Don't Ask, Don't Tell

There has been alot of controversy over the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, also referred to as DADT. The 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy restricts the United States Military from revealing closeted gays and contracting under oath that gay military not speak openly about being gay in the military. The first man to be held to this policy was Lieutenant Gotthold Frederick Enslin, discharged in 1778.

The article entitled "Keep 'don't ask, don't tell' policy" by Paul Manning, gives a Veterans perspective on this hot topic. He starts the article by commenting on Lady Gaga and her recent speech given on September 28th at a Lifeline Event for gay rights. His thoughts on her speech, "Lady Gaga's opinions on gays in the military are as outrageous as her meat-headed costumes." He then goes on to explain how when he was in the service, he would shower with 12 men. He explained that showering with a male who was homosexual was uncomfortable. He asked some interesting questions as to how certain things would change if men and women were allowed to be openly gay in the military. Certain policies he says such as separate showers, bathing schedules and living quarters would all have to change. He adds, that would then lead to such things as segregation and discrimination. He ended his article by saying

"Don't ask, don't tell" sounds like a solution."  "If they don't announce their homosexuality, then I won't announce being a heterosexual."

It is clear that the author is a straight male. His targeted audience would be either heterosexual men and women or readers who may be undecided on where they personally stand on the issue. The author sharing his own personal experiences may be to help others who aren't veterans, who haven't literally faced this issue themselves in their own personal life, a chance to relate with his opinions. This article was short in length and lacked alot of needed information from the author. Perhaps the writer could of written about what branch of service he was enlisted in, the years he served and if he ever truly had any experiences with "gays". Simply stating he was forced to shower with "gays" and that he felt uncomfortable left alot to the imagination. One would almost question the authors credibility, due to lack of evidence behind his views and the anger that lies within his editorial.