Well actually, if you want to get really technical then here goes. According to the military traditions and regulations public displays of affection are prohibited while in uniform and/or while on duty. Period. The rule applies to homosexuals and heterosexuals alike.

Oh and the latest one from the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton, “What do mommies and daddies say to their seven year old child?”, afraid to open up a national discussion about homosexuality. Mr. Skelton, what would a mommy and daddy tell their seven year old child who saw two men kissing each other in public? It exists. Let’s talk about it, get over it and move on with life. Let’s just please not let it be the main topic regarding our national policy decisions. Mr. Skelton, how are you doing with the sexual assault prevention in the military? What about the jobless and homeless rate among veterans? Glad you care so much, Mr. Skelton.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is as valid as not disclosing one’s race or ethnicity on a job application. Is it really necessary? Why would an employer need to know that information anyway? Is one’s race or sexual orientation really a determining factor in their ability to do a job? Why then should it be so important that gays be allowed to openly serve in the military? We all know that there are gays who do serve in the military. It hasn’t affected our ability to accomplish our mission yet.

This is simply another case of politics as usual. We have forgotten that this policy was a Clinton (yes, say it, “liberal”) administration policy. This policy is one of the very few instances where I can actually agree with Bill Clinton on. It makes sense. It works. One the one hand, gays are allowed to serve in the military. On the other, one’s sexual orientation is never called into question nor voluntarily expressed. Again those isolated instances have occurred which seemingly call into question the policy’s effectiveness but we have to look into the timing of them. Only recently (since the Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress and the White House) have we been hearing more and more about the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and its legitimacy. Again, these few instances are being used as a springboard for diving deeper into the issue of the policy’s effectiveness and even its morality.

The first rule in getting elected or reelected is that you cannot win without your base of support. For Republicans it is the conservative base and for Democrats, the liberal base. It just seems to me that certain politicians – namely all of them – are pushing this non-issue in order to create that base of support that has been lost in all this craziness over the last two to four years.

Democrats will try to make it a big matter even in the midst of a sky-high unemployment rate, a still down-turned economy, a major ecological disaster and a slew of other issues that need solving yesterday. And the sad thing is, the Republicans will buy right into it and fight it, knowing that it will solidify their conservative base. It couldn’t have come at a better time than campaign season for reelection in Washington. Mr. President, how is that unemployment rate coming along? Have we figured out how to stop the oil from leaking into the ocean and destroying all its life or are we just going to let it all drain out and then deal with it afterwards?

Look, politicians in Washington either repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell or don’t repeal it. Either way somebody wins and one day we’ll all be happy. Just please don’t waste our time, money and energy on an issue that is at this present time not worth wasting on. Do it and be done with it. Or better yet, focus on those problems that really need fixing.

Read part one of this article.

Casey Robbins was born and raised in Idaho. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and Iraq War, and currently resides in Atlanta, GA with his son.

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