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The Advocate and Senator Obama
This week the Advocate magazine published its recent interview with presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) during which he and Advocate news editor Kerry Eleveld discussed, among other issues, the need to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
When asked “if you were elected, what do you plan to do for the LGBT community -- what can you reasonably get done?” Senator Obama replied, “I reasonably can see ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ eliminated.”
I am extremely encouraged by Senator Obama's optimism to get "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repealed. He, like Senator Clinton, wants this terrible law repealed sooner rather than later. It is also my hope we can persuade Senator McCain this inequitable law must go. Our opportunity to repeal this law is in the next Congress -- with a new president in the White House demonstrating leadership in the repeal fight.
Later in the interview Eleveld returns to the issue of gays in the military asking, “you’ve said before you don’t think that’s [ repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”] a heavy lift. Of course, it would be if you had Joint Chiefs who were against repeal. Is that something you’ll look at?” Senator Obama responded saying he, “would never make this a litmus test for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Obviously, there are so many issues that a member of the Joint Chiefs has to deal with, and my paramount obligation is to get the best possible people to keep America safe. But I think there’s increasing recognition within the Armed Forces that this is a counterproductive strategy -- ya know, we’re spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn’t make us more safe, and what I want are members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are making decisions based on what strengthens our military and what is going to make us safer, not ideology.”
SLDN applauds Senator Obama’s support for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and, likewise, we appreciate Senator Clinton’s commitment to get this done. I hope the next president will expect everyone on his or her leadership team to be on the same page on major public policy initiatives, including “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I believe we have all learned tough lessons from what happens when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is not aligned with what his Commander in Chief wants to do. Unfortunately, that kind of disconnect is one of the reasons we got “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fifteen years ago instead of an executive order permitting open service.
-Aubrey Sarvis
Labels: 2008, barack obama, Hillary Clinton, McCain, presidential candidates
04-11-08 Comment (4)
General Petraeus Goes to Washington
General David Petraeus testified yesterday before the Senate Armed Service and Senate Foreign Relations Committees on the state of America's efforts in Iraq. Feelings about our military presence in the Middle East run high, and the presence of all three presidential candidates certainly added a level of political tension to the setting, but it is important that Congress and the American people not overlook the fact that Iraq is only one theater in which American service members are stationed. It is now painfully obvious to all that the global war on terror has stretched our military capabilities to the limits. If Congress is clear headed about addressing this problem it must repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
In his testimony General Petraeus told senators, "the strategic considerations include recognition that: the strain on the U.S. military, especially on its ground forces, has been considerable." He went on to recommend a 45-day "period of consolidation and evaluation" once the extra combat forces associated with the surge complete their pullout in July. He did not commit to a timetable for resuming troop reductions after the 45-day pause.
Under questioning by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), General Petraeus said he could not predict when troop reductions would resume or how many U.S. troops would remain in Iraq by the end of this year. There currently are 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and the pentagon projects that when the scheduled troop withdrawals are completed in July about 140,000 troops will remain.
Senator Levin asked General Petraeus when he would recommend further troop cuts, once the 45-day evaluation period ends in September. "It could be right then, or it could be longer," the general said. He declined comment further, saying he would recommend more cuts when conditions were right.
General Petraeus’s comments on troop reduction underscore the reality that America’s military personnel are stretched to their limits. Yet, the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” statute still requires military commanders discharge troops if they are honest and open about their sexual orientation. As a result of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law 12,000 troops have been dismissed from the military since 1994.
Congress needs to give all commanders every opportunity to recruit train and retain the best troops needed to accomplish the mission. Congress needs to change the law to ensure that military readiness is more important than promoting prejudice towards lesbians, gays and bisexuals.
To ensure military readiness and enhance our national security Congress must finally repeal the terrible “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” federal statute
-Aubrey SarvisLabels: Petraeus
-----04-09-08 Comment (0)
Why SLDN Matters to Her
Anna Curren believes in leading by example. As a professor of nursing, Anna saw a need for better educational literature and, rather than complain about it (as many may have), she decided to write a book. Today, Anna’s nursing text books have sold more than a million copies and are used in classrooms across the country.
So when she decided to become involved in the movement to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Anna didn’t just share her personal beliefs with anyone willing to listen -- she took a leadership role in the movement and not only joined the board of SLDN but became one of our most generous patrons.
Because of her philanthropy Anna was recently approached by the men and women at eQualityGiving, the online community for those who are determined to fulfill the American promise of equality under the law, to discuss her giving.
Click here to read her full profile and learn why this gracious woman of 73, “now confidently expect[s] to live the history of DADT's repeal.”
-Aubrey Sarvis
Labels: Board
-----04-09-08 Comment (0)
Wavering Standards
This morning's USAToday features an important report on the rising percentage of Army recruits needing a waiver to join the service because of a past criminal record. The article states that the percentage has more than doubled since 2004 to an astounding one for every eight new soldiers.
According to statistics compiled by the Army Recruiting Command and cited in the USAToday article, the percentage of Active and Reserve Army recruits granted conduct waivers for misdemeanor or felony charges has grown from 4.6% of recruits in FY2004, to 13% so far in fiscal year 2008.
USAToday reports that "most waivers involve misdemeanors. The Army has granted 4,676 conduct waivers among the 36,047 recruited from October through late February. The waivers have helped the Army meet its Active and Reserve recruitment goals of about 100,000 people a year for the past several years."
From 2004-2008 over 2,000 service members have been discharged from the military because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual. It is shocking -- and inefficient-- that Congress allows recruiters to enlist a group of men and women with proven behavioral problems (like felons) while at the same time dismissing another group of men and women (lesbians, gays and bisexuals) because they tell the truth about their sexual orientation.
Each year bigotry towards lesbians and gays costs the military dearly. Statistics from the Williams Institute at UCLA suggest nearly 4,000 Americans a year never enlist, are discharged or decide not to re-enlist because of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” That means, since the law was passed in 1993, the military has lost nearly 60,000 qualified troops to the ban. That figure is more than equal to the number of men and women sent into Iraq last year as part of the surge. The loss of so many qualified service members is one of the reasons why recruiters are now granting waivers to ex-cons.
Americans need to tell lawmakers that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is not working, that the ban is not serving the best interests of our military, and that it is compromising America's national security interests. Click here to find out how you can contact your Senators and Representative and tell them to support the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
-Aubrey SarvisLabels: recruiting
-----04-07-08 Comment (0)
SLDN Repudiates General’s Remarks
I was upset to learn of recent anti-gay comments made by Italian General Mauro Del Vecchio, former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. In an interview with the Italian news service Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AGI), Del Vecchio told reporters he believes lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel are “unsuitable” for military service. The General went on to say, “in a structure like the army, where activities are always carried out together, it is advisable not to declare or reveal one's homosexuality.”
These comments are shocking, insensitive and disrespectful to the 47,000 multi-national troops, including Americans, who served under Del Vecchio as part of the NATO force in Afghanistan. 19,000 Americans served under General Del Vecchio’s command in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2006. The Williams Project at the University of California-Los Angeles estimates at least 65,000 lesbian and gay Americans are currently serving on active duty and the reserves. Another 1 million gay Americans, the group has estimated, are veterans of the armed forces. American service members, along with our international allies, make tremendous sacrifices every day in Afghanistan, and deserve General Del Vecchio’s praise, not his scorn.
Furthermore, the Italian government disagrees with the General. Italy, along with Great Britain, France, Israel and Australia, is one of twenty-four countries which allows gay troops to serve openly. More than half of the troops taking part in ISAF hail from countries which allow open service.
As a military leader in a nation which allows open and honest service, General Del Vecchio knows that personal prejudice does not dictate policy. Not only should the General apologize for his remarks, he also needs a refresher course on leadership. This general needs to be reminded that leaders demonstrate respect for all those who serve under them. These troops deserve better and I hope that the Italian Defense Minister agrees.
-Aubrey SarvisLabels: foreign militaries
-----04-07-08 Comment (0)
Looking Back—Looking Forward
What struck me yesterday, while I was watching John McCain speak in Memphis at ceremonies commemorating the assassination forty years ago of Martin Luther King , was that the particulars may change but the issues remain the same. The parallels between then and now are too strong to ignore.
“Forty years and more after the great struggles of the civil rights movement,” Senator McCain said, “we marvel that such fierce passions could be aroused in defense of such petty cruelties.” Forty years from now will we wonder that such fierce passions could be aroused at the prospect of admitting openly gay and lesbian soldiers into the military? I am an optimist: I think so.
We know, of course, that gays and lesbians are already there, they just can’t mention it, and if they do, under the current law they’re out. That is what Senator McCain correctly calls “the underside of life in America, where the rules of respect, and fairness, and courtesy were thought not to apply.” But that is what Senator McCain supports.
“Sometimes the most radical thing is to be confronted with our own standards,” Senator McCain said, “to be asked simply that we live up to the principles we profess.” That is precisely what we are asking, no more, no less: that this President, this Congress, Republicans as well as Democrats, this nation live up to the principles of equality and justice that Senator McCain so eloquently proclaims—and that Senator McCain live up to them, too, and support the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, instead of opposing it as he now does.
Senator McCain noted that “we do not always take kindly to being reminded of what more we can do, or how much better we can be, or who else can be included in the promise of America.” So let us respectfully remind him, him and every other candidate for the Presidency, for the Congress, and for every public office in this land—and push this land a little closer to the principles of liberty and justice for all that it espouses.
Labels: McCain
-----04-07-08 Comment (0)
What God Hath Joined Together, Let No Man(ual) Cast Asunder
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
AP writers Bradley Brooks and Russ Bynum report on a recent move by Army commanders to accommodate married couples who are serving together in Iraq. The program which was launched in May 2006 allows married couples at Camp Striker, located on the outskirts of Baghdad, to share trailers with their spouses.
This historic, but little-noticed change in policy, represents an attempt by Army commanders to address personnel needs in an effort to keep trained service members from leaving the military. "I think they are looking under the sofa cushions for anything they can do to improve retention. They spend a lot of money getting these people trained up," said John Pike, director of the military think tank Globalsecurity.org.
This raises the obvious question – if the U.S. Army is interested in looking for creative ways of retaining service members, doesn’t it make more sense to call on Congress for repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?” The Army’s new marriage initiative would affect nearly 10,000 couples (20,000 soldiers) while repeal of DADT would impact the lives of more than 65,000 service members and over one million veterans.
According to Command Maj. Mark Thornton of the 3rd Infantry, "It's [the marriage initiative] better for the soldiers, which means overall it's better for the Army." SLDN couldn’t agree more! Gay Americans in uniform deserve more from our government than the stark choice between service to country and a life of integrity. Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will make a career in the military a far more palatable option for the nearly four thousand soldiers who leave the service rather than continue to live in silence.
-Aubrey Sarvis
04-03-08 Comment (1)
Study on Gays in the Workplace is Looking for Participants
Lola Houchins, a postgraduate student at Northeastern State University in Muskogee, OK, is looking for participants to take part in sociological study on methods used by homosexual males to manage their social identity as they engage in impression management. As part of her study she will examine the role legislation and the media play in enhancing discriminatory attitudes toward homosexual males – and as such she is looking for men who have served under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
If you would like to participate in this study, please contact Lola directly at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
All information you provide her is considered confidential as outlined by the American Sociological Association’s Code of Ethics, which dictates the inclusion of an informed consent.
04-02-08 Comment (0)
Pentagon Balks at Gay Partner Travel
Thanks to SLDN board member Mike Magee’s quick eyes, I can share with you an interesting story about the hoops and hurdles Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) recently had to go through ensuring that her wife, Lauren Azar, could join her on a congressional fact-finding trip to Europe.
According to Politico reporters Patrick O’Connor and David Rogers, “The Pentagon appears to be self-conscious about transporting gay domestic partners at a time when it continues to enforce a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in its own ranks.”
Baldwin, the only open lesbian elected to Congress, exchanged wedding vows with Azar in 1998 in her home state of Wisconsin. However, Wisconsin law does not officially recognize same-sex marriages, and military officials refused to consider Azar a “spouse” under the existing House rules.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intervened with Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ensure Azar was provided a space on the flight along with other congressional spouses. In requesting Azar be allowed to fly, the Speaker cited a precedent established by former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois. Pelosi reportedly told Gates that Hastert allowed Azar to fly with Baldwin on a previous trip abroad.
According to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law, “marriage or attempted marriage” between two people of the same-sex is reason for discharge from the military. And as this incident underscores, with more and more gay Americans taking advantage of state laws recognizing their relationships, the disconnect between the Department of Defense, Congress, and the American people goes on and on.
Labels: Congress
-----04-01-08 Comment (0)
An American Hero, Alan Rogers, One of the 4,000
On March 19th America entered the sixth year of the war in Iraq. Four days later, late on Easter Sunday, the Pentagon announced that the four Americans killed that day brought the death toll to four thousand. Regardless of how one feels about the war, no one could deny the sadness and tears embodied in the numbers: five years of war behind us, four thousand Americans dead, more than 29,000 Americans wounded, and many times that number of Iraqis killed and wounded. Anyone would acknowledge, that mountain of misery is very high.
Dying on the field of battle has nothing to do with being gay or being straight or with any of the possible permutations between one end of the bell-shaped curve and the other. A dead soldier is a dead soldier, deserving of our highest respect, and we honor each one of them. Percentages are irrelevant here. It does not matter how many of those honored dead were lesbian, gay, or bisexual. But it does matter--and it matters greatly--that even in death the law of the land refuses to respect, honor, and acknowledge the full humanity, including the sexual orientation, of those brave gay men and women who gave their lives for their country. Only the Congressional/Pentagon-approved version of who they were--the "poster-boy" or "poster-girl" soldier--can be admitted. Even if the gay or lesbian soldier acknowledged it, if everyone around the soldier knew it, and if the family accepted it, the government of the United States willfully refuses to see it. This, frankly, is insulting to the memory of any man or woman.
This question arises today because one of those four thousand dead in the war in Iraq is an Army major, Alan Rogers, who served with great courage and honor until he was killed by an improvised explosive device on January 27 in Baghdad. His burial in Arlington on March 14 was covered extensively by The Washington Post. Several of his friends have said publicly that Major Rogers was gay, and have accused The Post of colluding with the government in keeping that quiet. That is the subject of Deborah Howell's ombudsman column published in Sunday's Washington Post, "Public Death, Private Life." The Washington Blade's lead story Friday was sharply critical of The Post. Its editor, Kevin Naff, sent Howell an e-mail, which she quotes in her column: "It's a double standard to report basic facts about straight subjects like marital status, while actively suppressing similar information about gay subjects." I agree.
I, personally, did not know Major Alan Rogers. However, I do know that an estimated 65,000 gay American men and women are included among the ranks of those who put their lives on the line for our country in this time of war. Each of those service members is a beloved son or daughter of this country, deserving better than a law that requires them to lie every day as a condition of serving our country.
On Monday the President pledged to ensure an outcome to this war that "will merit the sacrifice" of those four thousand who died in Iraq. He vowed "to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain." I respectfully submit that one way for that to happen would be to make sure the laws of the state regarding liberty and justice for all are applied equally to all. Justice is supposed to be blind. In the case of gay and lesbian soldiers, justice is not blind at all. Repealing DADT would be one way of making sure "that those lives were not lost in vain."
A former Army officer and longtime SLDN supporter spoke eloquently to the issue in a recent e-mail: "All we wanted was to be able to talk about [Alan Rogers] as a friend and loved one and for our relationship with him to be honored. The Post didn't just bury the fact of his sexual orientation, it appears to have gone to some lengths to excise that entire portion of his life. It's as if our relationship with Alan never existed. That's what's so disrespectful about what they did. What they denied to Alan in death was exactly what the Army had denied him all his life: a chance, for once, to cease all the obsessive compartmentalization that the military required of all of us, and integrate all aspects of his life into a seamless whole."
Exactly.
(In an ironic twist, the number of men and women the military has lost in Iraq since 2003, according to statistician Gary Gates of the Williams Institute at UCLA, is equal to the number who each year fail to re-enlist because they no longer want to serve under DADT. They would rather be respected for who they are, not for who Congress and the Pentagon would like them to pretend to be.)
(Photo credit/Army Maj. Alan G. Rogers is buried at Arlington National Cemetery/Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)
03-29-08 Comment (1)
