Rep. Ike Skelton loves him some Don't Ask Don't Tell

the Hill:

The leading House Democrat on military policy said Friday that he opposes repealing the law that bans openly gay people from serving in the military.

Seventeen years ago, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) played a major role in crafting the controversial law known as "Don't ask, don't tell." When President Bill Clinton wanted to lift the ban preventing gay people from joining the military, Skelton opposed the move. The end result was a compromise under which gay service members would conceal their sexual orientation.

Now, after President Barack Obama pledged during his campaign and first year in office to repeal the law, Skelton finds himself on the opposite side once again.

"I am personally not for changing the law," he said during a C-SPAN "Newsmakers" interview that will air Sunday.

Because the military is engaged in two major conflicts, in Afghanistan and Iraq, changing the law would create "disruption" that can cause some "serious problems," Skelton said during the interview.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? "Disruption?" "Serious problems?" What might that be? Skelton must think that soldiers will stop fighting and get all gay like maybe glitter up their weapons and try to play Elton John records to submit Al-Qaida passively (see the comments to see where I get these from *sigh such h8).

The only thing Don't Ask Don't Tell does is make our military personnel less effective. We are talking about willing and committed members of our armed services, some with particular skill sets such as fluency in Arabic, ousted because of their sexual orientation. The actual "serious problem" Skelton misses is the disruption the policy does to our military and military recruitment. What gay individual would want to serve under this policy? It is a policy that is a detriment to our men and women fighting and serving which is based solely off of blatant homophobia. Lt. Dan Choi has been one of the leaders in repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. I would suggest for those still questioning the necessity of the repeal to listen to him.



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