One of Obama's campaign promises seems to be on its way to becoming true. This week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has openly denounced the U.S. military's controversial “don't ask, don't tell” policy which prevents gay and lesbian soldiers from serving openly in the military. Mullen and the rest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff plan to meet soon to discuss repealing the policy for good.

This decision is sure to cause some controversy, and Senator John McCain has already made clear his continuing support for the policy. Some supporters of DADT claim that openly gay men and women in the military will cause problems for their fellow soldiers and for military operations. According to 2006 poll, however, almost three quarters of Iraqi veterans said they are comfortable serving with gay and lesbian colleagues. To me, this sounds like an unwarranted fear. I don't know whether or not any difficulties would actually arise as a result of gays serving openly in the military, but if nearly three-quarters of returning Iraqi veterans and the current and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff think it won't be a problem, I have to agree with them. I think the bigger issue at hand in any hesitation to support the riddance of DADT boils down to a moral problem with supporting the rights of gay people.

I grew up in a fairly conservative town and went to a Baptist church my whole life. That being said, a lot of the issues to which I have been introduced since leaving that small town and graduating from a big university have been a little difficult to wrap my head around. Though there are some issues that I'm still unable to give my confident opinion on, I am finding that the more I learn for myself and the more experiences I have, the more my own morals and beliefs are transforming and the more confident I am becoming in them.

The Bible states very clearly that homosexuality is immoral. So how could I, as a good Christian, support any legislation that seems to tell the world that homosexuality is OK? Well, first of all, I could support it because I have known and been very close friends with several gay people, and so many artists, musicians, journalists, authors and other amazing people I admire in this world are openly gay. I am not convinced that it is a choice they have made, that it is at all easy for them, or that they are living in sin because of the way they are. This reason for support, however, has to do with my own personal convictions and issues with my religion. I'd like to instead focus this post on the real reason everyone should be able to support gay rights, despite their religious or “moral” beliefs. That reason is human rights.

A Christian might find it hard to vote for a politician who supports same-sex marriage because it goes against their moral and religious beliefs, but is that really a valid basis that shows up in other decisions a conservative voter might make? The Bible also teaches that people should serve God and no other deity or religion, but I would hope that most Christians would not support the outlaw or persecution of non-Christian religions. Other commandments like murder or theft are against the law because those acts infringe upon the rights of others. I don't think there's much of a case for same-sex marriage or openly gay soldiers harming or infringing upon anyone.

The bottom line is that whether I or anyone else think that homosexuality is right or wrong, or that it is or isn't “the way God made intended” humans to act, it is not anyone's place to limit or infringe upon another human being's rights purely on the basis of personal conviction.

Sources

Don't wait to repeal don't ask, don't tell, PilotOnline.com.

Sources: Joint Chiefs set to review 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, CNN.