Two sides of the same coin

As activists continue the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — the U.S. military’s bigoted policy against lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer service members — the law is being volleyed about by the three branches of the U.S. capitalist government.

On Sept. 9 a California federal judge ruled that the policy violates the free speech and due process rights of LGBTQ service members. The Obama administration immediately responded by demanding that the ruling not be enforced.

On Sept. 21 Republicans in the Senate blocked a $726 billion defense spending bill that included a provision to repeal DADT. Three days later another federal judge in Tacoma, Wash., ruled that a former U.S. Air Force flight nurse, who was expelled under DADT after revealing that she is a lesbian, should be reinstated “at the earliest possible moment.” (Reuters, Sept. 24)

Workers World doesn’t want anybody in the U.S. military, LGBTQ or straight. But we support the right of LGBTQ people to serve in the military free of discrimination — particularly during an economic downturn, when many face few other options for economic survival.

Like women in the armed forces, LGBTQ people face the worst kinds of abuse, discrimination and harassment in the military, all stemming from a culture that encourages rape, torture and other forms of violence against the “other” — within the military, in other countries and occasionally at home.

Anti-war activists should demand an end to DADT as a step forward in forging unity in struggle. Keeping service members divided among lines of sexuality and gender helps prevent them from uniting against the military apparatus that daily represses them all.

Not only do we want an end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — we want civilian jobs for all LGBTQ people and straight people too. We don’t want legislation to repeal DADT to be tacked onto a bill that provides the resources to kill and exploit people around the world. Moreover, we want the entire U.S. military-industrial complex to be dismantled.