenous resources and currently fighting at least three wars for corporate profiteers. I must admit often wondering why we would want our young people – gay or straight – to be part of such a destructive and unjust system. It probably also explains why I'm just not into contributing my time and energy into the campaign to repeal DADT. I don't want a slice of that pie, and don't particularly want others to want to have a slice either. I want a whole new pie for all of us!

Anyway, here’s what Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore had to say in an October 2010 debate with Dan Choi, the gay former infantry officer who is now a high profile critic of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Dan Choi talks about all of America being a victim of the policy of excluding openly gay soldiers in the military, but all of the world is a victim of the US military. So if we have to look at one culprit for all of the problems that are going on in the entire world, that would have to be the US military. And as a queer movement, what we need is a movement for gender, sexual, social, political and cultural self-determination for queers in this country, for everyone in this country, and for everyone all over the world. We do not need to support the US war machine, which is busy plundering indigenous resources and fighting at least three wars right now for corporate profiteers.

. . . And if we need to support any soldiers, the soldiers we need to support are the soldiers Daniel Ellsberg [talk about], the soldiers who are releasing classified documents to bring down the US war machine. You know, we need to support people like Camilo Mejía, who talk about why they chose to leave the US military and fight against all [the U.S.’s] unjust wars.

. . . We shouldn’t be telling queer teens, “Oh, when you grow up, you can become part of the same system that’s destroying not only your life, but the lives of everyone in the world.” We need to be fighting for universal access to basic needs, things like housing and healthcare and the right to stay in this country or leave if you want to. We need to be fighting for comprehensive sex education, for AIDS healthcare, for senior care, for safe houses for queer youth to escape abusive families. And the problem with all this attention on the war machine, all this support for soldiers to serve openly in unjust wars, the problem is that the military is what’s taking away the ability to fund everything in this country that would actually benefit the people who need the most. You know, the war budget—if we could just take half the US war budget, we’d be able to have everything that we want in this country, whether it’s renewable energy, whether it’s housing for everyone, whether it’s healthcare, whether it’s food on the table. I mean, we need to get back to a struggle for basic needs.

Dan Choi talks about all of America being a victim of the policy of excluding openly gay soldiers in the military, but all of the world is a victim of the US military. So if we have to look at one culprit for all of the problems that are going on in the entire world, that would have to be the US military. And as a queer movement, what we need is a movement for gender, sexual, social, political and cultural self-determination for queers in this country, for everyone in this country, and for everyone all over the world. We do not need to support the US war machine, which is busy plundering indigenous resources and fighting at least three wars right now, you know, for corporate profiteers.

. . . And if we need to support any soldiers, the soldiers we need to support are the soldiers . . . who are releasing classified documents to bring down the US war machine. You know, we need to support people like Camilo Mejía, who talk about why they chose to leave the US military and fight against all [the U.S.’s] unjust wars.

Okay, with all that in mind, here’s Amanda Udis-Kessler rationale for why it’s time for those who support the military’s current “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays serving openly in the military to “make the sacrifice” and work for its repeal.

. . . It’s time for [DADT supporters] to make the sacrifice, to lay down your prejudice and fear and put America’s needs ahead of your own. After all, America has sacrificed good soldiers to homophobic personal agendas long enough. And we all know other countries that have not found openly serving LGBT service members to be a problem. (Israel, anyone?) So what’s the issue?

Here’s one possibility: the Pentagon’s own study confirms that openly LGBT service members are not a concern for at least a substantial proportion of currently serving members of the military. But what about the others? What are they afraid of? What is it about a gay man (for example) that turns a brave soldier into a coward? Is the otherwise brave soldier afraid that a gay guy might sneak a look at him in the shower? (By the way, that’s not likely, according to all the closeted gay soldiers I know.) If that is the fear, what’s the source of it? Would the brave soldier get squeamish if a woman found him attractive? I doubt it. So why would it bother the same soldier if a man found him attractive?

Most feminists would say that it’s because a man looking at another man “feminizes” the man being ogled – and we can’t have that, can we? It doesn’t matter how strong, muscular, brave or heterosexual a man is – if a gay guy looks at him, he’s been de-manned. So in order to protect those strong, muscular, brave, heterosexual men from being turned into “girls,” we have to keep openly gay men out of the military.

Well, all you strong, muscular, brave, heterosexual men, here’s your opportunity to show how committed you really are to your country. Here’s your chance to find a new level of bravery you didn’t know you had. It’s time to train your weapons, not on other human beings, but on gender limitations. You know you would offer up your body and life if it were needed. Now, we need you to offer up your gender stereotypes and fear, to lay them down, to sacrifice them for a greater cause.

Perhaps some DADT supporters have a different issue: they find homosexuality morally and physically repugnant and religiously offensive. Surely, no one can ask such a person to deny their deepest values or feelings, can they?

Again, it comes down to what is most important. If you are a soldier (as opposed to, say, a conscientious objector), you have already decided that your religious and moral values do not prevent you from serving. And once you are committed to serving, you are committed to giving your utmost, your level best, to the military. And giving your utmost, your level best, to the military, means doing whatever it takes to make our military the best military it can be, even at personal cost, even if it makes you uncomfortable, even if your religion stands in opposition.

Your freedom to believe what you believe about homosexuality is not in question. Your right to be squeamish around LGBT people is not in question. But you gave up the right to do anything other than serve to the best of your ability when you joined the military. You do not get to be anything less than a top-flight soldier just because you are serving next to an openly lesbian or gay or bisexual person (who also does not get to be anything less than a top-flight soldier). And you do not get to stand in the way of the military’s effort to gain or keep superb soldiers just because of what you believe privately. You don’t get to do it with race. You don’t get to do it with gender. So you don’t get to do it with sexuality. Period. It’s time for you DADT supporters to sacrifice for your country and wholeheartedly (if uncomfortably) support the repeal of DADT.

Recommended Off-site Links:
John McCain, One Million Gay Soldiers Fought in WWII to Keep You Free – David Badash (GayRights.org, November 18, 2010).
Senate Leaders Vow New “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Vote in December – Rick Maze (Army Times, November 19, 2010).
Does Opposing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Bolster US Militarism? A Debate with Lt. Dan Choi and Queer Activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore – Democracy Now! (October 22, 2010).
An Open Letter from a Gay Marine Veteran to General James F. Amos, Commandant of the US Marine Corps – Brett Edward Stout (Gay.com, November 11, 2010).