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Reserve Officers Association Changes Position on Gays in Military

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2010

Contact: Paul DeMiglio 202-621-5408

Reserve Officers Association Changes Position on Gays in Military
SLDN Advisor Played Integral Role in ROA Abandoning Hardline Policy

Washington, D.C. – The Reserve Officers Association, the largest organization of retired U.S. military reserve officers in the nation, voted yesterday to end its decades long position of excluding gays and lesbians from the U.S. military. The association, founded in 1922 and chartered by Congress in 1950, also rejected the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law.

"This is a breakthrough for proponents of repealing DADT," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. "Clearly, the association heard Sec. Gates, Admiral Mullen, and Gen. Powell last week. ROA's decision is by no means a full victory, but clearly is a concrete indication that the opposition to open service is crumbling, even within one of the largest and oldest military organizations."

Previously, the ROA’s position was "to exclude homosexuals from induction, enlistment, commissioning, and continued service in the Armed Forces of the United States."

"By taking this principled stand, ROA has taken us one step closer toward respecting the duty and sacrifice of all service members," said Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.). "Repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ only strengthens military readiness. We should be recruiting and retaining all qualified men and women — especially in the middle of fighting two wars.”

Colonel Tom Field, USAR (Ret.), an ROA delegate from the Department of Virginia and chair of SLDN's Military Advisory Council, played an instrumental role in moving ROA closer to open service and believes "the ROA's vote enables the organization to participate fully in current Washington policy debates regarding open service by gays and lesbians, without being shackled by outdated policy positions.” He went on to note that he is encouraged to see the senior leadership of the Guard and Reserve forces “move a step closer to fully recognizing the contributions of the 66,000 gays and lesians currently serving, and the more than 1,000,000 gay and lesbian veterans across the country.”

Unlike the ROA, Veterans of Foreign Wars supports exclusion of gays and lesbians from the armed forces. The American Legion continues to favor retention of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" but takes no position on the compatibility of gays and lesbians to serve in the military.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (www.sldn.org) is a national, non-profit legal services and policy organization dedicated to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”A Journalist’s Guide is available here.

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