Colin Powell says time to look again at military policy that excludes gays
”We definitely should reevaluate it. It’s been 15 years since we put in ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ which was a policy that became a law. I didn’t want it to become a law but it became a law. Congress felt that strongly about it. But it’s been 15 years: Attitudes have changed. And so, I think that it’s time for the Congress, since it is there law, to have full review of it. And I’m quite sure that what President-elect Obama will want to do. But people then say to me, ‘What do you think?’ And what I think is, let’s review it. But I’m not going to make a judgment as to whether it should be overturned or not, until I hear from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the commanders who are responsible for our armed forces at a time of war. And so, I have to hear what they think, and what the Secretary of Defense thinks before I would come down on one side or the other. Because, I’ve always felt that the military is a unique institution. It is not like any other institution, in our system. You are told who you live with. You are told will share your most intimate accommodations with. You are whether you’ll live or die. And for that reason, courts have always upheld the ability of the armed forces of the United States to put in place procedures and rules that would not be acceptable in any other institution. So, Congress, I think, has an obligation to review the law, and I hope it’s a very spirited review. I hope that President-elect Obama, in one of his first actions, will ask the Joint Chiefs of Staff to take a look at the policy and the law, and to get their recommendations before he makes a judgment with respect to the Administration’s position. But times have changed. This is not 1993: It is 2008, and we should review the law…. I certainly think we should look at all the examples of countries where this is the case [that gays serve openly], and see if this is relevant to the armed forces of the United States… but that doesn’t necessarily drive the decision…. When we went through this in 1993, it wasn’t just the generals; it was the chaplins, it was family members who had issues with domicile. You had issues with marriage. Look at the debate we’re having now with regard to same-sex marriage. All of that comes into the military.”
Colin Powell speaking to CNN regarding his current point of view on the US military’s gay-excluding policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (CNN via Huffington Post)
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