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SLDN’s Sarvis in Politico: ‘Charade’ Piece Ignores Facts

POLITICO
Letter to the editor: 'Charade' Piece Ignores Facts
June 17, 2010

Gen. John Sheehan, who testified at a Senate hearing this year in support of the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, has joined with the military experts at the Family Research Council to attack those who want to change the law.

Sheehan had to recant some of his expert testimony and apologize to the Dutch military for his errors at that hearing. The piece by Sheehan and Tony Perkins, “A Charade With Consequences” (June 15), is no more persuasive than that testimony was.

First, they say, the recent amendments to the defense authorization legislation that establish a process for repeal of DADT are “designed to placate a demanding special interest group.”

The “special interest” they refer to is the 75 percent of Americans who support gays serving openly in the military — including majorities of independents (77 percent), Republicans (64 percent), weekly churchgoers (60 percent) and conservatives (58 percent) who favor repeal.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are also apparently part of this “special interest group.”

With support for repeal at these high levels, Democratic leaders, if they really were “playing politics,” as Sheehan and Perkins suggest, would move the vote closer to November to curry favor with these voters.

They say that the “effects on morale, recruitment and retention [of the repeal of DADT] are sure to be significant.” Sheehan, however, testified that he didn’t know of any studies that supported such a statement.

To the contrary, a recent article in the Pentagon’s Joint Force Quarterly concludes, “After a careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly.”

Sheehan and Perkins paint a lurid picture of “sexual attraction among members of the same sex — living, exercising, fighting and training alongside one another in the closest of quarters.” They ignore the fact that there are now tens of thousands of lesbian and gay service members “living, exercising, fighting and training” alongside their straight comrades.

They also ignore the professionalism of the members of our armed forces, men and women who know how to behave to accomplish their mission.

In addition, the authors conveniently ignore that 26 nations already have open service, and none have experienced the lurid, doom-and-gloom scenario these men paint.

Aubrey Sarvis
Executive director, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Army veteran

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