Latest News

Southern Voice: Retired officers call for end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy

Four retired high-ranking military officers are calling on Congress to repeal the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and allow the Pentagon to handle the issue of gays in the military.

The officers, whose opinions on the policy were not previously known, voiced their opinion in a report released Monday by the Palm Center at the University of California in Santa Barbara. One retired general or admiral from each of the four services took part in the study group.

The officers heard testimony from experts, consulted polls and looked at foreign military policies before making their determination on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a 1993 law that prohibits gays from serving openly in the military.

The report’s primary recommendation is the repeal of the law. Noting some assertions that the policy is “working” for the military, the report states that “the flexibility of military leaders, often ignoring or violating the policy, … are making the system work.”

Retired Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Hugh Aitken, one of the officers who put together the report, said he has opposed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” since its inception.

“It was a weak policy to start with and as we state in this study, it has led to a lot of problems and issues that don’t get publicity,” he said.

The Palm Center is billing Aitken as the first Marine Corps general to come out against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

But while the officers responsible for the report are calling for an end to the law guiding military policy toward gays, they are also recommending that the Defense Department (DOD) be responsible for the policy as opposed to passing a law protecting open service. The group concludes its recommendations with a highlighted line that states, “Return authority to DOD.”

Another officer responsible for the report, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Minter Alexander, said “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is problematic because it puts the 1993 attitude toward gays in the military “in stasis” despite changing views on the issue.

“The Pentagon should have the authority to decide the policy based on current attitudes,” he said. “They fixed that baby in time and it will hold forever unless it’s repealed regardless of the attitudes.”

Alexander said are there some “absolutely outstanding performers” in the military who are gay and he thinks the Defense Department would resolve to keep them in the service if the option was available.

But Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said he had “considerable concern” about the prospect of handing the issue of gays in the military over to the Pentagon.

Leaving the decision up to the Defense Department could allow a new administration to change military policy toward open service according to its own views, he said.

Sarvis instead recommended the enactment of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which is in limbo in the U.S. House. The bill would end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and establish a non-discrimination policy for gays in the military.

Another prominent recommendation in the report is a change in confidentiality rules between troops and their chaplains, doctors and mental health professionals. Confidentiality for military personnel is not the same as it is for civilians, so gay troops who mention their sexual orientation to such professionals risk outing themselves under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The report cites testimony from Rhonda Davis, a former non-commissioned officer who was discharged from the Navy for being a lesbian.

She said she had troops working for her whom she knew to be gay and had difficulty advising them on some problems.

“One gay troop had a sexually transmitted disease and he asked what he should do about it,” she said. “I advised him, of course, to see a doctor, but he called it to my attention that if he did, he could be kicked out of the Navy.”

Davis was also conflicted when a lesbian troop mentioned she was having troubles with her girlfriend, who was threatening to commit suicide. Davis initially recommended talking to counselor, but then realized “that wasn’t a good idea” because that would mean violating “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“No matter what I told these troops, nothing was the right answer and I felt like a hypocrite,” Davis said.

The report also states that the law puts military commanders in the difficult situation of weighing the responsibility of following the law against keeping their teams together.

Alexander said this issue is “a big deal for a commander now” because some gay troops are serving openly despite “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“More and more people kind of know that the homosexuals are serving and there’s sort of an integrity issue involved here,” Alexander said.

A straight officer who recently returned from Iraq told the study group that one of his non-commissioned officers was probably a lesbian, and if evidence had come to his attention proving his suspicions, he would have opted to break the law and keep her on his team.

The study found that no evidence exists suggesting that allowing gays to serve openly in the military would undermine morale, order or unit cohesion.

According to the report, no expert opposing gays in the military was willing to come in person to speak with the study group, even though the group offered to arrange and subsidize for travel or provide teleconferencing facilities. The officers instead looked at published material opposing open service by gays to inform their opinions.

Aaron Belkin, director the Palm Center, said supporters of keeping gays out of the military have a history of not making appearances at public forums.

“People who support ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ are smart and they know that they look bad when they speak in public,” he said. “It’s a deliberate strategy and I refer to it as an ‘uttering of silence.’”

Click here to read the original article.