Congressional Hearing
on Don't Ask Don't Tell
by Denny Meyer
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On July
26, 1948, President Harry Truman had the strength of
character and courage to order the integration of
Black Americans into our armed forces. Sixty
years later, that momentous moment in American history
was commemorated in a ceremony under the Capitol
Rotunda on Wednesday July 23, 2008. A few hours
later, not coincidentally, the United States House of
Representatives Armed Forces Personnel Subcommittee
held the first Congressional hearing in fifteen years
regarding Don't Ask Don't Tell. The
House hearing was held, also not coincidentally, four days
after the fifteenth anniversary
of President Clinton's announcing the Don't Ask Don't
Tell policy on July 19, 1993.
With
such heavy duty dual historical precedents, one could
hope that this July's hearing on DADT might hold some
significant and progressive developments. It did
not disappoint. The previous hearing, fifteen
years ago, saw Pentagon leaders, including Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell, declare
one after another, in Congressional testimony that
allowing homosexuals to serve openly in America's
armed forces would result in grave disruption of moral
and unit cohesion. The Pentagon declined to
appear at the most recent hearing this July 23,
2008. Opposition to open gay service was
represented by Elaine
Donnelly and retired Army Sgt. Maj. Brian Jones,
both of whose views were
presented in a manner so blatantly prejudiced and
illogical that they have since been heralded as having
done permanent damage to the argument
against open homosexual service in America's armed
forces.
Testifying
for open service in our military were Major General
Vance Coleman, US Army retired, Captain Joan Darrah,
US Navy retired, and Staff Sergeant Eric Alva, US
Marine retired. General Coleman, who is
heterosexual, spoke eloquently of his having
experienced discrimination as a Black American
starting when he entered the service, a year before
Truman's executive order, in 1947 and continuing
though his service in the Korean War. He made
his testimony clear in declaring an equivalence
between the discrimination in our armed forces against
black and gay American patriots. As a general,
he advocated the repeal of the DADT policy, saying
that open service would in no way adversely affect
readiness.
Captain
Darrah spoke movingly about her experience on
September 11th, 2001 when terrorists destroyed the
building wing she had just left moments before at
meeting in the Pentagon. She said she realized
in that terrible moment that had she been killed along
with her colleagues, her partner in life would have
been the last to know because she dared not list her
as someone to contact in an emergency due to the
policy of discrimination. And as a result she
left the service early, taking with her her
leadership, training, and experience.
SSG
Eric Alva, a former US Marine with 13 years of service
who served in Somalia and Iraq, recounted how he
became the first American service member injured in
the current conflict in Iraq. His fellow
Marines, who rushed to rescue him after his leg was
blown off by a land mine, knew he was gay but never
gave it a thought. (
his story is at http://gaymilitarysignal.com/070313Alva.html
)
The
opponents,
Donnelly
and Jones, spent their 15 minutes of
testimony plus question response time repeatedly
fulminating homophobic rants and hetero horror stories
of imagined strange sexual scenarios that insulted the
integrity, character, and professionalism of both
homosexual and heterosexual service members, both
those seated next to them and those currently risking
their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Donnelly raised the ludicrous specters of
lesbian gangs, transgender terror, sexualized
atmosphere, forced cohabitation, and AIDS, among other
homophobic stereotypes that were essentially dismissed
by the empanelled Representatives as prejudiced
posturing rather than being relevant testimony.
SGM
Jones, who had the lack of decorum to dare
to plug his private 'adventure experience' business
during his testimony, repeatedly told a hypothetical
story about a Ranger mission behind enemy lines in
minus ten degree weather, where a campfire would give
away the unit's position, when the only way to keep
warm was skin to skin contact in which
"arousal" would be disastrous.
Congressional
Representatives on both the left and right gasped in
umbrage and outrage that the opponents of honorably
open homosexual service had dared to utter such scurrilous
statements, insulting to the professionalism,
integrity, and sacrifice of our courageous troops, in Congressional Testimony to them in the
sacred chambers of our nation's Capitol. Pennsylvania
Representative Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war veteran,
characterized the testimony he had heard as "an
insult" to himself and all soldiers. Other
representatives found much of the opponents' testimony
"inappropriate,"
"embarrassing"
to have to hear, and "counterproductive."
Further
action on the Military Readiness Enhancement Act,
which would repeal DADT, allow open homosexual
service, and prohibit discrimination, is unlikely to
occur until at least next year.
©
2008 Gay Military Signal
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