Don't Ask Don't Tell

1872 Words4 Pages

Justin Cook is a student at Stanton College Preparatory who is currently in the eleventh grade. Cook is enrolled in an AP Psychology and takes a great interest in connecting the work he does in the class to the work in his other current classes. In this essay, Cook presents his argument on why homosexuals should be permitted to serve in the American Armed Forces primarily from a psychological standpoint. Cook is an active advocate for human rights and the equality of homosexuals. He is also an active supporter of The Trevor Project which is the only American non-profit organization that runs a 24/7 suicide and crisis prevention helpline for gay and questioning youth.

Homosexuality:

A Deciding Factor in the Participation of the American Armed Forces.

Today in America there are laws set about that are ever changing. The morality of Americans and their viewpoints are altering as our nation is growing and progressing through time. The thinkers of yesterday were once the thinkers of today, and this cycle continues, which is why improvements of the treatment of homosexuals is currently improving. Before the twelfth century, homosexuality was not seen as anything out of the ordinary. The Greeks and Romans regularly participated in homosexual acts and it was widely accepted because of their ideology of free-love. The Sacred Band of Thebes is probably the most infamous example of homosexuals in the military in history, seeing as it was provisioned to be just that. A group of 300 homosexual men consisting of lovers and their beloved, joined together under one bond. The idea was that these men would fight for each other because they loved one another, and therefore would try to keep each other alive, performing any task possible to ensur...

... middle of paper ...

...on't Tell policy throughout it's current ten years. It includes facts and statistics, as well as the effects it has had on people. The source is the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which "is a non-partisan, non-profit, legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' (DADT)."

Comparing Brain Scans. N.d. National Academy of Sciences, The Washington Post. Web. 7 Mar. 2010. This is an image that supports the findings about the differences in the heterosexual and homosexual amygdalas.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR Fourth Edition (Text Revision). 4th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2000. Print. This publication is used in order to verify that homosexuality is no longer a psychological disorder.

Why Gays Shouldn’t Serve by David Horowitz
1050 Words | 3 Pages
...traight men and women. The three key topics that we need to read and understand carefully are how the military life would change if gays and lesbians were in the military. Also we need to look at the interaction with the gays and lesbians and determine if the cohesion is good or is there no cohesion at all. Lastly we need to take a look at how other countries would view us and see how they would react if we did make the decision to put gays and lesbians in the military.
Read More
Comparison of The Crucible And Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
1260 Words | 3 Pages
Frank, Nathaniel. Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America. New York: Thomas Dunne, 2009. Print.
Read More
The Stonewall Riots
1224 Words | 3 Pages
In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people have dedicated themselves in fighting for
Read More
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy
1747 Words | 4 Pages
Whitlock, Craig, and Greg Jaffe. "Pentagon supports ending 'don't ask, don't tell' law for gays in military." Washington Post 3 February 2010, Print.
Read More
Born Gay: Truth and Circumstances.
1431 Words | 3 Pages
Tori, DeAngelis. "New data on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Mental Health." www.apa.org/monitor/feb02/newdata.aspx . N.p., 12 february 2002. Web. 9 Apr 2014.
Read More
Trials and Tribulations of a Homosexual
1582 Words | 4 Pages
As generations proceeded, institutions such as the American Psychiatric Society began to classify homosexuality as a disease, which was later retracted in the 1970’s and was no longer considered a mental disorder. At this time many homosexuals decided to start “coming out”, a process in which people talk freely about their sexual orientation to family and friends. Then in the1980’s new adversary for the gay community became the forefront of debates worldwide. The AIDS crisis, which seemed to be only contracted in the gay male population, paved the way for brutalizing words such as “queer” that was used to describe all sexual minorities. In the 1990’s where the gay rights movement saw more victories with the United States military instituting the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.” This policy gave homosexuals the right to serve within the military. Then in the year 2000, Vermont became the first state to allow same sex civil unions (Pitas).
Read More
Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Military
1873 Words | 4 Pages
In September 2011, the United States lifted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (DADT), which restricted gay, lesbian, and bisexuals from openly serving in the military. This was the first time in American history in which people of every sexual orientation could serve openly (“11 Facts About,” n.d.). This was a momentous occasion for some and not so much for others. For those military members that had served in secret and those members that were firmly against gays and lesbians, this repeal had different meaning. Both groups contained members that have served in the military for years and were products of the Former President Bill Clinton’s 1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. For many soldiers of this era, communication issues arose due to a pre-existing mentality, learned rules and regulations in services reinforced for two decades and the general cultural within combat related fields.
Read More
Theme Of Homosexuality In A Separate Peace
1376 Words | 3 Pages
In the 1940s, homophobia was extremely prevalent in the United States. People who were openly gay were often stigmatized. “Homosexuality was discussed as ‘an aspect of three personality disorders: psychopaths who were sexual perverts, paranoid personalities who suffered from homosexual panic, and schizoid personalities’ who displayed gay symptoms” (Kaiser 29). Many regulations and practices discriminated against gays. The military found homosexuality to be a direct threat to strength and safety of the U.S. government and the American people, in general. In 1941 the Army and the Selective Service banned homosexuals from participation in the war (Kaiser 29). All major religions considered it sinful and throughout the country, more and more people found it to be immoral. Life was hard for homosexuals in the early and mid-twentieth century. They were forced to hide their sexuality in order to escape derision or imprisonment.
Read More
The Invisible War Rhetorical Analysis
1280 Words | 3 Pages
From the mothers and fathers of the daughters and sons in the military to the friends that are left back home when someone enlists and prepares on their journey, this film provides a starting point to influence conversation’s about the sexual violence and injustice prevalent across the DOD. The film speaks out to the audience’s emotions by delivering jaw-dropping statistics all while providing a strong ethical basis of trustworthy resources, interviews, and statistics. This documentary is a great example of how using pathos, ethos and logos to implore an audience to question how the DOD reacts to MST. By combining all these rhetoric appeals, Kirby is able to convince the audience that there is sexual misconduct in the military and there is no evidence to prove that they are doing anything about
Read More
Gays on College Campuses and the Problems They Face
698 Words | 2 Pages
Gays in today’s society face many problems not only with the Media’s eyes, but also on college campuses. Young adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual experience major stresses in managing their sexual orientation.
Read More
Conversion or Reparative Therapy
1427 Words | 3 Pages
Schmidt, Markus. "Bill cracks down on 'conversion therapy' for gay minors." Times Dispatch. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
Read More
Rape and Sexual Assault in the Military
1105 Words | 3 Pages
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the issue of rape and sexual assault in the military. The number of attacks for rape and sexual assault in the military are at an all-time high. Women have recently been allowed to fight on the front line. While this may be a huge achievement for women-kind, for this woman, it is a very scary thought. I am a junior at Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences; a school geared towards students wishing to enter the medical field. I may be forced to join the military one day if a war breaks out and women are needed to protect the country. I would be happy to serve my country if I did not have to be scared of my fellow soldiers. Rape and sexual assault are major issues in the military and have been for many years without much effort to decrease the attacks. I am suggesting that unless the rape and sexual assault issue is fixed, the amount of people joining the military, specifically the women, will decrease greatly.
Read More
Causes of Homosexuality - Nature AND Nuture
551 Words | 2 Pages
The first possible cause of homosexuality is genetic factors. Homosexuality is a trait from birth (Buchanan, 2000). Studies found that identical twins share many common traits. A study found that identical twins normally share homosexual behavior if one of them is homosexual. This proved that genes are likely to cause homosexuality. In addition, according to (Santinover, 2002), homosexuality is a heritable behavior. Based on heritability studies, almost any human trait is heritable including the homosexual behavior. He stated that behavioral genes are found in specific chromosome. Thus, the behavior is obviously heritable. Moreover, Italian University of Padova (2004) believes that homosexual trait is passed from mother to male offspring by natural ...
Read More
The Challenges of Lesbian and Gay Youth
2611 Words | 6 Pages
The debate over homosexuality as nature or nurture dominates most topics about homosexuality. People often confuse the nature/nurture issue with the development of gay identity. In fact, the nature/nurture argument plays a small, insignificant role concerning gay youths (Walling 11). Homosexual identity is the view of the self as homosexual in association with romantic and sexual situations (Troiden 46) Many researchers have either discussed or created several models or theories concerning the development of homosexual identity. However, the most prominent is Troiden’s sociological four-stage model of homosexual identity formation. Dr. Richard R. Troiden desc...
Read More
Critical Analysis of Schulman's Article 'Gay Marriage and Marriage'
949 Words | 2 Pages
Society is created with both homosexual and heterosexual individuals. Previously when certain laws discriminated against others, such as law for women's rights to vote, these laws were changed. Changing the traditions of the country does not mean that it will lead to the legalization of other extreme issues. Each ...
Read More

Open Document

Wait a second!

Don't Ask Don't Tell

Why Gays Shouldn’t Serve by David Horowitz

Comparison of The Crucible And Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The Stonewall Riots