Congressional support to eliminate the ban came from several prominent Democrats, and one highly-respected Republican—Sen. Barry Goldwater (1909-1998). Goldwater, a pilot who retired as an Air Force major general, had numerous times had spoken out against the emerging dominance of the Religious Right in Republican politics. Although there is no clear-cut evidence that President Bush is homophobic, there is significant evidence that the continuation of the ban against gays in the military has been strengthened by the resurgence of the influence of the religious right wing during the Bush–Cheney Administration.
Because the military is a hierarchy, with constant jockeying for duty stations and promotion, there is no question that the Chairman’s views about what he believes is the immorality of homosexual behavior will influence every person in his command.
About 65,000 gays, lesbians, bisexuals, or transgenders now serve in the military, all of them officially hiding their non-military lives, according to the Urban Institute and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). Almost 9,500 members of the military, including hundreds in critical combat specialties, including 50 Arabic language specialists, have been forced out of the military between 1993 and 2005, according to SLDN.
In 2003, on the 10th anniversary of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr (USA-ret.), RADM Alan Steinman (USCG-ret.), and Brig. Gen. Virgil Richard (USA-ret.), in a signed op-ed column in the New York Times, all stated they were gay. In an op-ed column for the New York Times, Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he believed “if gay men and lesbians served openly . . . they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces.”
State and federal laws prohibit discrimination against a person’s sexual orientation; the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Agency, and National Security Agency all have openly gay agents; The armed forces, says Gen. Wesley Clark, former NATO commander and Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, “are the last institution in America that discriminates against people; it should be the first that doesn’t.”
Israel, which unarguably has one of the world’s most elite and effective military operations, officially bans discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders. Israel “has more gay rights than all of the U.S.,” says Denny Meyer, a former Vietnam era Army sergeant first class who is also editor of the Gay Military Times. Almost 30 nations—including most countries of the European Union—have no problems with anyone’s sexual orientation. The United Kingdom, whose soldiers serve with Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, is even “actively recruiting” gays and lesbians, says Meyer. Of the 26 NATO nations, only the United States, Portugal, and Turkey don’t allow gays to openly serve in the military. And Turkey, says Meyer, “is close to allowing gays to serve.”
Almost three-fourths of all military personnel say they are “comfortable” with having gays and lesbians in their units, according to a Zogby poll in December. About one-fourth of all military persons say they know that a member of their unit is gay—and it has no effect upon them.
Former Sen. Chuck Robb, who served 34 years in active and reserve duty as a Marine officer, in 2002 said that “the threat to morale,” which some believe will occur if there is a policy to permit gays in the military, “comes not from the orientation of a few, but from the closed minds of many.”
About 79 percent of all Americans believe the military should allow gays to serve openly, according to a Boston Globe poll conducted in May 2005; a FOX News poll two years earlier revealed that 64 percent of all Americans had no problem with allowing gays to serve openly. About two-thirds of all Catholics and slightly more than half of all Protestants believe in the rights of gays to serve, according to a Pew Research Center study of March 2006.
Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.), with 114 cosponsors, including conservative Republicans, on Feb. 28 introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1246) that would end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and replace it with absolute nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. With most of the world’s best military units not worried about the presence of gays in their ranks, with large majorities of both military and civilian personnel believing gays should be allowed to serve openly, and with a Democratic Congress that claims it plans to make necessary social changes, now is the time strike down the hostility of an intolerant minority and to eliminate one more form of officially-sanctioned discrimination.
[Assisting on this column were the American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) and Servicemens Legal Defense Network (SLDN). For further information, contact the AVER (www.averny.tripod.com), SLDN (www.sldn.org), Human Rights Campaign Foundation (www.hrc.org), and The Gay Military Times [www.thegaymilitarytimes.com.]
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