Don't Ask Don't Tell

President Obama has been pretty clear in his support for changing DADT. Do I wish he was more passionate about the issue? Yes, but that is not really his style. Do I wish he would be working the phones and pressuring members of the Senate to vote for repeal? Yes. Do I wish he would be out there every day trying urging the American people to rise up and force the Senate to do the right thing? Yes.

But, the President can only do so much. It is up to the people who have been impacted by this issue to tell the story of why DADT must be repealed. It is up to the GLBT community to lead the fight to secure our full and equal place in society. We have to convince the Senator’s that asking someone to die for their country while living a lie is wrong. We have to tell the Senator’s that asking someone to defend the concepts of freedom and liberty around the world and yet not have them fully in their own country is hypocrisy at its worst and it is certainly not a very moral position. We must be willing to lead the fight for our own battles before we can ask our friends to assist us. I ask my GLBT brothers and sisters; how many phone calls to Senator’s have you made? How many letters to the editor have you written? How many petitions have you either signed or circulated? What have you done to affect the change you know is right? What have you done in the name of your own freedom, in the name of justice and liberty for you and for all?

I am an old liberal warhorse and I have been through many a political and social justice battle in my time and I am getting tired of fighting but I am also getting sick and tired of waiting for full citizenship. I am getting sick and tired of seeing kids go through the same type of bullying that I went through 40 years ago. I am sick and tired of seeing the best and the brightest this country has to offer being kicked out of the military while we are fighting two wars and sabers are rattling in other hot zones. I am sick and tired not having my relationship of 27 years seen as having the same value as Newt Gingrich’s three marriages.

I am sick and I am tired.

I know that we must continue the fight and we must call on our friends to fight with us. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is un-American and it is a moral blight on the reputation of the great republic.