Ava, C.I., Kat and Wally attended the press conference Wednesday at the National Press Conference in DC where US House Representative Patrick Murphy joined a group of straight and gay veterans (Murphy is an Iraq War veteran) and announced he would be leading the effort in Congress, "I am proud to be the lead sponsor today of the Military Enhancement Readiness Act -- a bill that will finally repeal the discriminatory Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Our troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and are stretched dangerously thin. These men and women in our military understand what it takes to serve our country and the values that our military and our nation hold dear. They take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, yet the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy when it took effect in 1993 has discharged over 13,000 troops -- honorable men and women. That is the equivalent of three and a half combat brigades. They have been discharged not for any type of sexual misconduct but because of their sexual orientation. The policy is not working for armed services and it hurts national security."
While Murphy works in Congress, the plan is to schedule a national tour and bring the issue and the facts to communities across the country. Human Rights Commission explains:
The tour includes former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first U.S. soldier wounded in the Iraq war; Jarrod Chlapowski, a former U.S. Army Korean linguist who opted to not re-enlist because of DADT and is currently a public policy advocate at the Human Rights Campaign; Alex Nicholson, a U.S. Army veteran fluent in Arabic discharged under DADT and current executive director of Servicemembers United; Army Staff Sgt. Genevieve Chase, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Executive Director of American Women Veterans; and others standing united and speaking out for the repeal of this discriminatory policy that continues to harm our nation's security.
Some join the military knowing they're gay. J Carnes (Speaking Out, Servicemembers United) writes about having come out and then having "to go back in the closet in order to serve in the Army for nine years." Others join not knowing who they are. Wednesday at the press conference, Joan Darrah shared what that was like:
When I first joined the Navy, I didn't realize I was gay. By the time I figured it out, I had about 10-plus years of service. Based on my promotion record and fitness reports it was clear to me that the Navy felt that I was making a difference so I opted to stay. Now that I am retired and out from under Don't Ask, Don't Tell I realize how incredibly stressful and frank fully just plain wrong it is to have to serve in silence. Each day I went to work wondering if that would be the day of my last service. Whenever the admiral would call me to his office 99.9% of me would be certain it was to discuss an operational issue but there was always a small part of me that feared the admiral was calling me into his office to tell me that I had been outed, that I was fired and that my career was over. On September 11th, I was at the Pentagon attending the weekly intelligence briefing when American flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, I was at the Pentagon bus stop. The office I had been in seven minutes earlier was completely destroyed and seven of my co-workers were killed. The reality is if I had been killed, my partner would have been the last to know because her name was nowhere in my records and I certainly hadn't dared to list her in my emergency contact information. It was the events of September 11th that made me realize that Don't Ask, Don't Tell was taking a much bigger toll than I had ever admitted. On 1 June, 2002, a year earlier than originally planned, I retired. I am incredibly proud of our military and our country. And I know that we will be stronger once Don't Ask, Don't Tell is repealed. More than 26 countries have already figured this out and now allow gay people to serve openly. What we need now is for Congress to act and they must act now. Every day the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is delayed, more highly qualified, motivated, valuable service members are discharged simply for being gay. Our great country can do better than this.
And should do better than that. Bill Clinton campaigned on a pledge to end the discrimination that didn't allow gay and lesbians to serve openly in the military. He got into the White House and had to face a military in rebellion -- in open rebellion -- to him and his plans. Colin Powell, who these days makes noises about how Don't Ask, Don't Tell might need to be reconsidered, was openly disdainful and threatening of what might happen if Clinton moved forward with allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. Congress was in on the act as well and it wasn't just Republicans (example: Sam Nunn). Don't Ask, Don't Tell was the policy crafted that was a stop-gap. It said, no one could ask you if you were gay and, if you were gay, don't tell anyone. It was imperfect but it was a step forward for its time. Before he left office, Bill Clinton was stating publicly that it didn't go far enough, that it was one of his regrets and that it needed to be revisited.
In My Life, Bill Clinton quotes Powell insisting that gays and lesbians serving openly would be "prejudicial to good order and discipline." Along with noting Democratic Senator Sam Nunn's strong objection, he writes, "Sentator [Robert] Byrd took a harder line than Nunn, echoing what I had heard from General Mundy. He believed homosexuality was a sin; said he would never let his grandson, whom he adored, join a military that admitted gays; and asserted that one reason the Roman Empire fell was the acceptance of pervasive homosexual conduct in the Roman legions from Julius Caeser on down." Clinton continues:
The House passed a resolution opposing my position by more than three to one. The Senate opposition was not as great but was still substantial. That meant that if I persisted, the Congress would overturn my position with an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that I couldn't easily veto, and even if I did, the veto would be overridden in both houses.
While all this was going on, I saw a poll showing that by 48 to 45 percent the public disagreed with my position. The numbers didn't look too bad for such a controversial issue, but they were, and they showed why Congress thought it was a dead-bang loser for them. Only 16 percent of the electorate strongly approved of lifting the ban, while 33 percent very strongly disapproved. Those were the people whose votes could be influenced by a congressman's position.. It's hard to get politicians in swing districts to take a 17 percent deficit on any issue into an election. Interestingly, the biggest divisions were these: self-identified born-again Christians opposed my position 70 to 22 percent, while people who said they knew homosexuals personally approved of it 66 to 33 percent.
With congressional defeat inevitable, Les Aspin worked with Colin Powell and the Joint Chiefs on a compromise. Almost exactly six months later, on July 19, I went to the National Defense University at Fort McNair to announce it to officers in attendance. "Don't ask, don't tell" basically said that if you say you're gay, it's presumed that you intend to violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice and you can be removed, unless you can convince your commander you're celibate and therefore not in violation of the code. But if you don't say you're gay, the following things will not lead to your removal: marching in a gay-rights parade in civilian clothes, hanging out in gay bars or with known homosexuals; being on homosexual mailing lists; and living with a person of the same sex who is the beneficiary of your life insurance policy. On paper, the military had moved a long way, to "live and let live," while holding on to the idea that it couldn't acknowledge gays without approving of homosexuality and compromising morale and cohesion. In practice it often didn't work that way. Many anti-gay officers simply ignored the new policy and worked even harder to root out homosexuals, costing the military millions of dollars that would have been far better spent making America more secure.
That's the history of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and it is not, as too many try to present it today, a case of Bill Clinton got into office and said, "Forget the promise, just tell them to shut up and they can serve." There was huge opposition and Clinton doesn't really go into the press opposition which was huge in real time. Things have changed since then. As Patrick Murphy explained Wednesday, "Up to 75% of Americans support repeal and the number is even higher in the age bracket of those we are recruiting from 18 years of age to 29. "
History is important to know because it shows us how far we've come. History includes what
Michael Cole (HRC Back Story) reminded us of: that this was being launched days after the anniversary of Barry Winchell's murder. Winchell was a US soldier who was murdered July 6, 1999 for homophobia over his relationship with Calpernia Addams.
History also includes Hurley et al v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, the Supreme Court case whose decision was the first by the Court to use the term gay. "Gay's in the title of the group!" Yes it is. But until that 1995 decision, that (a title of a group) or a quote was the only way "gay" made it into a decision. The Hurley decision, written by Justice David Souter, used gay, lesbian and bi-sexual when the Court was referring to gays, lesbians and bi-sexuals. It was a pretty big breakthrough. And that was 1995, only fourteen years ago.
Recent history is the growing realization that if Barack Obama wanted to end the discharges of servicemembers for being gay, people like Dan Choi, all he would need to do is issue an executive order. In May, the Servicemembers Union noted:
A new study compiled by the Palm Center and released today claims that President Obama currently possesses the legal authority to halt the firings of gay military personnel who are "outed." The report, entitled "How to End 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’'" argues that because the United States technically remains in a state of "national emergency," as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 12305, the President has the authority to temporarily suspend the separation of military personnel whose loss could negatively impact national security.
He has that power. He refuses to use it. While maintaining that his hands are tied.
Demand the impossible!
Everyone will be free
We'll walk down the Avenue
Openly -- openly!
-- Chrissie Hynde and Johnny Marr, "When Will I See You," appears first on Pretenders' Packed.
