Conviction

Three University of Wisconsin-Madison students challenged the U.S. military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” on Wednesday when they attempted to enlist in the Army even though they said that they are openly gay.

Army recruiters stopped the enlistment process once the students made their sexual orientation clear, WISC-TV reported.

Derek House, a UW-Madison sophomore, said that he comes from a military family and wants to serve, but not if it means keeping his personal life secret. He said his father and brother serve in the military.

“That is a decision I was not willing to make,” House said of hiding his sexual orientation. “I was not willing to step back to my 10th grade year of high school and closet myself. I can’t do that.”

Junior Justin Hager said that he has a friend who was injured in Baghdad, but he wants to serve.

“I’ve been raised with the beliefs that serving in the military is not just an opportunity, but it’s a responsibility and a privilege that all of us citizens should attain,” Hager said. (source)

Merriam-Webster defines “conviction” as, “the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth”.

The truth. The actions of the brave students (some will undoubtedly try to dismiss their conviction by calling them “gay activists” I’m sure) is the most effective thing that has happened against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to date.

Congress has entertained overturning the stupid policy, although not seriously. If they thought it had a chance in hell of being overturned, they wouldn’t bring it up.

The President supports the policy, as do members of his cabinet. No surprise there.

And if you talk to actual soldiers in Iraq (and I have), they will tell you, “There are plenty of gays in my unit. It’s not a problem. Everyone does their job.” The fact of the matter is, when you are in a dangerous situation such as Iraq, how important do you really think sexual orientation is to these soldiers? Now days, with the young soldiers in place, not a big problem. There are isolated incidents of gay bashing, just as there were problems when African Americans were integrated with the white troops. And, this mirrors society - there are isolated incidents of people getting beaten, and so forth. But, it is against the law to do that in society, and it is against the rules of military conduct to do it in the military. There is no difference.

The act of going to a military recruiter to sign up, and taking the added step of TELLING them that you are gay, a clear violation of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, is putting a spot light on this unfair policy. But it’s more than unfair. We, as a nation, are turning down perfectly fine young men and women who want to serve their country at a time when we could really use that help.

I understand why they are doing it. I commend them, their courage, and I support their efforts. It is the vision of the future that we enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizenship. Some of those rights are not always pleasant, but they are essential if we are to be equal with others. We ask for marriage equality, workplace equality, health insurance equality, and all the rest. Well, you aren’t equal unless you are equal in all aspect of society, and the military is part of that.

The angry part of me that sees all the injustices that we face wants to say that if they don’t want us in the military, fine. Let “them” (the straights) go to battle to defend and die for us (straights and gays). Hell, we come out ahead because we aren’t allowed to share in the burden of being a citizen. The same with the American Red Cross. If they don’t want our blood, don’t expect me to be sympathetic when they complain about being short of blood.

But that is honestly short sighted. We can’t give into that depressed sense of hopelessness. And that’s what it is, giving up. Derek House knows that. He’s the one that said about hiding his sexual orientation, “That is a decision I was not willing to make. I was not willing to step back to my 10th grade year of high school and closet myself. I can’t do that.”

Why can’t he do that? For two reasons. Self Respect and Integrity. Isn’t that what the military would want?

I would also urge anyone seeking to do this by challenging Don’t Ask, Don’t tell to really think this through. It’s one thing to do this for a cause of showing how unfair this policy is. But, you should do it with the expectation and hope that you will be admitted to the military. If that should happen, the cause will no longer be the issue. You will be in the military. I mention this because I believe that some who are doing this have not really thought this action through. If you really want to be in the military, I found a guide on what you can expect, should they accept you, when the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is abolished.