As a veteran myself, I just want to wish all those who have served in our military a happy Veteran’s Day. With so much going on in the world, it’s important to say thanks to those who are still fighting the fight. It’s also important to recognize the contributions of ALL veterans, not just the straight ones. There are over 65,000 gay and lesbians currently serving in the armed forces but they are not allowed to serve openly. The Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN.org) states,

According to the Pentagon, it has discharged more than 10,000 service members for being gay, including nearly 800 with skills deemed “mission critical” by the Department of Defense. Those who have been discharged include linguists, combat engineers, pilots, medical professionals and others. According to statistician Gary Gates, the armed forces could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits by repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” in addition to the 65,000 lesbian and gay Americans already on duty in the active duty, reserve and national guard forces.

This session of congress has finally introduced legislation to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, with 100 members of congress co-sponsoring the bill. The bill is called the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1059). If you want to learn more about the legislation you can check out the SLDN website.

Some may say, “hey this is Veteran’s Day, don’t hijack this holiday to push your own gay agenda, it’s about the veterans not about being gay”. Well it is about the veteran’s but it’s about all of us who served. Have you served? Did you get off your ass and stand up and do your time? If you didn’t, then don’t talk to me about hijacking Veteran’s day. I earned it. I served for 4 years and lived a misserable lie just because I felt being an officer was more important than being gay. With the ban on gays in the military, Veteran’s day is merely a holiday for “everyone else”. Gay veterans have served, fought and died to protect a way of life they could not themselves enjoy and until we are all equal under the law with the same opportunities to pursue our own careers along side everyone else, then there is no such thing as a nice quiet Veteran’s day.

You can take action and tell your representative in congress that you support the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Visit the Human Rights Campaign website for information on sending an email. You may not have served in the military yourself, but you can at least get off your ass this time around and send a simple email. As they say, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

And if you think the ban on gays and lesbians is justified and should continue, then head on down to your local recruiters office and sign up. There’s plenty of room in line for those allowed to serve.

We are a nation of smart, talented and skilled people. Imagine what we could accomplish if we were also equal.

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