Today the Chairman of the JCS announced that it is about time to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. How do you all feel about this particular change in policy? What effect do you think it will have on the Army, Navy and Marines?
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday told Congress he’ll seek an end to the 16-year-old ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy that has banned gay men and women from serving openly in the nation’s armed forces.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates announced the Pentagon will begin a formal review aimed at finding ways to manage the still-controversial idea of integrating gay and lesbian personnel into U.S. military culture. President Barack Obama made the issue a priority in his state of the union address last week.
“The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it,” said Gates. “We have received our orders from the commander-in-chief and we are moving out accordingly.”
But Gates’ proposal was immediately challenged by Republicans who contend now — with American fighting two wars overseas — is not the right time to make such a dramatic change in military policy.
Arizona Senator John McCain described ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ as “imperfect but effective,” and said he was “deeply disappointed” by Gates’ remarks.
He warned that ending the policy would have an adverse impact on unit cohesion within the military and reminded Gates that Congress has the final authority on whether to repeal the policy.
“Your statement obviously is one that is clearly biased without the view of Congress being taken into consideration,” McCain said. “I’m happy to say that we still have a Congress of the United States to repeal ‘don’t ask don’t tell,’ despite your efforts to repeal it in many respects by fiat.”
More than 13,500 personnel have been discharged from the American military since passage of the policy in 1993. The law forbids military commanders of inquiring about the sexual orientation of soldiers, sailors and marines — essentially requiring gays to serve only in secret.
At the time it was approved, former president Bill Clinton believed ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was a workable compromise between his own desire to see gays embraced by the military and strong opposition from Pentagon brass.
But the policy has come under steady fire over the years for provisions that allow the discharge of service members who are ‘outed’ by other soldiers or former lovers.
Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cast the policy as both discriminatory to homosexual soldiers and damaging to an overstretched U.S. military that can no longer afford to turn people away based on sexual orientation.
“Speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do,” Mullen said in testimony alongside Gates.
“No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”
The number of gay and lesbian personnel forced to leave the military reached a peak of 1,227 in 2001, but has fallen steadily in recent years amid protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Pentagon’s review of the policy is expected to take up to a year, with additional time to implement the new rules if Congress approves the changes, Gates said.
The Pentagon is said to be worried about potential disruption in some quarters of the military, where support for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ remains high.
Until new rules are developed, Gates indicated the Pentagon will seek to enforce the existing policy in a more “humane and fair manner,” raising the possibility of even fewer prosecutions.
Opponents of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy applauded Gates’ decision to pursue its repeal but said the year-long time frame was too long.
“The idea that such an extended process is necessary to adequately prepare for full legislative repeal is ill-informed,” said Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United. “While a modest implementation planning period is reasonable given current political and operational circumstances, it is important that there be a clearly defined — preferably via statute — set end-date for full repeal.”
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