A group of 28 retired generals and admirals recently
released a letter urging Congress to repeal the military’s beleaguered “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy — a policy that has destroyed the careers of
approximately 12,000 servicemembers since 1993. Think about that number: 12,000
people who served their country with distinction, in many cases going off to
war, but who were ultimately forced to give up their careers because they were
discovered to be gay or lesbian.
During this time in civilian life, our communities have made
great progress in the workplace. Today more than one third of all U.S. states
protect people from being fired based on sexual orientation. A growing number
of employers and city and local governments also offer these important
protections. But, in the words of our colleagues at Servicemembers Legal
Defense Network, DADT remains “the only law in the
land that authorizes the firing of an American for being gay....”
The emphasis there is mine. The
policy not only authorizes these firings, it compels them, unless
servicemembers can hide their sexual orientation. This is the most insidious
part of the DADT equation, forcing people to make the choice between their
careers and other equally important areas of life. And even when people do make
the painful decision to stay in the closet and preserve their service, there is
still the threat of being “discovered.”
That’s what happened to Major Margaret
Witt. Highly decorated throughout 19 years of military service, Witt was
fired after someone else revealed that she had lived
with a civilian same-sex partner hundreds of miles from her military base.
Lambda Legal submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the ACLU’s federal case
challenging DADT on Witt’s behalf, asking the question: If DADT does not allow
Witt to serve, when she made every effort to keep her sexual orientation
private, whom would it allow?
The past 14 years have given us
the answer: All gay and lesbian servicemembers are at risk, and that risk
surfaces in many ways. We recently represented a gay man whose custody rights
were threatened by DADT when his soon-to-be-ex-wife mounted a custody challenge
based, in part, on the fact that he had a same-sex partner. Our client could
have lost his job and his pension (and thus his means of supporting his
children, as well as himself) if his identity and sexual orientation had become
public in the course of filing court papers in a custody case.
Cases like this illustrate the
policy’s devastating ramifications in both personal and professional arenas, as
servicemembers are forced to assess whether exercising their rights constitutes
“telling” their sexual orientation — while their careers hang in the balance.
The U.S. military is the largest
employer in the nation. Service can provide a gateway to education and
training, highly placed government jobs and elected office. It is also an
inroad to more basic benefits, pensions, etc. To deny gay and lesbian people
access to these benefits is damaging, discriminatory and demeaning to all
servicemembers.
In their letter to Congress, the
28 retired generals and admirals noted as much. “As is the case in Britain,
Israel and other nations which allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, our
servicemembers are professionals who are able to work together effectively
despite differences in race, gender, religion and sexuality,” they wrote.
Indeed three out of four soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan said they
had no problem fighting alongside gay and lesbian soldiers, according to a
recent Zogby poll.
The group of 28 also cited
scholarly data showing 65,000 gay and lesbian soldiers currently serving in the
military — that’s far too many people living with the fear that they could be
fired anywhere, anytime simply because of who they are. It’s time to repeal
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” America’s armed forces would be much stronger for it.
Read more >>
Combating the Military’s Antigay
Policy
by Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal
Director
Q & A with Kathi S. Westcott
Deputy Director for Law for Servicemembers Legal
Defense Network