The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy Is Beneficial To The United States

Just a side note- I'm going to post my argument here then, I guess, so that the PRO can actually 'go first', as you specify. To quickly define, The Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy prohibits a soldier's superiors from investigation into their sexual orientation (Don't Ask); Don't Tell, obviously, prohibits soldiers from openly expressing their homosexuality. Beneficial; Producing benefits and social well-being. Now, on to the arguments; 1) Bigotry still exists in the world; just as gays and lesbians are often hazed and degraded in schools and cities all across the nation, one can easily take this treatment and multiply its intensity in the military; as wonderful as equality would be in an ideal world, the public at large is not yet ready to accept homosexuality; and, although it may sound somewhat stereotypical, anti-homosexual, pro-war conservatives are more likely to serve in the military than their liberal counterparts on the other side of the coin. So, we can see that, to some extent, Don't Ask, Don't Tell is still needed until the period of time where all military personnel are ready to see their fellow soldiers as soldiers, not homosexuals. 2) Even though DADT is unpopular (. http://en.wikipedia.org...), it is still beneficial in that it is a sign that people are beginning to come over to the side of equality and tolerance. DADT has served its function as a transition; at first, the United States banned homosexuals entirely from military service; DADT reduced this only to openly homosexual soldiers; because of this progressive policy, we are now standing at the brink of change, where soon, people will not have to hide their orientation, or feel a sense of shame when they are serving, because they are 'different'; without DADT, there would not be so much debate and forward movement over equal rights for homosexuals; so, out of necessity, DADT has been beneficial to equality, by truly moving us towards full application of the 14th Amendment (Equal Protection of the Laws for ALL citizens). 3) We can further this claim by looking at historically set precedents; specifically, Blacks. When we imported slaves, they brought the Barbados Slave Codes, which treated blacks as property, and had little to no regulation of diet, shelter, work conditions, and even basic rights under English Law were denied (. http://en.wikipedia.org...); after the Civil War, we freed our slaves, but things like the Black Codes were set up, restraining much black freedom; however, we soon began to bring things like the 15th Amendment to the table (The Right to Vote shall not be denied based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude); the Civil Rights Act of 1964; And even the overturning of Plessy v. Ferguson and the Jim Crow Laws by Brown v. Board of Education, abolishing the 'Seperate but Equal' institutions. And today, we even have a black President; the progression of laws shows us just how far we have come; DADT is the same way; it is a stepping stone on the way to homosexual equality, a rung on the ladder; so, while it may seem oppressive, bigoted, prejudiced, or even 'unfair' as some would call it, it is necessarily beneficial; Separate but Equal institutions we see as retrospectively unjust, but in comparison to the Barbados Slave Codes, Separate but Equal was far more favorable; in the same way, DADT is far more lenient than the days of banning them entirely, or even in biblical times, when they were stoned or beaten to death. So, before judging the DADT policy as a cruel, bigoted tool of the government, I would ask you to keep in mind that the darkest hour is just before the dawn; only with less-than-favorable policies like DADT can we make landmark changes in America like Brown v. B. O. E. for the blacks; only with DADT do we have a way to quantify and prove injustice in society; and only with DADT do we have something to build on, and a way to move forward to a new era of peace, understanding, and equality. I look forward to the rest of this debate.