‘Be all that you can be as long as you’re not gay’ might as well have been the United State’s military’s slogan for the past 17 years, since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy was passed during the Clinton administration in 1993. The policy was introduced as a compromise between banning gays, lesbians and bisexuals from serving for the U.S. military entirely and allowing those who do not openly identify as heterosexual to serve.

But a lot has changed since 1993. Five states, including Massachusetts, recognize same-sex marriage, and the District of Columbia passed a bill at the end of last year to join them starting this March. As of last year, hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity are punishable by federal law, but bans on discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation are only held in 22 states. And while the majority of (educated) people will agree that being gay is not a mental handicap, as was previously thought, there are still some people who are unfortunately too ignorant to think or know otherwise. But why is the mainstream system still treating it as though they are right?

As part of his 2008 campaign, President Barack Obama pledged to end the discriminatory DADT policy. Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday to begin the process of repealing the policy that bans the openly gay from serving their country, and putting an end to discharging people being ‘outed’ by third parties. Joining Gates on Capitol Hill was Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who said that allowing openly gay personnel to serve was ‘the right thing to do.’

Obama briefly addressed his intention to work with Congress to repeal the policy that forces men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend fellow citizens in his State of the Union address last week. But the president needs to act now and act fast while a countless number of troops continue to courageously risk their lives because they love their country, a country that refuses to accept their service if the soldier is homosexual.
Serving is honorable no matter sexual orientation. Gay and lesbian men and women can fight just as hard and just as well as their heterosexual counterparts. Why should we expect them to continue the fight for our freedom when they are not allowed to have some of those same freedoms on their own?

The policy is barbaric, as are many others that range state to state ‘-‘- varying same-sex marriage laws and simple protection in the work place ‘-‘- that need to be repeal, ratified and changed. Hopefully, Obama’s call to action and the testimony of Gates and Mullen are the first, if belated, steps of many strides toward a change in the outdated policy ‘-‘- maybe even a change we can believe in.