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Flag
Officers Call Anew for Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell
by
RADM
Alan M. Steinman, USPHS/USCG (Ret)
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The
Palm Center this month released the latest study from
senior flag officers calling for repeal of the
infamous Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) law and its
accompanying Department of Defense (DoD) regulations.
This study is another landmark in the continuing
efforts to overturn the DADT law that treats patriotic
gay, lesbian and bisexual service members in a highly
discriminatory manner.
Titled
Report of the General/Flag Officers Study Group, the
document is highly significant for a number of
reasons. It is the first time a Marine Corps retired
flag officer (BGEN Hugh Aitken, USMC (Ret.)) has
publicly endorsed allowing gays to serve honestly in
the military. The report was authored by three of the
most senior flag officers to recommend that gays serve
openly (LGEN Minter Alexander, USAF (Ret.), LTGEN
Robert Gard, USA (Ret.), and VADM Jack Shanahan, USN
(Ret). These four flag officers thus join the 28 other
admirals and generals who, last November at the highly
successful Flags on the Mall event, called for repeal
of DADT, 24 additional flag officers who have signed
on since that time, not to mention the many GLBT flag
officers and senior officers who have long ago made
the same recommendation.
The Executive Summary of the Study
is brief and to the point
A bipartisan
study group of senior retired military officers,
representing different branches of the service, has
conducted an in-depth assessment of the "don’t
ask, don’t tell" policy by examining the key
academic and social science literature on the subject
and interviewing a range of experts on leadership,
unit cohesion and military law, including those who
are training our nation’s future military leaders at
the service academies. The Study Group emphasized that
any changes to existing personnel policy must not
create an unacceptable risk to the armed forces’
high standards of morale, good order and discipline,
and unit cohesion that are the essence of military
capability.
The four flag officers were assembled
at the request of the Michael G. Palm Center to
examine the issue of gays in the military. It is the
first time since the DADT hearings in Congress in 1993
that senior military personnel have formally convened
to examine this issue, take testimony from expert
witnesses, review academic studies on the issue,
consider the published opinions of military and other
experts (both pro and con) on the issue, and make
formal recommendations about gays serving in the
military. It should be noted that these flag officers
only agreed to do so under the guarantee that their
findings, opinions and recommendations would be
published, no matter what side of the issue they came
done on. The Palm Center readily agreed to this
stipulation.
The Study Group heard the testimony of gay and
straight service members, both recent and past former
DoD officials, officers from our military allies who
permit gays to serve openly, academic experts on the
topic of gays in the military (including a faculty
member from the USMA at West Point), and legal
experts. Opponents of gays serving openly in the
military were invited but refused to participate.
The Study Group made the following findings:
- The law locks the military’s position into
stasis and does not accord any trust to the Pentagon
to adapt policy to changing circumstances;
- Military laws and regulations provide commanders
with sufficient means to discipline inappropriate
conduct;
- DADT has forced some commanders to choose
between breaking the law and preserving the cohesion
of their units;
- DADT has prevented some gay, lesbian and
bisexual service members from obtaining psychological
and medical care as well as religious counseling;
- DADT has caused the military to lose some
talented service members;
- DADT has compelled some gay, lesbian and
bisexual service members to lie about their identity;
- Many gays, lesbians and bisexuals are serving
openly;
- DADT has made it harder for some gays, lesbians
and bisexuals to perform their duties;
- Military attitudes towards gays and lesbians are
changing;
- Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians
to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant
risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion;
I don’t think any of us who have been
advocating repeal of DADT for many years could argue
with any of these findings. And they were made by
straight, 3-stars from each service and a USMC
1-star.
The recommendations from the Study Group are as
follows:
- Congress should
repeal 10 USC 654 and return authority for personnel
policy under this law to the Department of Defense;
- The DoD should
eliminate "don’t tell" while maintaining
current authority under the UCMJ and service
regulations to preclude misconduct prejudicial to
good order and discipline and unit cohesion. The
prerogative to disclose sexual orientation should be
considered a personal and private matter.
- Remove from DoD
directives all references to "bisexual,"
"homosexual," "homosexual
conduct," "homosexual acts," and
"propensity." Establish in their place
uniform standards that are neutral with respect to
sexual orientation, such as prohibitions against any
inappropriate public bodily contact for the purpose
of satisfying sexual desires.
- Immediately
establish and reinforce safeguards for the
confidentiality of all conversations between service
members and chaplains, doctors, and mental health
professionals.
I have a problem
with recommendation #1, as do many others who are
advocating for repeal of DADT. Although the flags
sincerely endorse allowing gays, lesbians and
bisexuals to serve openly, simply repealing the law
and returning authority for personnel policy totally
back to DoD will put us at risk of some future DoD
re-instituting a ban of GLB service and repealing
recommendations 2-4 (assuming they are all
implemented). In other words, without formal legal
protections against discrimination based on sexual
orientation (in the same way there are formal legal
protections against discrimination based on race,
gender, and religion), there is a risk that a ban on
gays serving could be put back in place at the stroke
of a pen of the President or Secretary of Defense.
Better would be to support the pending bill in the
House of Representatives, HR1246, the Military
Readiness Enhancement Act, which would encode into law
protections for GLB members entering the military.
Other than that one
issue, I enthusiastically support the flag officers’
Study Group. It is yet another example of senior,
straight former military members, who have the broad
knowledge, expertise and experience in matters of
combat readiness and personnel management, offering
their support for repealing DADT. These opinions, like
those of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
General John Shalikashvili and the 52 other flag
officers who recently advocated repeal of DADT, will
no doubt carry significant weight inside the Pentagon.
And it is there that our ultimate battle must be won.
For without DoD support, I do not believe even a
future Democratic President or Congress will have
sufficient backing to repeal DADT.
That is why this
Flag Officer Study Group Report is so vitally
important.
You can
find the entire report at the following link:
http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/FlagOfficersBooklet0408spreads.pdf
You can
find You can find the Statement of Generals and
Admirals at the following link:
http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/StatementofGeneralsandAdmirals[1].pdf
You can
find General Shalikashvili’s statement at the
following link:
http://www.palmcenter.org/press/dadt/in_print/op_ed_second_thoughts_on_gays_in_the_military
©
2008 Gay Military Signal
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