Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (2006)
18×23 Pastel on Pastel Paper
Original is Sold
Anyone brave enough to risk his or her life to fight for our country should be thanked, not forced into secrecy about who they are. Isolated and alone, unable to even receive a love letter from back home, how can we claim to live in the land of the free when we treat our own soldiers like prisoners of war?
Ever since the implementation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the number of homosexuals discharged from the armed forces has actually grown, along with reports of harassment. The Pentagon claimed that homosexuality was incompatible with military service. Yet this does not appear to be an issue for the armies of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and the many other countries that allow homosexuals to serve openly. Laws like "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" send a message that being gay is wrong and shameful. It lends acceptance to discrimination, which leads to hate and violence. To suggest that allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the military would harm unit cohesion and morale is an insult and disservice to the competence and professionalism of our soldiers.
