Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

On The Road in San Antonio

Remember the Alamo? It’s right across the street from my hotel. I came to San Antonio last Wednesday with my colleague David Hall to raise awareness of just how unfair "Don‘t Ask, Don’t Tell" really is, to meet with SLDN supporters, and with any luck to raise some money for the cause. Our friends are already committed, and they give us great moral and financial support, San Antonio and Austin friends like Dr. Christopher Hammet, Paul Carter, Ron Anderson, Anne Wynne, George Beddingfield, General Virgil Richard and so many more. But our friends already understand the fundamental unfairness of this law. We have to open the eyes of all those millions of uncommitted voters who probably don’t give "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" much thought (the same way that sixty years ago most Americans didn’t give racial segregation much thought). Americans recognize unfairness when eventually they see it. Our job is to make them see it now, and that’s part of what I’m trying to do in San Antonio. When we’ve got enough voters on our side, the votes in Congress will go along. They always do. That’s how democracy works, and we have to make it work for us. That’s why we’re launching a national political campaign to show the American people and Congress that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is today’s way of separating Americans into first-class citizens and second-class citizens -- even though all of them together are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. Last Thursday night we launched our national ’08 campaign at a forum in an old downtown church in San Antonio. It’s no longer a church; it’s now a bistro and theater but in many ways it still feels like a church, an inviting church. There were about fifty of us—a good crowd, I thought, considering that the big debate in Austin between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was being telecast on CNN that night. Dr. Paul Boskind, a member of our board and a wonderful San Antonio supporter, was our host and led the discussion. And we all listened to stories. Former Marine Sergeant Brian Fricke didn’t like having to pretend he was someone else while serving in Iraq, but when he came home the indignity of his second-class treatment from the Marine Corps under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was more than he could take. He quit, and the Marines lost a good man. The Air Force invested many thousands of dollars in training my colleague David Hall, a former Air Force sergeant who’d been honorably discharged after he was accepted in the Air Force ROTC cadet program. He was first in his class, had already gotten a coveted pilot’s slot and was just months away from being commissioned when a fellow cadet reported him under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," revealing that David was gay. As David told us, that was more important than anything he had accomplished in his career, any awards and honors he had received, and he was discharged. But I have a question: what kind of behavior does "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" reward, telling on a colleague or living an honest life? And retired Army chaplain Paul Dodd shared painful stories and memories of service members being kicked out under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" over the past fifteen years. Towards the end of our discussion we were joined by Army Sergeant Darren Manzella, a medic who worked 12-hour days and nights taking care of his wounded comrades in the streets of Baghdad. He returned recently from Kuwait and is now serving in nearby Ft. Hood. Darren violated "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" most recently, and most spectacularly, last December 16th when he told his story to Lesley Stahl and the 15 million viewers of the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes. So far he’s still in the Army. This federal law has been in force for 15 years, and still the absurdity goes on. Now, in this time of a severely overstrained military, American forces cannot legally accept an openly gay service member, but accepting a convicted felon is no problem. Makes a lot of sense, right? In a larger sense, all of us, gay and straight, are victims of an irrational law inconsistently applied. Darren, and David, and Brian, and Paul, however, are that law’s direct victims and their stories drive the point home. We’re here in San Antonio to repeal that law, to help right a wrong, and to put an end to this unfinished business. And that costs money. A grassroots national political campaign is very expensive. San Antonio was generous, very generous. We will leave here with nearly $50,000 to wage this important fight and, just as importantly, we leave having made new friends. But I also came to San Antonio to tell our story to the media. I met with Sig Christensen, military reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. Sig thought we had a tough fight ahead of us. He wondered if the Pentagon was ready for total repeal. But he listened and said he would write something later in the week. On Friday, I sat down with Bruce Davidson, head of the editorial board at the same paper. I thought it appropriate and timely that I was in Texas talking about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" during this presidential campaign, and said so. Bruce seemed to nod his head in agreement, and then he asked tough questions. We shall see. I look forward to being in Atlanta March 14th to continue this On The Road campaign. -Aubrey Sarvis

Labels: aubrey sarvis, On The Road

02-24-08