Don't Ask Don't Tell

While reading the "Weekend" section of my local newspaper this past weekend -- about a new club called "Pi" -- I was reminded of a news story I read earlier this year. The news story was focused on the fate of military veterans' clubs such as American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Due to several factors including -- the smaller number of veterans being produced in the USA since we don't have any major war to fight, younger veterans having families so sitting around the Legion hall drinking and smoking doesn't interest them, and finally public smoking bans have hurt business -- several of these clubs around the country are going out of business.

Which brings us to the new club in south Minneapolis, Minnesota -- "Pi" -- which was built in a former American Legion hall. No "Pi" is not a club for math geeks rather it is a club which caters to lesbians.

Now this re-development of a former American Legion hall into a lesbian bar really caught my attention!! Since our current military policy towards gays/homosexuals serving in the ranks is simply, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" , meaning that military recruiters are not allowed to ask about potential recruits' sexual orientation nor can military personnel go public if they are gay.

The following policy suggestion is dangerous ground for me since I am neither a gay activist nor a military man but here it goes -- perhaps I can offer an outsider's perspective on the question of "gays in the military" by suggesting the following. While I hate all forms of discrimination why don't we simply borrow a practice used in the military in the past? Prior to de-segregation the US military had black soldiers (led by white officers of course given our racism!!!) serving in separate units from white soldiers. So why don't we create a series of "gay units" of homosexuals/lesbians who would serve together? This would create the opportunity for gays to actively and publicly serve in uniform but would address the concerns expressed by military leaders about maintaining "morale" among the corps.

If any of my readers think this is a crazy idea PLEASE read the book, "Spycatcher" by Peter Wright before you attack me. You need to understand how national security has been jeopardized in the past due to "homosexual blackmail" simply because intelligence officers were afraid of being "outed" as practicing homosexuals.

History should be able to help guide our policies.

Todd