Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

I think it's about time. This was one of the most ridiculous, discriminatory bills passed by the Clinton administration!

The army is now letting in older recruits and convicted FELONS...but gay people can't openly serve? Unbelievable

Bill targets 'don't ask, don't tell'
Updated 2/28/2007 10:51 AM ET
By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY
Brian Fricke, a former Marine sergeant who served nine months in Iraq's Anbar province, wasn't thrown out of the military for being gay. He left when his enlistment was up because he was tired of pretending he wasn't.
The "don't ask, don't tell" policy allows lesbians and gay men to serve if they keep quiet about their sex lives. Commanders are barred from asking subordinates about their sexual orientation.

"If people were talking about relationships, you'd have to play the pronoun game. 'He' became 'she.' You really just can't be yourself," says Fricke, 25, a government information technology specialist in Washington. "You'll never be able to tabulate" how many gay people have left the military voluntarily because of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Fricke will be on Capitol Hill today when Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts reintroduces his Military Readiness Enhancement Act.

The bill would repeal the policy President Clinton approved in 1993 as a compromise between ending a ban and gays serving openly. That would leave gays free to serve without limits.

Since the policy began, nearly 11,000 troops, the equivalent of an Army division, have been discharged.

ON DEADLINE: Share your thoughts on the policy and the bill

The measure had 122 co-sponsors last year but died in the Republican-controlled Congress. Now that Democrats are in charge, Meehan plans to hold hearings as early as April. He says the bill has more than 100 original co-sponsors and seven freshmen.

Three Republicans have signed on, including Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida. She says her husband, Dexter, was cared for by a lesbian nurse when he was injured during combat in Vietnam.

Defense Department statistics released at the request of Congress and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay advocacy group, show that nearly 7% of the 726 troops discharged under the policy in 2005 were medical personnel. That's the most in one year and brings to 334 the number of health care workers, including doctors, nurses and mental health specialists, dismissed since 1994.

"People in need of medical specialists couldn't care less about the sexual orientation" of those caring for them, Meehan says. "The policy is outdated and discriminatory."

Marine Maj. Stewart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman, says the number of ousted health workers is small given the nearly 11,000 in war zones. "We are enforcing the policy," he says. "We are not experiencing any problems with recruiting and retention."

A Government Accountability Office report in February 2005 found that at least 800 dismissed gay servicemembers had skills deemed "mission critical" by the Pentagon. Among them: 54 Arabic-language specialists.

Congress takes up the issue amid changes in:

•The legal landscape. A federal appeals court in Boston will hear arguments March 7 in the first legal challenge to the policy since the Supreme Court struck down a Texas sodomy law in 2003. The high court said the Constitution's guarantee of liberty bars government from targeting private, consensual sex practices.

•Public opinion. Polls indicate growing acceptance of gay troops. A Harris Poll this month found that 55% supported allowing gays to serve openly, up from 48% in 2000.

A Pew Research Center survey last year found that 60% favored gays serving openly, up from 52% in 1994. Support ran 3-to-1 among those younger than 30. In contrast, Pew found that 39% favored same-sex marriage.

•Military needs. The demand for more troops has led to lower recruiting standards as Congress vows to add 92,000 soldiers and Marines by 2012. "The war makes it easier to think about lifting the ban," says Clyde Wilcox, co-editor of The Politics of Gay Rights.

•Military thinking. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Clinton, once supported the policy but wrote in The New York Times in January that he believes gays should be allowed to serve openly.

Elaine Donnelly, whose Center for Military Readiness favors a ban on gays, calls Shalikashvili's column "very misinformed" and "part of a PR campaign" to overturn the policy.

Shalikashvili and other policy critics are taking a go-slow approach while fighting continues in Iraq.

John Hutson, once the Navy's top lawyer, calls "don't ask, don't tell" a transitional policy. "It bought us some time," he says, "but now I think that time has come and gone."

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

alright!!! i am bored today - let the debate begin!!!!

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

Posted by QuoteTheRaven424

alright!!! i am bored today - let the debate begin!!!!

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

let me get my thoughts together

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

It's about damn time

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

Posted by Stacey1403

It's about damn time

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

I think that Clinton was trying to be "fair" without losing political ground with the conservatives. It was over 15 years ago this policy was adopted, and
Homosexuality is more in the open now, and there should be no reason why gay people shouldn't be allowed to 1)serve in the military and 2)be open about their sexuality.

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

ok, here's how I feel

please note, i am being RESPECTFUL here, so if anyone's gonna call me a loser or what have you, keep it to FM or whatever.

i see no problem with this policy

why?

i actually think it's helping to protect them and keep the army focused on the task at hand. And, no one is telling them they CAN'T join.

let's face it, like it or not, discrimination exists in all walks of life and in every profession.

Some people, right or wrong, have very strong opinions about homosexulaity. Not to generalize, but alot of folks that enter the military come from two or three generations of military service. And with that, comes very "old school" views.

So, if you allow them to be open, it creates a situation of awkwardness for some which can lead to violence, prank playing, and alot of other discriminatory activities. Not to mention that it takes the focus off the task at hand and creates distraction.

As for having to hide your identity - let's face it, we all have to do this in one way or another.

Example: suppose you are TTC, do you mention it on a job interview? Do you talk about it in the office? It's an important thing to mention from an emplyer point of view, but no you don't, and why? Because you might be at risk of being terminated or passed over. Employers don't want employees that they can't invest in for the long-term. So, you keep quiet, and when you get PG, you come out. Sure, it's discrimination, but you could never prove it if they fired you. But at the end of the day, it's about protecting yourself, hence downplaying things that may not be accepted by the majority.

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

You know what, I'm kind of embarassed to admit that I didn't realize that's what this bill said.

I always got the "don't ask" part, but I didn't realize that they were PROHBITIED from disclosing their sexuality.

I thought it was just that they didn't HAVE to if they didn't want to - which is how I think it SHOULD be.

So I'm in favor of abolishing it too. Now that I understand it better.

Sexual Orientation should have NO bearing on the job.

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

I understand what you're saying Don and I think it is a big fear. However I think whehter or not you are TTC is a temporary situation, and not on the same level as who you are as a person. Would you feel the same if we lived in a different time and people had to hide it if they were Catholic, Jewish, Muslim?

Also, I think in a lot of the cases where people were kicked out of the military, they were "outed" by other people. Not to generaliz, but let's face it, some people can't hide the fact that they're gay, no matter how much they talk about how much they love their "girlfriend who lives in Canada."

Also, you speak of distraction, don't you think the emotional toll of having to hide your true identity is also a huge distraction? Homosexuals who feel the unacepted or who have to hide their identity have a very high suicide rate. You really don't want soldiers with a death wish (or maybe you do..I don't know).

With the army so desperate for troops, even going so far as to admit FELONS, I think losing 11,000 troops has done a lot more harm to our army than good.

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy

"You're entering a job where you may have to kill people. If you can't handle the emotion and taxing mental stress that it could involve, you may not belong there anyway. You have to come to peace with that you can't talk about certain things that may cause controversy. "

Shouldn't this same thing apply to everyone else? That you're int eh amry you are going to different countries, you need to be able to deal with people who are different from you and not act like a child in the school yeard

"And hey, having felons isn't a bad thing. It gets them off the street to potentially build a better life for themselves and do something constructive. And heck, having folks that know how to use a gun isn't necessarily a bad thing."

These are the LAST people that should be handling guns. There is not enough oversight to see if it's getting people to turn around and get off the streets or if it's causing more unneccessary violence and tension.

Re: Bill Proposed to abolish "don't ask, don't tell" policy