News
2005-09-24
"Don't ask" on
hold for soldiers in Iraq
Military admits
suspending gay ban for Iraq
The U.S. military
has officially acknowledged that it is no lon
Secretly and
without consultation with the U.S. Congress, the U.S.
military has suspended, in part, its ban on openly gay
soldiers, an official military spokesperson has said.
But after these soldiers have risked life and limb for
their country, the military retains the right to kick
them out when they get home.
"The bottom line
is, some people are using sexual orientation to avoid
deployment. So in this case, with the Reserve and Guard
forces, if a soldier 'tells,' they still have to go to
war, and the homosexual issue is postponed until they
return to the U.S. and the unit is demobilized," said
Kim Waldron of the U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort
McPherson, as quoted in a <i>Washington
Blade</i> story published Friday.
Congress passed a
ban on openly gay and lesbian service members in 1993.
The law, signed by President Clinton, created the policy
known as "don't ask, don't tell," allowing only
closeted soldiers to remain in any military service.
Any solider who admits being gay or lesbian must be
discharged under the policy. No exception in that law was
carved out for combat duty.
Nevertheless, in
a 1999 Army manual called the "Reserve Component Unit
Commander's Handbook," uncovered this month by the Center
for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military in
Santa Barbara, Calif., Army officers are instructed to
retain openly gay soldiers during wartime. In the case
of any possible discharge for homosexual conduct or
admission requested "prior to the unit's receipt of alert
notification," the handbook states, "discharge isn't
authorized. Member will enter AD [active duty] with
the unit."
That policy
appears to be in clear violation of the law.
According to the
Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the
Military, statistics confirm that during the Iraq war
discharges for homosexual conduct or acknowledgement,
both outlawed in the military, have fallen. The
military has long denied that any official policy
existed that would ignore the legal obligations of "don't
ask." Waldon's acknowledgement is the first such
admission.
"The military has
claimed for years that allowing openly gay and lesbian
service members to serve in uniform would undermine unit
cohesion," said Aaron Belkin, director of the California
think tank. "During wartime, however, when cohesion is
most important, the Pentagon retains gays and
lesbians."
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1