Center for American Progress: Ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

[FreeState]

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/dont_ask_dont_tell.html

Then-Senator Barack Obama pledged during the 2008 presidential campaign that he would work with military leaders and Congress to repeal the law that bans openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military. Yet the law commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” or DADT, remains in effect despite his campaign promise and subsequent pledges to fulfill it.

As a consequence, more than 265 service members have been discharged on the basis of this discriminatory, outmoded, and counterproductive policy since Obama took office. Furthermore, the policy has deterred untold others who want to defend their country from serving. Gary Gates, a senior research fellow at the UCLA School of Law, found that if the proportion of gay men in the military was allowed to rise to equal that in the general population, “the military could raise their numbers by an estimated 41,000 men.”

DADT has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,000 patriotic and highly qualified men and women since its enactment more than 16 years ago. At least 1,000 of these 13,000 have held “critical occupations,” such as interpreters and engineers. Moreover, approximately 4,000 service members leave the service voluntarily per year because of this policy.

For example, by the end of fiscal year 2003, a few months after the fall of Baghdad, the military had forced out more than 320 service members with vital language skills such as Arabic and Farsi. These are the very critical specialties in which the military con- tinues to face personnel shortfalls. Meanwhile, the Army and Marine Corps have been forced to significantly lower their moral and aptitude standards in order to overcome recruitment shortfalls. Perhaps most troubling is the fact that the military has at the same time granted so-called “moral waivers” to thousands of new recruits, including people with felony convictions.

Despite these serious losses, there are no signs of momentum within the Obama adminis- tration to fulfill its campaign promise to repeal DADT. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated that “The president and I feel like we’ve got a lot on our plates right now and let’s push that one down the road a little bit.” Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently noted that “The president has made his stra- tegic intent very clear…that it’s his intent at some point in time to ask Congress to change the law.” Admiral Mullen and Secretary Gates display a clear lack of urgency on a major campaign promise; as President Clinton’s experience in 1993 demonstrates, any delay can allow those who oppose repealing DADT to seize the momentum....

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A clear and comprehensive road map for repealing DADT and implementing an alterna- tive, non-discriminatory policy already exists. This report provides a realistic outline for repealing DADT and opening our armed forces to the many qualified men and women who have been excluded under that law. These steps include:

1. Signing an Executive Order banning further military separations based on DADT and sending a legislative proposal on DADT repeal to Congress

2. Forming a presidential panel on how to implement the repeal

3. Repealing DADT in Congress and changing the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, or UCMS

4. Changing other necessary military guidelines to conform to the new policy

5. Following-up to ensure that the armed forces implement the policy changes

This report draws upon lessons from previous attempts at ending discrimination and effecting change within the military in order to place these steps into proper context.

It also highlights years of research and evidence to illustrate the unnecessary and inexcus- able cost that this policy has levied on the American taxpayer and our service members. This research challenges the notion that repealing the ban on openly gay men and women in the military will have a significant effect on either force quality or effectiveness.