SLDN Reports: Conduct Unbecoming: The 8th Annual Report on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

WASHINGTON, DC -- Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), an independent military watchdog and legal aid group, today criticized Pentagon and White House leaders for failing to curb anti-gay harassment and discharges, citing a record number of discharges and harassment complaints during 2001. According to SLDN Executive Director C. Dixon Osburn, "the discharge and harassment numbers are an affront to liberty, unity and military readiness. As lesbian, gay and bisexual service members are fighting to protect our country from terrorism," Osburn said, "they should not be denied their freedom at home. Congress should repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"

According to Department of Defense figures, the Pentagon fired a record 1,250 men and women - or 3-4 service members every day - for being lesbian, gay or bisexual. The figure is the highest number of gay discharges since 1987, seven years prior to the implementation of the Pentagon's current anti-gay policy, known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The current policy requires gay service members to keep their sexual orientation secret, or face expulsion from the armed forces.

The discharge figures were published today in 'Conduct Unbecoming,' SLDN's annual report on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The report finds that the discharges were due, in large part, to record high anti-gay harassment. The report cites 1075 incidents of anti-gay harassment in 2001, up from 871 in 2000.

The report also finds that the armed forces, throughout every branch, have virtually ignored a July 2000 Pentagon "Anti-Harassment Action Plan." The plan, adopted by then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen, called for annual, rank appropriate training for all personnel, among twelve other recommendations aimed specifically at curbing harassment. The Action Plan was developed in response to the murder of PFC Barry Winchell, in July 1999, by fellow soldiers who thought Winchell was gay. The Bush Administration, the report says, has failed to implement the Action Plan, giving implicit approval for the continued harassment of lesbian, gay and bisexual service personnel. "It is nothing short of scandalous," Osburn said, "that the leaders of our country, through their blatant inaction, have demonstrated such callous disregard for our service members."

"Until military officials are held accountable for harassment," the SLDN report says, "and until their jobs are on the line, lives will continue to be ruined. Sadly, it is reasonable to foresee that, as the current Administration continues to do nothing, and bury its head in the sand, there could be yet another anti-gay murder in our armed forces," the report cautions.

Despite Winchell's murder, the SLDN report finds that Army officials have failed to make substantial changes in improving harassment or discharge numbers. SLDN documented a record 513 incidents of anti-gay harassment in the Army during the past year, the most of any service.

The Army also led all other branches in anti-gay discharges for 2001, with an alarming 616 men and women in the Army losing their jobs. Discharges from Fort Campbell totaled 222, more than any other Army installation, and 36% of total Army discharges. While the report gives the base's new commander, Major General Richard Cody, credit for taking proactive steps to improve base climate, it also alleges that "[S">ome Fort Campbell leaders continues to perpetuate anti-gay attitudes wtihin their units by tolerating hate anti-gay remarks." SLDN has made specific recommendations to Fort Campbell leaders for curbing harassment and reducing the number of discharges from the base, but it is unclear whether officials have adopted or implemented those recommendations. "The story in the Army this year," the report finds, "is about failed leadership and callous indifference."

In FY2001, the Air Force discharged 191 service members (up from 177 in 2000). Navy discharges totaled 314 (down from 358 in 2000). The Marine Corps discharged 115 men and women (up from 114), and the Coast Guard discharges for 2001 totaled 14 (down from 19 in 2000). These numbers do not include discharges during 'Operation Enduring Freedom,' as the Pentagon's fiscal year concludes on September 30th. Though stop-loss orders temporarily suspending some discharges were implemented in wake of the war, those orders explicitly required continued processing of gay discharges.

"Ultimately, the ban on gays in the military must be lifted," the report says, "and the United States must join the rest of the industrialized western nations who have abandoned their policies of discrimination. [This policy"> undercuts the very liberties and freedoms our military members fight to protect. It is time for discrimination in our nation's military to go."

Among the report's other findings:

• Women continue to be discharged at a rate nearly twice their presence in the service. While women comprise approximately 14% of the total force strength, 30% of gay discharges were women. Most alarming is information SLDN has received that 43% of the Air Force's 191 gay discharges were women.
• Discharges at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, South Carolina, dropped significantly, from 72, or 23%, of the Navy's total gay discharges in 2000, to 28 in 2001. The command has refused to explain why its discharges were so high in 2000 or what steps it took in 2001 to reduce the discharge rate.
• Fort Bragg, North Carolina, reported only four gay-related discharges in 2001, down from 29 in 2000. Two recent SLDN clients from Fort Bragg received discharges that were labeled for "completion of required service," despite the fact that neither had completed their term of enlistment. The SLDN report finds that Fort Bragg may be misrepresenting its total gay discharges and the organization has called for an investigation.
• The SLDN report also raises the possibility that officials at Lackland Air Force Base (LAFB) are counting gay discharges as entry level separations. According to the SLDN report, in 1999, LAFB had 221 gay discharges. Those numbers tumbled to 37 in 2000, but SLDN has received unconfirmed reports indicating the drop may be attributable to counting what are actually gay discharges as entry level separations. The Air Force has repeatedly refused to provide information about its entry level separations.