Democrats Reopen Debate On "don't Ask, Don't Tell"

A House panel held a landmark hearing on the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” law on Wednesday afternoon, the first such hearing since the law was enacted in 1993.

While there is little chance the law governing gays in the military will be changed in the short term, Democrats are hoping the hearing re-ignites a conversation on the highly charged issue.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has indicted he would work to change the law if elected.

Despite the passions the issue often raises, cooler heads prevailed Wednesday as the House Armed Services Committee’s Military Personnel Subcommittee heard from several witnesses on both sides of the issue.

No Pentagon officials spoke at the hearing.

Several openly-gay retired military personnel called for the law to be scrapped, saying it is unfair and discourages thousands of qualified homosexual Americans from enlisting.

Eric Alva, an openly gay former Marine, told the panel that despite being the first U.S. soldier wounded in the Iraq War in 2003 and receiving a purple heart and a visit from President Bush, he remained deeply conflicted about his service because of his sexual orientation.

“I realized that I had fought and nearly died to secure rights for others that I myself was not free to enjoy,” he said. “I had proudly served a country that was not proud of me.”

However, Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness--a group that does not support gays serving openly in the military--warned there will be “real consequences” if the law were changed.

Donnelly blamed “the San Francisco left” for “trying to impose their agenda on the military” and said that if the law were overturned, it could lead to “a sexualized atmosphere in our military.”