President Obama has continually ran on a platform of equal rights for gays. As such, he has stated openly numerous times that one of his goals concerning this issue is to repeal the armies "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Well, last week the Obama administration got their wish. A federal judge ordered the army to stop enforcing the policy. Since the judges ruling seven days ago, openly gay men and women have been allowed to enlist in the army. Just like that, President Obama had a huge accomplishment under his belt. At least it seemed that way.
On Wednesday, however, the Obama administration filed an emergency request with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the military from allowing openly gay troops from serving. In other words, the Obama administration wants to continue to bar gays from the military even though it ultimately favors repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Unfortunately Mr. President, you can't have it both ways. Either the policy is repealed and gays serve openly, or they don't. There is not much room for compromise in regards to this issue.
The administrations argument for the abrupt change in policy was quite insipid. They argued that it would "risk causing significant immediate harm to the military and its efforts to be prepared to implement an orderly repeal of the statute." In effect, what they are ultimately expressing is a sense of fear that allowing gays to serve openly in the military will be destructive to group cohesion and performance.
Hopefully the Obama administration can iron out this sense of doubt, and do what is best for the country. The administration says they remain hopeful that they can have the matter resolved through Congress instead of unilaterally through courts or the presidency. It remains a controversial issue that needs some resolve.
2 comments:
I was a bit saddened by this decision by obama to overturn the federal judges decision. After all, this is a pretty serious issue that will be pretty hard to get overturned through congress in my opinion. If we don't see obama repeal the policy by the end of his term, this will be a serious gaffe in his reign.
If this isnt repealed by 2012 it will be so sad that Obama had the opportunity to change it and gave up his right as president to do so.
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