In the 17 years since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was passed, a lot has changed in this country. We have passed gay marriage laws in several states, embraced thousands of Hispanic immigrants into our communities, and, most importantly, elected the first African-American president in our nation’s history. And yet we still can’t bring ourselves to repeal a law that not only infringes on the rights of gays serving in the military, but the majority of Americans are against anyway.

Since 1993 when President Bill Clinton passed the DADT law, roughly 13,000 gays have lost their job for doing something that most Americans take for granted: expressing their sexual orientation. We as a country need to ask ourselves something: can we really go on forcing gays into silence for no apparent reason? Is that really ethically correct? Now I know that domestic policy may not always follow a code of ethics, but when the rights of so many American citizens are so egregiously infringed, something must be done.

One of the main opponents of the DADT repeal bill, senator Saxby Chambliss, provides the following reasons for not repealing the bill: openly allowing gays to serve in the military will lead to “alcohol use, adultery, fraternization and body art.” Really? Does he actually think Americans are that stupid?

But the most significant reason why DADT must be repealed is that Americans simply don’t want it anymore. A 2009 Gallup pole showed that 69% of Americans opposed the law. Also, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, the Pentagon’s senior civilian
and military leaders, have publicly stated that they favor a repeal of DADT. So what’s holding us back? Not only do the American people want the bill repealed, but the military, whom the law is designed to protect, wants it repealed too.

Since 1993, when Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was passed, a lot has changed in America. Sentiments towards homosexuals have greatly improved, and our legal system needs to reflect that.