Tony Perkins: Supposed Consequences Of DADT Repeal Are Decades Off

Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council are still not convinced that repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” won’t have longstanding consequences for the military, regardless of what studies have shown. In yesterday’s Washington Update from FRC, Perkins claims that fallout is coming, it just might take a couple decades:

In the last few days, I’ve fielded plenty of calls from reporters asking, “Where’s all the fallout that FRC predicted?” And I’ll tell you what I told them. It’s impossible to gauge the full effect of sexualizing the military in one year. But make no mistake–the repercussions have begun. We’ve witnessed it in the decline of religious freedom, the censoring of chaplains, the embrace of same-sex “marriage,” and the special treatment for homosexual soldiers. [...]

Has America’s military completely collapsed in the first year after repeal? Of course not–our service members are too professional to let that to happen. But these challenges are only a non-story because the media won’t tell the story. We need only look at no-fault divorce in the 1970s to recognize that radical shifts in public policy take decades to fully manifest. No one can honestly deny the impact that no-fault divorce has had on children and the institution of the family. Within 20 years of the introduction of no-fault divorce, we saw the acceleration of cohabitation, single-parent homes, and unintended pregnancies. By the time Americans recognized their mistake, it was too late. Let’s hope the same isn’t true for our brave men and women in uniform.

The “repercussions” Perkins references include a limit on the size of tattoos servicemembers can have, efforts to minimize the imposition of Christian ministry and evangelism by officers, allowing soldiers to wear their uniforms in Pride parades just like they do in other parades, and soldiers marrying their partners. None of these is really a bad thing, let alone a consequence of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Perkins was wrong before repeal, he’s wrong now, and he’ll still be wrong decades from now.