11 Discharged Under
DADT in January

The Army discharged at least 11 soldiers in January for violating the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Virginia Representative Jim Moran, who has requested monthly figures on such firings by the Pentagon until the ban on gay service members is repealed, announced the number on Thursday.

This round of soldiers were the last to be discharged during the watch of the Bush Administration. The discharged soldiers included one human intelligence collector, one military police officer, four infantry personnel, a health care specialist, motor transport operator and water treatment specialist.

"At a time when our military's readiness is strained to the breaking point from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the armed forces continue to discharge vital service members under the outdated, outmoded 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," Moran said in a statement.

This week, both the Philippines and Argentina announced they were lifting the ban on gay and lesbian service members in their militaries.

"Our allies have overcome this issue, facing no adverse consequences from lifting bans focused on soldiers' sexual orientation. Polls show the American people overwhelmingly support repealing this policy. Yet, how many more good soldiers are we willing to lose due to a bad policy that makes us less safe and secure? I'm going to keep releasing this information each month until DADT is repealed."

About 10,000 service members have been discharged for being openly gay or outed since the ban started in 1993, according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office study.

President Barack Obama has been reportedly consulting with military officials and defense department Secretary Robert Gates on how to properly lift the ban. Plans have yet to be officially announced as to how the ban would be lifted.