The nation’s military rule of “don’t ask, don’t tell” regarding the service of gay men and women who risk their lives for our country has reeked of hypocrisy, dishonor and lack of principle since it was established in 1993. Then it was seen as compromise over how gays in the military should be treated; now it seems untenable. In a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, the United States’ top two defense officials blasted it away like a cannon through a reed wall.
“No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“I have served with homosexuals since 1968,” Adm. Mullen added. “Everybody in the military has, and we understand that.”
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a Republican whose tenure was carried over by President Obama from the last Bush administration, said it was no longer a question of whether gays should be allowed to serve openly in the service, but rather a question of when that would happen, and how the Pentagon might best prepare for that time.
Neither official said the change would come immediately. Instead, they said they would undertake a year-long review to determine how best to prepare for the change. The change in policy, of course, must be approved by Congress, which passed — and would have to repeal — the 1993 federal law that dictates the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Hence the hearing before the Armed Services Committee following President Obama’s promise in his State of the Union address to seek a broad change in the policy.
The policy has been neither fair nor successful. Thirteen thousand gay men and women, including many with badly needed skills, have been discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation since the current law took effect. Many others must serve while knowing they are at risk of discharge if they are targeted and identified by third parties or jilted partners, which is allowed under the current law.
Secretary Gates said the review would cover changes that may need to be made to Pentagon policies on housing, benefits, fraternization and misconduct to accommodate a revised policy on the service of gays. He also will seek an update of a 1993 Rand Corporation study on the effects of gay men and women serving openly. The corporation’s study 16 years ago concluded that gays could serve openly and effectively if the military’s leadership strongly supported the policy and insisted on fair treatment.
Republicans and other conservatives were predictably quick to criticize a change the policy. Sen. John McCain, for one, retreated from his well-noted 2006 promise to support allowing gays to serve openly when the day arrives “that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, ‘Senator, we ought to change the policy.” Instead, he said on Tuesday that this was not the right time, with two wars going, to add the stress of change.
Evidence gleaned from the armies of 30 countries on the open service of gays, however, indicates there has been no noticeable effect on discipline and unit cohesion. Indeed, most of America’s allies, including nearly all members of NATO, already allow gays to serve openly and have not encountered any significant problems. Great Britain, Israel, Canada, Germany, Holland, Brazil, the Philippines and South Africa are among the countries whose militaries allow the open service of gays, and studies show no adverse effects.
That record isn’t likely to quell knee-jerk opponents whose blatant prejudice outweighs any logic. Regardless, “don’t ask, don’t tell” should be repealed. In the interim, the Pentagon has plenty of time to decide what, if any, personnel policies should be changed to accommodate the inevitable shift.
The proposed relaxation of the rule, suggested by Secretary Gates while the review is underway, should soon show that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is an irrelevant anachronism — one that imposes senseless harm by requiring people to hide their inner truth while they risk the ultimate sacrifice in an all-volunteer military that sends them on seemingly endless rotations in war zones for our common defense.