Supporters of the ban contend there is still no empirical evidence that allowing gays to serve openly won’t hurt combat effectiveness.

Obviously, this is the argument you most frequently see used against atheists who are told, for some reason, that it’s their responsibility to “prove” that there is no god, but that’s not really a can of worms I’m hoping to open with this post. Rather, I’m more interested in noting that the inability to prove that A is false does not logically mean that A is therefore true, and such an assertion is a cowardly way of avoiding having to support your own assertion. That’s doubly so when there is significant evidence to contradict, though not deductively disprove, A (in this case, citing the examples of effective fighting forces with openly gay members in other countries, the attitudes of polled US Servicemen and women, etc.). Yet that is exactly what is being done here by proponents of DADT.

I can already hear the DADT proponents protesting, “But you have to prove us wrong, because the burden of proof is on you; you’re the one who wants to change the status quo.” Here’s where you’re misunderstanding things. Accepting the burden of proof doesn’t mean I have to disprove your argument, only that I must prove mine. I can objectively prove that allowing members of one sexual orientation to serve openly while not allowing members of another to do the same is, by definition, discriminatory and that is, without more, a violation of our equal protection laws. Now, it’s up to you to refute my proof by showing a good reason why my proof doesn’t warrant a change in the law. In other words, now it’s up to you to prove something. The same goes for gay marriage prohibitions and any other law which harms a citizen. If a law harms someone, then the proof to justify a potential change is automatically on the table. That levels the playing field. If you have arguments to back your position, lay them out, but don’t hide behind misplaced burden of proof. It’s on you now.

On an unrelated note, what a great time for Obama to step forward and introduce legislation to do exactly what this study recommends: repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Such a move would even win him back alot of the respect I’ve lost for him over his recent pandering to the religious right, and it wouldn’t even be that politically dangerous considering that 79% of the general public support repealing DADT (and 73% of military personal are themselves comfortable with gays and lesbians). This would be a great way this would be for our next President to show that he will stand strong in support of gay and lesbian citizens.