News Coverage On DADT Starts Improving

While there are still major problems with reporting on "don't ask, don't tell," as I have referred to in recent posts, I am seeing more and more improved coverage. Not just in news reportage on the subject, but in recent editorials and op-eds.

Here is a sampling of some recent pieces.

Ken Adelman, former Reagan arms control director writes that there is one essential reason for lifting the ban, in today's Washington Post,

The British, Australian and Israeli militaries all now have solid experience with open gays in uniform. Their forces don't suffer in performance; the gay service members there don't seem to upset the straight members much. And U.S. forces, though far greater in numbers, don't differ culturally or functionally too much from their colleagues in these militaries.

Exactly! It is what I have been writing all along. If the chief argument is fear of destroying unit cohesion, why has this never happened in the military of our allies, who allow gays to openly serve? There is no good answer to counter this.

The Christian Science Monitor references that piece, and adds another point I have been stressing:

Seventy-five percent of Americans in a 2008 Washington Post-ABC News poll said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993. That included majorities of Republicans as well as Democrats and independents.

That article, by the way, talks about the inevitability of repealing DADT, but suggests that it won't happen soon, because the GOP is trying to score points with social conservatives. Sadly, that may be accurate.

Some Op-Eds and editorials to check out, include the following (click on the links provided):
Clarence Page in the Chicago Tribune
Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial
San Jose Mercury-News editorial

The above sources are just a few of the many pieces that can be found, offering support for the lifting of the disciminatory ban. I expect many similar pieces to be published in the coming weeks.

It's about time.