Don't ask me because I cant tell, and neither can anyone in the military. The current news in the military in the past several months has been the Dont Ask, Dont Tell (DADT) act of 2010. It has been 3 months since President Barack Obama signed the 17 year old "Dont ask, don't tell" policy into law---after first being passed by the House of Representatives in December 15, 2010 and by the Senate on December 18, 2010 with a 65 to 31 vote---but what happens now to the policy and those men and women that are affected by its repeal? First, what exactly is DADT? The policy was first enforced in 1993 where it prohibited openly gay men and women to be openly gay in the military and or serve in the military. The term "don't ask, don't tell" implicates that service men and women are not allowed to ASK if a a fellow service man or woman about their sexual orientation and those men and women who are homosexual and serve are prohibited to TELL openly about their sexual orientation.
The issue is that even though the policy was aimed towards protecting homosexuals serving in the military from being harassed or discriminated against by fellow service members, it also deny's those proud and open to be free and open to serve in the military. You can risk serve America, devote your life to serving and protecting the United States so long as you do not disclose your sexual orientation. Your right to disclose who you are is taken away, a small price to pay to be able to serve your country?
Although the bill has been signed by President Barack Obama, what exactly is the next step? What is the progression of the repeal? Although it has been passed it will not take immediate effect until after a 60 day waiting period before it is formally repealed.
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