Centerblue.org

My friend Martin over at Total Information Awareness pointed me to this story on how the military recently expelled a gay Arabic translator under the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. This is by far not the first time this has happened; the Washington Post previously reported on several other such expulsions of valuable translators and linguists.

Arabic translators are not exactly found under every rock. These are extremely valuable people that could be deployed for urgently needed intelligence and interrogation activities as we conduct the so-called “war on terror.”

Instead of letting these individuals contribute to the nation’s safety by serving as its badly needed eyes and ears in the Arabic world, the military prefers to expel them because of their sexual orientation. That’s right, their sex partners matter more than our national security.

The military’s policy seems ever more outdated especially in light of the successful integration of gay servicemembers in countries like Britain, Spain and Israel.

The military is already having great difficulty holding on to its most talented people. That fact, along with the civil strife and radical Islamic terrorism we are fighting in the Middle East and elsewhere makes the discarding of people like these valuable translators especially reprehensible.

Stop worrying about who people sleep with and start worrying about protecting our country already!