Letter to Congress

I am writing today to request that you vote for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" – the same language that passed the House in May. I am a 16-year military veteran and I can assure you that service members are mature professionals who are paid to do a job that they are able to do very well. It is ludicrous that anyone would even say that we couldn't do our job just as well because of the personal lives of our coworkers.

Do the American people think that we do nothing but have sex at work?

As a woman, and a veteran, I am insulted by the "excuses" for not repealing DADT because the reasons put forward rely on the assumption that I am not doing my job because I am having sex. To further put things into perspective, the last time I had to actually shower with other people in an "open bay" shower was at boot camp 16 years ago. I'm not traumatized, though I later found that some of the women in my company were lesbians and might have seen me nude. We were there surviving a tough experience together and, bottom line, doing our jobs. Oh, and I am not equating boot camp to deployment situations. I spent most of the last year of my life in Afghanistan, where I got to shower in my own stall (and if I was scared of anyone seeing me naked, I could disrobe and dress in that stall as well).

My experience in the military has shown me that I'm far more likely to be sexually harassed or assaulted by a male compatriot than to be asked out by a lesbian.

So, having said all that, I implore you to vote for the repeal of this policy that does nothing more than insult the integrity of US service members.