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Loading ...Hearing This Week On Repealing Military Gay Ban
07.22.2008 8:08am EDT
(Washington) For the first time since it was enacted 15-years ago, a congressional hearing will be held on the impact of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the law banning openly gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans from serving in the Armed Forces.
The hearing comes as a new poll shows for the first time that a majority of Americans believe gays should be allowed to serve.The Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee will hold the public hearing on Wednesday.
Among those scheduled to testify are U.S. Army Major General Vance Coleman (Ret.), U.S. Navy Captain Joan E. Darrah (Ret.), and former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric F. Alva.
“This hearing begins a conversation about the national security impact of losing qualified, capable service members,” said Aubrey Sarvis, Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). “We commend Congresswoman Susan Davis (D), Chair of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, for her leadership in reviewing this obsolete law.”
Davis has introduced legislation to repeal the ban.
Gen. Coleman, who served as a Division Commander, sits on the SLDN Military Advisory Council. His decorations include the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Capt. Darrah’s assignments included serving as Deputy Director of the Human Resources Directorate at the Office of Naval Intelligence. A graduate of the Naval War College, she also belongs to the SLDN Military Advisory Council.
Sergeant Alva was the first American wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served in the Marine Corps for 13 years.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on the weekend shows that 75 percent of Americans believe LGBT people should be allowed to serve.
A similar poll taken shortly after Pres. Bill Clinton signed the law in 1993 found that only 44 percent of Americans supported the idea of letting gays serve openly.
A study published by a University of California think tank earlier this month found that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion.”
Last month former US Sen. Sam Nunn (R), one of the principle lawmakers responsible for the passage in 1993 of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, said it is now time for Congress to revisit the law.
Under DADT two people every day are dropped from the military for being gay.
In the 15 years that DADT has been in force, more than 10,000 personnel have been discharged as a result of the policy, including 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical,’ such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists.
The number of gay men and lesbians turned away by military recruiters is unknown.
A study conducted last year for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network concluded that the U.S. military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits if gays and lesbians in the military were able to be open about their sexual orientation.
Here in Canada, gays and lesbians can serve in the Canadian military and this is done without major incidents. It`s kinda sad to think that the US can not see past centuries old discrimination and prejudice against a group of people dedicated enought to want to serve and defend their fellow citizens.
The fact that military leaders are just fine with recruiting violent felons but think that trained and skilled gays and lesbians aren’t good enough speaks loudly of the homophobia that still exists in the military. Will repealing DADT make a difference? I think not.
Talk about stupid. As science continues to confirm that gay people have better foreign-language skills than non-gay folks, we’ve eliminated 56 Arab translators in the military because they were gay. Let’s shoot ourselves in the foot! As a linguist that speaks 5 languages, and could learn a few more, the idea that my world-hated government won’t allow me to facilitate necessary communication because I occasionally sleep with men is illogical in the extreme. No nation that allows gays to serve has experienced any difficulty in the transition. They’re fighting alongside us in the wars we’ve started. Maybe we should ask our allies to go home, lest their homosexual service members corrupt our hetero forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Frankly, if our Armed Forces are so weak that they cannot swallow such a minimal change (it’s not likely that gays will warm up to the military until it apologizes for treating us like sh*t, which will take years), I don’t trust them to be able to protect us very well: seems to be a sign of weakness. If we’re that afraid of gay men and women, how can we confront the really creepy people in the world like Mr Bin Laden? I grew up overseas and know what the rest of the world thinks about us. Boy oh boy, are we misunderstood! On the other hand, the US has done little for me in my life other than provide a passport and teach me about homophobia. So I’ll take my gay american brain and put it to use for a nation that will judge me on my abilities, not my status as a sexual minority. How dare the US predetermine my level of nationalism and devotion to country based on who I sleep with. Naughty America. BMB.
I am proud that our own representative to Congress, Susan Davis, is taking the lead in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, in spite of San Diego being a somewhat conservative area.
–Steve van Keuren
San Diego
I heard an amazing documentary about this today on Sirius Radio’s OutQ. 16yrs later, it’s about time, I hope the DADT is repealed so that our troops can serve openly and comfortably.
I entered service in early 2003. I am proud of my veteran status and the Sailors with whom I served with. I served honorably and with pride. I also served in fear that somehow my sexual orientation would be discovered thus destroying my service career. I would have continued to serve but a service connected disability left me with no other options but take a Med-Board (honorable medical discharge).
I saw firsthand, while in the service, some of those whom the DADT policy destroyed. I was injured while in boot camp and stayed nine months in boot before I was allowed to move on to my next assignment. While in boot I saw well over one hundred fine outstanding young men and women who were forcefully ousted by their division’s Recruit Division Commanders or by other recruits. I saw these witch hunts that they say no longer occurs. These young adults are legally separated after an embarrassing Captain’s Mast and leave in shame with an “Other than Honorable” discharge. I know many who left no longer had a place to go, after they told their family of the discharge they were rejected and left homeless.
I was also one who was victimized by one of the witch hunts. I had a Top Secrete security clearance and only had the fact I had to hide my sexual orientation put it and my career in jeopardy. Rumors were started by a recruit who was in trouble for possession and use of other’s prescription medicine. The Master at Arms questioned over forty fellow recruits to conclude that I did not speak of my personal life and sex like the others. It was enough with a few trumped-up charges stating that I made extra tours thru the head (bathroom) while on roving security watches. I after pleading my innocence, proved to them that I only made tours of the all the spaces as we are ordered and besides the door watch would have known if anything I was doing was out of the ordinary which none of the security logs showed. I still suffered a lost of ½ a months pay.
I was never ashamed of being a Sailor except for the moment I was forced to lie while in Captain’s Mast. I entered service at age thirty-one. I spent years fighting obesity to finally be able to join. I lost over two hundred pounds and got in shape. I was not going to let my personal life and sexual orientation stop me from serving. If anything the DADT policy placed me in circumstances that made me violate my principles and my honor so I may continue to serve.
I love this country and felt honored to serve in the finest Navy in the world. Even the best can be better…
“Honor, Courage, Commitment” US Navy Core Values & Mine
I for one can not wait for DADT to be disbanned. I have been serving in the Army for a lil over 3 years now. I have been in iraq 15 months of that time getting ready to go one another 12 tour in Iraq. And the hardest part is trying to act “straight”. Which is not what and Soldier should be worried about while serving, let alone in a war zone! Life should not be that hard.
God’s Speed Army Gurl. One day our fine men and women will not have to deny that they are gay and still serve honorably. Thank You For Your Service.