Don't Ask, Don't Tell...

I didn't realize that under this law servicemen/women were actually being DISHONORABLY discharged from the military because of sexual preference. This is mind boggling to me.

What does "don't ask, don't tell" mean to you? To me it means "I won't ask because it's none of my business, and you don't have to tell me even if I do." So how are these discharges occurring?

If you read the text of the legislation, barring open sex acts in front of an audience (which no one wants to see happening in the military no matter what your sexual preference), a statement of fact by the accused, or trying to participate in a same-sex marriage, these men and women should not be being discharged. However, since its inception in 1993, there have been over 13,500 discharges.

Like the rest of the U.S. population that doesn't really care about the sex life of the people that are giving their lives to protect this country, I think I just assumed that "don't ask, don't tell" meant just that, and I didn't see why anything needed to be changed. Apparently, my definition appears to be a little too literal.

I'm not talking about the oppressive nature of this law and the fact that having to hide your personal life from every person you ever come in contact with for the length of your service term is grossly unfair. I'm not going into that because I know that's my opinion, and not everyone thinks that fair for one is fair for all. That's a civil rights argument that has been going on for as long as this country has been a country.

I'm talking about a person risking his/her life to serve a country that is willing to fire them at a moment's notice, rescind any benefits that they may have worked for during their service up to that point, and possibly harm their chances for future employment.

That's the part that is unbelievable to me.

And the fact that the very people they are serving don't seem to have an opinion on it. Or maybe, like me, they weren't aware of what was going on. Either way, unbelievable.