JB School

Well, I've just given my final speech for class. Given the positive response to prior speeches, I thought I'd post the text here. Personally, it just plain sounds wrong - the required number of cited sources over a 6 minute speech force nearly every other word to be written by someone other than me. Regardless, it is an issue I feel strongly about, so I guess it's the overall sentiment that counts.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected to his first term as president of the United States. One of the many campaign promises that he used to achieve this victory was a commitment to ending discrimination against homosexual and bisexuals in the military. On July 20th, 1993, a new policy was distributed to military commanders to fulfill that promise, popularly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you how this policy has been received, how it has affected service members, and why the policy should be repealed.

When the policy was first released, it was considered controversial enough that the full text was published in the New York Times on July 20, 1993, as an article entitled “Gay rights in the military – The Pentagon’s New Policy Guidelines on Homosexuals in the Military”. A few selected sections stand out from the body of the text, such as “Sexual orientation will not be a bar to service unless manifested by homosexual conduct” and “Neither investigations nor inquires will be conducted solely to determine an individual’s sexual orientation.” Initially, this sounds like a somewhat reasonable compromise between the needs of the organization and the rights of the individual. Further on in the text, however, we see that “No distinction will be made between off-base and on-base conduct.” Taken as written, this effectively means that service members are only allowed to have heterosexual relationships for the duration of their service. The document even acknowledges problems with this policy, stating openly that “As long as service members continue to be separated from military service for engaging in homosexual conduct, credible information of such behavior can be a basis for extortion.”

As of 2003, nearly 10,000 service men and women had been discharged from service in the U.S. military under this policy, as outlined on November 23rd, 2003, in the article “’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ – 10 years and 10,000 discharges later”, written by Aaron Belkin and Tobias Barrington Wolff of the San Francisco Chronicle. Many of the people being discharged had otherwise unblemished service records and would otherwise have gone on to serve for years to come. A notable event among those discharges was the widely publicized discharge of 28 language experts in 2002, including specialists in Arabic in Korean, at a time when we sorely needed their expertise. Another article, “’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Turns 15”, written by Mark Thompson of Time Magazine on January 28th, 2008, relates the experiences of Joan Derrah, a Navy captain that kept her lesbian orientation a secret her entire career. One of the more vivid images offered is the experience of having to give a survey to 250 of her subordinates. She recalls the survey asking “Do you know a gay person, and, if you did, what would you do?” Shortly after, she had to excuse herself to the bathroom to be physically sick. At the time of this article, the number of service members discharged had risen to almost 12,000.

Captain Derrah’s experience was certainly not unique, and it illustrates another disparity introduced by the policy. According to the article “’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Hits Women Much More”, written by Thom Shanker of the New York Times on June 23rd, 2008, “… (while) women make up 14 percent of Army personnel, 46 percent of those discharged under the policy last year were women. And while 20 percent of Air Force personnel are women, 49 percent of its discharges under the policy last year were women.” The military was at a loss to explain this disparity. In response to the needs of personnel discharged for sexual orientation, the article goes on to quote Eileen M. Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman on personnel issues, who states that “Separated members have the opportunity to continue to serve their nation and national security by putting their abilities to use by way of civilian employment with other federal agencies, the Department of Defense or in the private sector, such as with a government contractor.”

The policy has not been popular, especially within the ranks of the military itself. In the article “104 retired military brass against ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’”, published November 17th, 2008 on CNN.com, over 100 retired military officers have signed a statement asking that the policy be repealed. The first signature to be found on the document is that of Retired Admiral Charles Larson, a former proponent of the policy when it was instated in 1993. Of the many arguments given to support the repeal of this policy, one specific quote stands out; “To meet its goals of increasing numbers, the military has recruited thousands of convicted felons and illegal drug users under its ‘moral waivers’ program… ….while dismissing hundreds more for being gay.” With president Barack Obama now in office, it now seems likely that such a repeal may be possible. A recent article entitled “Obama to End Military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was posted January 14th, 2009 on Foxnews.com by Carl Cameron. The article quotes the White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responding to the question “Is the new administration going to get rid of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell policy?” – he stated “… you don’t hear a politician give a one-word answer much. But it’s ‘Yes.’” Specific plans for how this will be carried out were not given, however.

In the end, the current military policy towards homosexuals and bisexuals in the armed forces is not only wrong and hurtful; it is also counterproductive towards achieving mission goals. As you’ve heard today, the policy forces such service members to deny their sexual orientation completely for the duration of their service, and leaves them powerless if any mention of their prior activities comes to light. Thousands of capable men and women have been released from service, while others from questionable backgrounds are called in to fill the gap. Many that have had long, distinguished careers within the Army, Navy, and Marines have stepped forward to voice their dissent, to call attention to this injustice. Our new president seems ready to take action to correct the issue, but to do so, he will need the full support of the legislature behind him. I urge you to consider this issue fully, and to make your opinions felt. Write to Senators Merkley and Wyden, as well as Representative Wu, and let them know in no uncertain terms that you will no longer stand for such an unfair policy.