“I will end, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’”  President Obama said three weeks ago.

This policy, which was approved by Former President Bill Clinton in 1993, prevents the military from asking someone about their sexual orientation and discourages men and women from “coming out of the closet.” Many people wonder why it was approved in the first place. According to a poll conducted by the Washington Post in 2008, 75 percent of Americans now believe gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military.

However, the military has said that “homosexuality is incompatible with military service. It would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”

What? People may disagree on the legitimacy of allowing same-sex marriage, but the military’s “judgment” is completely unwarranted. How can they say that gays are not honorable enough to fight for our freedoms because of their sexual orientation. It is bizarre to believe homosexuals are any less honorable or able to fight than heterosexuals.

I understand soldiers can be discharged due to health; but homosexuality is not a disease! Where is this logic coming from? Oh I get it; because a man or a woman is attracted to the same sex, he or she is not able to shoot a gun or work a radio properly. Now can you show me some empirical evidence that backs this up?

This is similar logic we used during times of strong racial segregation. There was a time when our society believed black people were more likely to attract diseases, such as syphilis, because they were black. Haven’t we learned yet? It was the same kind of logic being used to suggest that blacks are more likely to attract syphilis that now is being used to suggest gays are “incompatible with military service.”

Did the military forget to read Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Shouldn’t any man, barring age and health, be allowed to join the military?

The hypocrisies in this policy glare like a neon light in a moonless sky, and the president should do something. Obama alone does not wield the executive power to remove this brand of policy. As a result, he is assigned the responsibility of convincing Congress to remove this policy. We wanted change, he promised change, and now it’s time for him to deliver change.