BU students, faculty come out in support of DADT repeal

College of Communication sophomore Robbie DiMinico is not enlisted in the military, but as an openly gay student at Boston University he said he welcomed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that took effect Tuesday.

“I am thrilled that it passed,” DiMinico said in an interview. “Because these men and women are serving our country … they should have a favor in return, and freely expressing [their] sexual identity is the least we can do.”

The repeal, which U.S. President Barack Obama signed on Dec.  22, 2010, ended an 18-year-old policy that allowed the military to discharge service members on the basis of the soldiers’ sexual orientation.

“This is one of the last major roadblocks to more sexual equality. It’s really tough to fight for your own cause and for people to respect you when the government has laws that are purely working against you,” said COM sophomore Jon Christianson.

DiMinico said that it bothered him that the military would strip service members of their identities, adding more hardship to the “stress” and “constant danger” soldiers face.

“Suppressing their sexual identity is just another hardship for soldiers to worry about,” he said.

When Congress passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in 1993, military leaders had determined that openly gay men and women would compromise the job performances of others, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network’s website. Under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, any servicemembers who engaged in homosexual acts, identified themselves as gay or had same-sex spouses were considered a disruption to “unit cohesion,” and could be discharged.

Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Bower, commander of the BU’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training batallion , said in an email interview that the Army branch of the ROTC at BU will support the repeal, as they support all other military policies.

Commander-in-Chief and military leaders have officially stated that openly gay men and lesbians in the armed forces do not impact military readiness, moral or unit cohesion, Bower said. “The repeal of DADT has had no impact on our normal operations here at BU.”

CAS freshman Josh  Dalva, a midshipman in BU’s Navy ROTC program, said that while there are some people who disagree with the repeal, just as there are some people who believe that women should not serve in the military, dissension with the policy will not be tolerated.

“People care less about what color you are or about what sex you are. They care about how well you do your job,” he said.

Another midshipman, a School of Engineering sophomore who asked to remain anonymous, said that the repeal had “been in the making” for some time. He said that the ROTC had been aware of its coming for at least a year.

ROTC students at BU attended a briefing, which included a presentation on the repeal that all armed forces members will see, a cadet who wished to remain anonymous said. The cadet, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said that the government will not be keeping track of military members’ sexual orientations. He stressed that the repeal of DADT is “nothing that revolutionary.”

“Now that major pillars of this prejudice are being taken out like DADT, it’ll stop being validated by people,” Christianson said. “And it’s amazing that troops are going to be able to serve openly and not have to worry about being kicked out.”