'Don't Ask Don't Tell' creates national security crisis

June is recognized as Gay Pride Month to reflect on the achievements of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people. With recent pro-gay legal decisions, such as legalized marriage and adoption, one would believe that America is more comfortable with homosexuality. However, one area that hasn't been conquered yet is the US military. The armed forces have historically been openly homophobic, kicking out any personnel who are actually or perceived to be homosexual. During his 1992 election campaign Bill Clinton promised to lift the ban on gays if elected. But with pressure from conservatives who feel that morale amongst the troops will be demolished, Clinton was forced to come up with a compromise. With the help of Colin Powell, the Clinton Administration crafted the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy (DADT), which requires that as long as gay men and women in the military don't volunteer their sexual orientation, commanders won't try to find them out. Since its creation the policy has been seen as a failure and has received sharp criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.

There have been recent efforts to reverse this policy. Marty Meehan, US Representative from Massachusetts, introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act in Congress following the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study about the costs of discrimination against LGBT servicemembers since the enactment of the DADT policy. The study shows that the policy has cost US taxpayers over $200 million and brought the discharge of hundreds of servicemembers, many of whom had critical occupations and important foreign language skills.

"The conventional justification for Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been that allowing gays to serve undermines military readiness," said Meehan at a panel discussion on the issue last Monday. "Now we have the numbers to prove that the policy itself is undermining our military readiness."

According to GAO, it costs the Department of Defense $95 million to recruit and replace soldiers discharged under DADT. Another $95 million is spent just to train new recruits.

The report also shows that 757 soldiers with "critical skills" and 322 soldiers with "important language skills" such as Arabic, Korean and Farsi were discharged. Meehan said that this policy is creating a national security crisis as there are tapes with potential terrorist chatter sitting around because there are not enough Arabic translators to interpret them.

"By discharging competent servicemembers at a time when our troops are already stretched thin, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy incurs hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs and purges highly skilled, critical personnel from the service," said Meehan. "It is as senseless and counterproductive as it is un-American."

While the Defense Department recently announce that volunteers for the military are at an all time low, the report shows that about 9,500 servicemembers have been turned away because of their homosexuality. There are also a number of servicemembers who volunteerily leave the military because of the pressure to stay in the closet. Shalanda Baker, an African American lesbian who served as a lietanant in the Air Force left after two years because she could no longer live a double life. "At the time I was in a relationship [with another woman], but I was forced to lie about my private life to my squadron," said Baker at the same panel discussion. "I am a pretty social person. So, for me to not share my life with my co-workers was pretty difficult." Baker says that change has to start from within the inside the military with more gays coming out and gay-friendly allies supporting them.

Currently the US and Turkey are the only Western nations that don't allow gays to serve openly in the military. Congressman Meehan said that it is time for the US to follow the trend of England, a staunch supporter of the war on terror, and reverse the ban. "While we are serving shoulder to shoulder in Iraq with the Brits, gays and lesbians from Britain are serving openly in Iraq," said Meehan jokingly. "Maybe we should offer a bill to the floor of the house that says that we won't let any other countries serve with us in Iraq and Afghanistian if they don't discriminate the way that we do."

While the bill will have a uphill battle, there are over 80 bipartisan cosponsors in the House for the bill. Meehan also says that all polls shows that roughly 60% of Americans are in favor of such a bill. Back in 1992 only 30% of the population supported such a move. He says that not only are Americans recognizing that bigotry shouldn't be tolerated, but they realize that priorities need to be reorganized. "The policy of the United States should be to fight the war on terror, not to advance the agenda of discrimination," said Meehan.