What Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Tells Us About Immigration Reform

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed in the foreseeable future. Whether it’s by White House compromise or pure legislative action, this discriminatory policywill soon be a thing of the past. It should guide us as we look forward to comprehensive immigration reform.

Both the House and the Senate seemed poised to take on a potential repeal as soon as this week, and lawmakers insist they have the votes necessary. The Pentagon would then be given time to rework rules. Some have criticized this compromise, and for good reason: who knows what new regulations the Pentagon could dream up. Considering top brass have voiced support for a repeal, I’m not too worried, although am a bit annoyed the President has been so pussyfooted about the whole thing. Regardless, DADT will be dead and gone soon enough. Its short-lived life shows us something about America and its citizens.

For all its political importance and human impact, DADT hasn’t been around very long. It was conceived in 1993, 17 years ago, and most likely won’t make it to see its 18th birthday. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a minor legislative blip, far shorter than “Separate but equal,” which reigned from around 1890 to 1954, 64 years. Those grew out of official, government-endorsed slavery, and still, as time went on, the nation lost the stomach for segregation. Sure, racism still exists, just as some soldiers will always be homophobic; the end of Jim Crow laws and the forthcoming expiration of DADT show that Americans have little patience for discriminatory laws.

Sure, in 1993, when Bill Clinton first enacted DADT, 44% of Americans thought out gays shouldn’t be able to serve. Now that time has passed, the policy’s real damage has been documented, and gay people are more integrated into society, citizens, politicians and soldiers alike are realizing DADT’s inanity. In fact, 78% of voters believe the policy should be blown. The nation should keep that in mind as we move forward on comprehensive immigration reform.

Gay and gay friendly citizens have shown an astonishing amount of bravery in their battle against DADT. Dan Choi, GetEqual activists and others have reclaimed old protest tactics to help raise awareness against this backward law. Those tactics too should be used in the fight for comprehensive immigration reform. If nothing else, those protests, coupled with popular displeasure for DADT and, for that matter, Arizona, teach a valuable lesson.

The level of hateful rhetoric – and legislation – swirling around immigration reform has grown exponentially. SIGN, Arizona’s lawmakers have approved a law thatamounts to nothing more than racial profiling, and Michigan Republican Kim Meltzer would rather see a gay immigrant hang than give them a helping hand. These attitudes may seem universal, but America, with its changing attitudes on gays, should prove that discriminatory-policies don’t fly in America. Not for long, at least, and neither will the politicians or parties who support such enterprises.

Image via Umpqua’s Flickr.