Will Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ latest overhaul of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the US’ policy on gays in the military, kill soldiers’ morale? A day after Gates announced the new changes to DADT, the right is crying foul, saying the new regulations will “more confusion and fear among military members” and undercut morale in the armed services. Gates announced yesterday new guidelines that essentially make it more far more difficult to kick out of the military a soldier, sailor, marine, or airman who doesn’t publicly admit they’re gay. Gates’ latest announcement is a “major step toward the end of the law,” said a spokesman for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Today, multiple conservative and Christian groups decried Gates’ decision, warning of the damage it will inflict on servicemembers and claiming it’ll weaken the military. “Members of the military already fear punishment for agreeing with the federal law that homosexuals in the military ‘would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion,'” said Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for American, a conservative Christian group that blasted Gates’ decision. CWA’s president, Wendy Wright, also chimed in, this time playing the national security card. “Our military should have one objective: to keep America safe,” she said. “The job of the military—and the ability to do that job—is too important to be subject to the demands of a special interest group.”
Of course, groups in favor of repealing DADT deny these assertions altogether, saying the safety of American troops will only be improved by ridding the armed services of the Clinton-era policy. Comments like those made by CWA and its ilk, then, are most likely so much sound and fury before DADT is thrown out into the dustbin of history.
