Seventeen years later, it continues to be a hindrance to the many homosexual, bisexual and transgender citizens serving honorable duties in the military and dying in the name of America.

This policy ridiculously states, “The armed forces must maintain…policies that exclude persons whose presence in the armed forces would create an unacceptable risk to the armed forces’ high standards of morale, good order and discipline.”  They go on to add that “persons who demonstrate…[an] intent to engage in homosexual acts” are those people.

Basically, it is saying that citizens can participate and join the military without question of their sexual orientation, as long as they don’t openly acknowledge that they are homosexual and engage in homosexual activities. This, according to Congressional lawmakers and politicians who put the law into effect, will allow for the military to keep their “dignity and pride” that they have worked so hard to foster.

Is it me or has the military itself ruined it’s own reputation; I don’t think they needed homosexuals to do that for them. If they so had a high standard of morale, the public would not have been hearing about unnecessary murders of innocent civilians, savage rapes of women and children (as we’ve seen with the case of Private Steven Green, who murdered an entire family of four and raped their 14 year-old daughter) and excessive torture of innocents committed by the U.S. army in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the countless number of countries that they have been to war with and have a military presence in.

Maybe I’m sounding a little negative, but last time I heard, LGBT soldiers have served the army faithfully and without hazard to any of the military’s operations, to the best of their abilities, just like heterosexual soldiers have.

The D.A.D.T. policy has seen immense criticism, after it was put before the U.S. District Court and was ruled unconstitutional. District Court Judge Phillips proclaimed, “A judicial declaration states that the D.A.D.T. Act violates the Fifth and First Amendments,” which entitles all citizens to free speech and due process.

Even the most notable pop culture icon of our time, Lady Gaga, spoke out in support two weeks ago, stating, “If you are not honorable enough to fight without prejudice, go home!” Not only is this policy unconstitutional and therefore illegal, but also according to an ABC poll taken in July 2008, 78 percent of 1,119 Americans who voted are in favor of homosexuals in the military. So why hasn’t Congress rushed at this opportunity to repeal the law that has directly trampled on the rights of their citizens and committed such utmost injustice? It beats me.

It just so happens that the D.A.D.T. policy is included in the annual Defense Authorization Bill and that is what is being debated in Congress. A filibuster was implemented unanimously on Sept. 22 by Republicans, a clever way of putting off key topics that senators do not want to deal with, by holding the floor with limitless “debate.” Democrats fell short by four votes to bypass the filibuster and the discussion was blocked. Seems to be another game of politics in time for the midterm elections, played by its best players, politicians. The fight still goes on and is deferred to December.

The Department of Government Accountability estimated that it cost around $95 million “to recruit replacements for enlisted service members separated for homosexual conduct.” These “service members” include translators, linguists, data processing and medical technicians, “some of whom were in critical occupations or had important foreign language skills.” With that kind of money we could’ve had two government bailouts instead of one, or better yet, we could’ve used it to improve the mess we made in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are now in total ruins due to imperialistic military and government “adventures” for foreign oil. But instead, it was wasted on firing, investigating and dismembering more than 14,000 human beings because their sexual orientation went against “societal norms.” It is simply astonishing.

We now live in a bustling cosmopolitan city with people from all corners of the world; where people are allowed to walk down the street and strut their stuff no matter who’s watching. The Fordham LGBT community is free to state their orientations, walk with their same or different sex partners and hold their heads high with pride, which many do without shame.

The D.A.D.T. policy only serves as a setback to the important advances and achievements the LGBT community has made. Support the cause for a repeal and have this tarnished policy eradicated from the U.S. law books. I hope America will become a step closer to representing what it has forever claimed it did, freedom and equality for all.