104 Military Officers Agree: Gay Ban Must Go

Last Monday, admirals and generals representing every branch of the military released a statement calling for the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.  The officers were led by retired Admiral Charles Larson, who had originally supported the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy when it was first proposed in 1993, in the wake of the backlash over then President Clinton’s effort to overturn the ban on gays in the military early in his presidency.  Admiral Larson reportedly changed his mind after he learned that “there were a lot of witch hunts and a lot of people were turned out on that basis.”  He realized that the military was losing valuable talent.  I know this to be true first hand from my friend Brian Muller, who was discharged from the Army under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  Brian had been deployed in one of our two current wars, working as a bomb technician in Afghanistan.  I cannot fathom why homophobia could possibly be more important than protecting our troops (and Afghani civilians) from IEDs and other explosive dangers.  Nor can I understand why someone who literally put his life on the line in service to our country is in any way unworthy to serve.  (You can read the details in my post about Brian’s experiences here.)

Many have said that Clinton’s move was too early.  It’s hard to imagine that it would have been received any more positively at any time during his presidency or during the reign of President George Bush, especially considering the right-wing propaganda campaign to demonize the LGBT community as a Republican base-energizing political ploy.  Now we’re on the eve of the inauguration of Barack Obama, and it will be interesting to see if the spirit of change and hope also brings hope to the LGBT community.  Obama is certainly the most gay-friendly of presidents we will have seen in history.  During the election, Obama told the Philadelphia Gay News that he would repeal the policy, but carefully.

After the release of the letter from the admirals and generals this week, Obama Transition Team Spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment to the Associated Press.  And today, Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, told the Washington Times that he has held “informal discussions” with the Obama transition team on how the new president should proceed, and he didn’t expect any action on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell until 2010.  “I think 2009 is about foundation building and reaching consensus,” Sarvis said.

The letter calling for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, signed by Admiral Larson, said in part:

“Scholarly data shows there are approximately one million gay and lesbian veterans in the United States today as well as 65,000 gays and lesbians currently serving in our armed forces. They have served our nation honorably. We support the recent comments of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General John Shalikashvili, who has concluded that repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would not harm and would indeed help our armed forces. As is the case with Great Britain, Israel, and other nations that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality. Such collaboration reflects the strength and the best traditions of our democracy.”

Brian has often told me that the whole idea of LGBT soldiers in some way harming our military’s ability to function effectively is completely absurd.  Most military action our country now undertakes is in concert with our allies–many of whom allow gays to serve openly.  Our troops are already serving with openly gay and lesbian soldiers in the field.   Right now.

You can see the complete list of officers who signed the statement calling for the end to the ban on gays in the military on the Palm Center’s Website.