President Obama, tear down this policy.
Amy Brian was in the Kansas National Guard, had served in Iraq and survived an IED blast there. Back in Kansas, she was hard at work trying to bring some order to the local government purchase program, trying to save the government money. Although the fact that she was gay was widely known, a civilian in her office officially complained. As a result, an apparently good soldier was turned loose from the military just when people like her are most needed.
I didn’t know one thing this article points out — that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is particularly discriminatory against women:
Women are discharged at a rate disproportionate to their presence in the military, according to a report by the Washington-based Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending discrimination resulting from the “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy.
In 2003, 33 percent of all discharges based on homosexual conduct involved women, although females comprised 15 percent of the military personnel, the report said.
President Obama and his aides have signaled that this policy is ripe for repeal. Recently, though, Obama has asked the DOD to study the effects of the repeal of the policy, without establishing a timeline to get it done. While I understand that Team Obama will not want to repeat the Clinton debacle when he signed the order to let gays openly serve, the fact is that much of the political and practical landscape has dramatically shifted. A CNN poll from June notes that American think — by a 79% margin — that openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the military.
Friends of mine in the DOD (but not directly involved in the issue) tell me that this “study” that Obama is calling for is largely going to be treated as a survey of what training, personnel regs, legal and other internal changes the DOD will need to take to make sure that openly gay people can serve with the same protections as all others. There seems to be an acknowledgment that this policy will change, and Obama should make sure that he is using this moment to hasten that change and not let whatever neanderthal elements of the DOD (and Congress) slowroll this thing.