There are over 65,000 gay and lesbian people currently serving in the U.S. Military. There are over 1,000,000 gay veterans in the United States. 104 retired Generals and Admirals have asked the Congress to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the 1993 law that requires the discharge of any military service member who is discovered to practice or admit to sexual conduct with a person of the same sex. This is the only federal law that mandates an employer to fire someone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual. More than $200 million dollars of your taxpayer money has been spend to replace people discharged under the ban since 1993 according to the US General Accounting Office. Millions of dollars are wasted investigating and prosecuting service members under this law, money that could be used to enhance our security. A Commission report cited the cost of implementing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell as at least $364 million dollars between 1994 and 2003. In the last five years the military has discharged at least 59 Arabic linguists and 9 Farsi linguists under DADT. The US functions with a perpetual shortage of skilled translators. Only 15% of military personnel are women, yet women make up 30% of discharges under DADT. This suggests that women are targeted for rejecting male sexual advances in the workplace and are less valued as contributors to military readiness. Men and women are serving in the military, now, today, with high qualifications, yet are thrown away if they even mention they are gay, lesbian or bisexual. All of our NATO allies except Turkey allow men and women to serve openly in the military without regard to their sexual orientation. Federal contractors, the CIA, FBI and other NSA branches no longer exclude gays and lesbians from employment. Prior to the passage of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and new restrictions implemented in the first Reagan administration, commanding officers had two rules to follow in dealing with gays. First, sodomy was against the military code, and anyone caught in the act could be prosecuted or discharged. Second, was a commanding officer’s prerogative called ‘Retain at Discretion’ that allowed the officer to decide whether or not his or her subordinate was unfit. That’s why Col. Potter on the old television program M.A.S.H. never discharged the transvestite Corporal Klinger. He retained Klinger at his discretion, having determined that he may like to cross dress but that he was neither mad or a threat to military order. Of course, Klinger never claimed to be gay and was never caught snuggling another man in bed. But those were the old rules. People caught in the act would often plead for clemency by claiming they were drunk; the act was a once in a lifetime mistake. Let us never again use alcohol as an excuse for mercy. Join the 75% of Americans who favor letting gays serve openly according to a July 2008 Washington Post/ABC News Poll. In March 2009, Representative Ellen Tauscher introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act HR 1283 that repeals Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and puts into place a non-discrimination policy in the armed forces. President Obama supports the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Please give your support.