Special Ethical Questions

Ask/address an ethical question in your field of interest.

The ethical question I will be address is homosexual's in the military.  More specifically I will be talking about "Don't Ask Don't Tell", and the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. 

Develop/address arguments for each side of the issue, then defend your position on the issue.

        The Don't Ask Don't Tell law was in forced from December 1993 to September 2011.  Prior to the Don't Ask Don't Tell law in 1993 homosexuality was completely unacceptable.  Don't Ask Don't Tell was brought on by President Clinton, and basically was meant to end questioning soldiers of their sexuality.  Homosexuality was still unlawful under this law, but a homosexual could remain in the U.S. military as long as they kept it completely private.  The Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2011 ended Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now allows homosexuals to openly serve in the U.S. military. 
         I have served during the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and for a short time I have served after the repeal act.  I have know of homosexuals in the military while I have served and never thought less of them as a soldier.  We all wear the same uniform, and are fighting for the same reasons.  If someone is willing to sign on the dotted line and put their life on the line for the United States they should have the right to be proud of who they and not hide it.  There have been many great soldiers that have been discharged from the United States military, because of the military's stance on homosexuality.  With the repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy we will not have to lose another, and I believe it will strength the U.S. military.
         Although, I did not agree with the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy I can see why it was in affect for so many years.  The U.S. military has been based on tradition for hundreds of years, and changes do not come quickly.  The U.S. military believed that having openly gay or lesbian soldier's would weaken unit cohesion, discipline, and did not follow the morale standards of the military.  Many of these morale standards come form the Christian religion, which is obviously against homosexuality.  The last lines of the enlistment oath that every soldier entering the military must say is "So help me God".  Many of the military's traditions and morale's are based off of Christian beliefs, and accepting homosexuality would go against those traditions and morale's.  Another problem that can arise is that many people in the U.S. military are uncomfortable with homosexuality, and you can see how this could be a problem when a lot of the times you are eating, sleeping, and working with soldiers in your unit 24 hours a day seven days a week for sometimes a year at a time.  The Don't Ask Don't Tell policy kept a lot of these issues silenced by not allowing them to come up.  If soldier's were not allowed to Ask someone if they were a homosexual, and a homosexual was not allowed to tell anyone then there would be no disputes in a unit over these issues.  Below is a bullet taken from the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy explaining the traditions and morales of the U.S. military and why they believed at the time that homsexuals should not serve openly(policy concerning homsexuality in the Armed Forces).

 (8)Military life is fundamentally different from civilian life in that—

(A)the extraordinary responsibilities of the armed forces, the unique conditions of military service, and the critical role of unit cohesion, require that the military community, while subject to civilian control, exist as a specialized society; and

(B)the military society is characterized by its own laws, rules, customs, and traditions, including numerous restrictions on personal behavior, that would not be acceptable in civilian society.

this activity must include references
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:7:./temp/~c111SNIR00 (Library of Congress - Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act 2011)

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/10/654.html  (U.S.C.  654- policy concerning homsexuality in the Armed Forces)



each student will then review this beginning on Nov 2.