Kicked Out for Being Out

President Barack Obama is under pressure — and not just from the burden of turning America around from the worst economic recession in this generation but also from gay rights advocates as fight for same-sex marriage, repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell policy" and the possible appointment of a gay Supreme Court Justice heat up.

Foremost of these issues, is the fight to repeal the 15-year old law that banned openly gay men and lesbians in uniform, it happens to be one of Obama's key promises during his campaign. The law is dubbed don't ask, don’t tell because the government would no longer "ask" recruits if they were gay, but gays may only serve if they do not "tell" or keep their sexual orientation private and do not engage in homosexual activity.

Basically, keep you can keep your spot in the military but you'd have to deny who you are. Since the passage of this law, more than 12,500 gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel have been discharged. Most recently, after outing himself on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, Lt. Dan Choi, an Iraq combat veteran and Arab linguist also got kicked out of the army.

State laws recognize that it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee on the basis of his or her race, gender, national origin, age, and almost half of these states including the District of Columbia prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in both public and private jobs.

Don't ask, don't tell is a blatant discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the military. They are removed from service not because of their poor performance or disloyalty but because they just happen to be openly gay.

In her explanation why gays should be excluded from military service, Elaine Donnelly, the president of the non-profit Center for Military Readiness, said, "If you're too old, too young, if you have a medical condition, there are many reasons people are ineligible to be in the armed forces."

But unfortunately, regardless of the waste of training and knowledge of these discharged military personnel, this is the law. And the only solution to this is for a legislative repeal which pretty much rests on President Obama's unwavering support in order to make it happen.