Monday February 1, 2010
Congress Takes Aim at “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. ban on open homosexuals serving in the armed forces is now in the crosshairs of Capitol Hill lawmakers, with Pentagon officials prepared to offer initial steps to overturn the law.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday and testify on the steps the Pentagon would take to implement a repeal of the ban and corresponding policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).
In 1993, Congress codified existing Pentagon policy and stipulations in the Uniform Code of Military Justice that forbade homosexuality in the ranks. However, it permitted the Executive Branch to exercise the DADT policy, whereby military authorities would not ask a serviceman’s sexual orientation, but servicemen who made public their homosexual orientation would face discharge.
According to CNN, the Joint Chiefs have a closed-door meeting scheduled for today to discuss DADT. Some of the chiefs reportedly are concerned over the ramifications that its repeal would have on military readiness, including unit cohesion and morale.
President Barack Obama recently put pressure on the military to accept a repeal of DADT. In last week’s State of the Union address, the president said he would “work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.”
That was not the first move the White House has made against the policy: last year, the openly-homosexual U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) revealed that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel convinced Defense Secretary Gates to switch from saying “if” DADT were repealed to “when.” (see coverage here)
Polls indicate that a solid majority of American adults favor repealing the ban on open homosexuals in the military. A May 2009 Gallup poll showed 69 percent of Americans favoring open homosexuals serving in the military, with 58 percent self-identified “conservatives” also in favor.
But many members of the U.S. military, which is stretched across two wars and military outposts spread all over the world, are opposed to the repeal and warn that removing the ban could severely harm its fighting strength and recruitment efforts.
An open letter signed by more than one thousand military flag and general officers urges President Obama to retain the policy, saying that changing it “would undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadership at all echelons, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lend their sons and daughters to military service, and eventually break the All-Volunteer Force.”
Sergeant Major Brian Jones, Ret., in testimony before Congress in 2008 regarding the repeal of the ban made a similar argument, saying: “The presence of openly gay men … would elevate tensions and disrupt unit cohesion and morale.”
“Our soldiers are over-tasked with deploying, fighting, redeploying, refitting, and deploying again,” Jones said. “With all of the important issues that require attention, it is difficult to understand why a minority faction is demanding that their concerns be given priority over more important issues.”
“Our service members wear the uniform to fight and win wars, not serve as liberal social policy guinea pigs,” said Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council and a veteran of the US Marine Corps. Perkins added that the sexual environment servicemen would experience from serving alongside those with known same-sex attractions “is the antithesis of the successful warfighting culture” of the US military.
The Family Research Council is now circulating a petition urging Congress “not let our military be used to advance a radical sexual agenda.”
A 1992 Vatican dossier endorses the view that the military is one area “in which it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account.” Since military service is not an “absolute” right, it states, it may be “not only licit but obligatory” for the state to restrict that right for the sake of the common good. (see LifeSiteNews.com special report)
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Rep. Barney Frank: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to Be Repealed
Homosexuality a Psychological Disorder: Pentagon Document