28 Generals and Admirals: "Let Gays Serve"

Today is the fourteenth anniversary of the enactment of the "don't ask, don't tell" law which prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. When President Clinton tried to force the military to include openly gay service members, opponents insisted that military culture was too intolerant of homosexuality to allow Clinton to have his way. "Don't ask, don't tell" was the resulting compromise.

Military opinion has shifted considerably since 1993, and the vast majority of enlisted personnel now say that they are personally comfortable interacting with gays. Despite the sea-change in attitudes among the rank and file, however, military leaders have been slower to shift. During the past fourteen years, only eleven retired General Officers have spoken out against "don't ask, don't tell."

All that changed today, when a group of 28 retired Generals and Admirals released a statement calling for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

The group is diverse, and includes leaders from the Army, Air Force and Navy. One of them, General Clara Adams-Enders, was, according to her biography, "the first nurse in army history to become the commanding general of a major military base." Previously, she had been the first African-American Nurse Corps officer to graduate from the Army War College. Other path-breaking Generals and Admirals on the list include leaders who commanded pilots, doctors, military police, engineers, infantry and artillery.

The Generals and Admirals who signed today's statement represent just a tip of the iceberg, as there are many more military leaders who say off the record that it doesn't make sense to fire Arabic linguists just for saying that they are gay. That it doesn't make sense that we have fired almost 12,000 gay and lesbian service members under "don't ask, don't tell." And that it doesn't make sense to welcome violent, felony ex-offender convicts into uniform at the same time that we're firing perfectly competent gays.

It is impossible to know when "don't ask, don't tell" finally will be lifted. The fact that 28 Generals and Admirals are willing to lend their voices to the call for repeal, however, could be of some comfort to those Americans waiting patiently for that day to arrive.

Photo from cbsnews.com

Comments

[Zhonni]

Let me be the first to tell you that Generals are not in the best possition to address this issue.

They are not the ones that have to take showers with others without any privacy.

They are not the ones that have to sleep in sleeping bags when it is way below freezing outside (they have their nice heated buildings). In which case we sleep as close to each other as possible to keep warm.

And other uncomfortable positions you get into if you've ever been a machine gunner you would know what I mean.

This is all done without thinking about sex or sexual orientation since we are all guys.

Let me be the first to tell you that if I knew someone was gay, I would wait for them to take their showers before I take mine. Installing dividers for privacy would go a long way in mitigating my concerns.

I do not hate gay people and have come a long way in my willingness to support a civil union. But I am concerned that people serving openly in the military could have a negative effect.

I may be wrong but I doubt it!

[meeneecat]

I think the law is stupid, personally, and gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly. I have a question about the law too...does it apply to bisexual and trans gender people as well?

[mbaty]

How about if every gay servicemember comes out at the same time...that way if the military still thinks gays shouldn't serve they can really find out how many are already serving. And they can decide if it's worth letting all of them go while they try to continue this military overextension.
I think it's wrong to make someone live a lie while taking the risk to die for another lie. But they do have a choice. And if they united in their honesty, we'd have no choice but to either let them serve or scale back all military forces. And we know they don't want to do that.

[chinohillster]

Horrible dictu, if you allow LGBT folks to serve openly in the military, they just might have to have ALL THEIR RIGHTS respected, just like many decent Americans, after WWII started thinking: "...if these black soldiers were good enough to get shot at during the war, just maybe they should be able to be served in a restaurant!" (what a concept!)

I've never seen mentioned in all the discussions about operational cohesiveness, yadda, yadda, yadda - what about all the problems attendant with HETEROSEXUALS? (harassment of female soldiers, raping of women [Okinawa, Iraq, etc, etc, etc])

What matters is the PROFESSIONALISM and COMPETENTCE of the service personnel - not their sexual orientation!

[Charles TW]

One might rightly argue that gays are as much American as anyone else and should not be deprived of the right and obligation to serve their country.

One might rightly argue that since the major wars of the future will be push button, high tech affairs, the ability to calculate the right coordinates and plot winning high tech strategies will be far more important than sexual orientation. Instead of divisions slamming into each and brave young men and women charging out of foxholes to take the higher ground, missiles will be launched from thousands of miles away with pinpoint accuracy. Death will rain down from satellites from outer space.

But how about this for the most compelling argument of all. We turn on our televisions one day and see endless rows of body bags filled with our most precious assets because the best person available to have prevented this ghastly sight was relieved of command and sent home when it was learned that he or she was gay?

www.charlestwilliams.com

[splashy]

Sounds like the old guard of homophobes are slowly leaving the military, and those that are more liberal are seeing the waste of talent and energy.

As I have read, the rightists and their bigoted ways can only tap the breaks on our culture as we move toward a more liberal, tolerant and celebrating diversity in all it's variety type of culture. We all need to GROW UP and see that our strength lies in our diversity.

[Boobaloo]

This national media obsession with all things gay is getting on my last nerve.

The average American does not spend one minute thinking about gays in the freaking military --- WE DONT CARE! The special interest groups are once again dominating the national discourse on a subject of very little importance at this point in human history and our nations history. Enough already.

WE have several wars going on:

Afghanistan in which American warplanes killed 25 construction workers who were repairing a road, Iraq where pure hell has been unleashed on those poor people and Israel is demanding we hand over yet ANOTHER bombed out nation in the Middle East: Iran.

Lebanon, the only TRUE democracy in the ME has been bombed, destroyed and ruined by yet another Israeli invasion of the country that killed 1200 innocent civilians and demolished their infrastructure.

We have an economy of the verge of collapse.

Health care system that is both financially and morally bankrupt.

Not to mention that thanks to Bush and his cabal of criminals, China owns us.

I dont care about gays in the military or gays getting married or gays adopting, maybe the special interest groups shoving this agenda down our throats daily can just step back and take a breather and look around and notice that there is an entire world crumbling around us and gay issues are irrelevant right now.

Or, maybe the media that keeps giving these non-issues front page space can concentrate on the real news of the day.

[Hadok]

Regarding the "don't ask, don't tell" law which prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military -- As has been pointed out, gays and lesbians HAVE been serving openly in the military. What has not been open is their sexual preference.

We are mixing concepts here. To "serve openly" means to have your service open to observation and scrutiny. To be "openly gay" ("When President Clinton tried to force the military to include openly gay service members...") is to have your sexual preference open to observation and scrutiny.

Question: Just what type of behavior constitutes being "openly gay" and thus prospectively permissible in the military? Does simple announcement to your barrack mates that you are gay constitute being "openly gay," or will behaviors that go beyond this be protected behaviors in the military?

Question: All the debate centers on "don't tell." How about the "don't ask" part? Will it be permissible for the military to routinely question potential recruits about their sexual preference, making such a part of the application process, military record, and medical records?

Question: If a potential recruit refuses to disclose sexual preference, can the recruit be denied service?

Question: If a recruit lies about his/her sexual preference in the application process and is later found to have done so, does this constitute perjury, fraud, or false foreswearing? Will the recruit be subject to procedural or even criminal penalties for giving such false information?

Question: Would inquiry into sexual preference place an unfair requirement on those gays who may wish to remain closeted?

[booker52]

End it, it's a dumb policy. You can figure at least 10% in the military are gay, so if all came forward under this current policy, that would drop the headcount even more. Can this country afford that?? I think not. These folks are doing their jobs, have been doing their jobs and will continue to do their jobs. This policy needs to be repealed. During the last CNN debate among the repub all were willing to leave this policy in place. Mark them as cowards in my book for taking this stand.

[MsLiz]

If we reinstated the draft, would straight college Republicans pretend to be gay?

[menumk2]

The reason they don't want to let us gays serve openly is because if the feds let gays serve equally in the military then people will see that the military isn't going to implode as the anti "gay agenda" types keep preaching, once there lies and false witness becomes apparent to the society as a whole then these groups become marginalised and the millions of dollars these groups raise promoting their anti "gay agenda" dries up. Bigotry is big business in this country and as we gays obtain more equality the lies from the wingnuts become more transparent and the american people can understand that throwing our gay children on the alter of bigotry so some self righteous neaderthal can hustle a buck is not something we should tolerate in our families.

[Purple Girl]

The "don't Ask Don't tell' was a stepping stone towards the goal. It was not supposed to be an be all, end all policy.
Why have we stalled out on so many social issues?
This amongst so many issues should have been resolved a long time ago.
We began drowning in this Religious BS in the 80's. We barely were able to catch a small breath in the 90's. We have now slide all the way back to the 50's.
Gov't needs to get out of our personal lives and start doing their damn jobs-

Promote the domestic economy- labor practices, wages and benefits ( for the health of the GNP),and International trade, healthy & educated work force for the future economy and
the needs of those unable to particpate in the economy are cared for just as well.

Keep the citizens safe- not only the borders integrity but also the lives of it's citizens by eliminating the need to resort to War (Diplomacy!!!)

[dgrffy]

At the end of the day, ours is a culture that worships sex. Sex is our god. Matters of sex and sexuality dominate, and consume more attention than all of the other potential issues we could think about combined. And of course, we assume everyone else has always been the same. That we haven"t allowed gays full acceptance into the military is a puzzling thing. Because of the priority given to sexual issues, one would think that wall would have fallen some time ago. I look for it to fall soon, along with the civilization that tore it down.
By the way, the allusions to various historical figures" sexual dalliances shows one of the dark spots of the sex culture. It is impossible for us to see people or relationships in any way other than sexual. That"s why, no matter what the statistics, we will continue pushing for open sexuality and sexual neutrality in all things until the end.

[Tellmethetruth]

Joe Biden has an opinion and is in agreement: Here are his comments:

Ending Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation: Joe Biden believes legal recognition should not be denied same-sex couples. He advocates for re-examining federal laws, including the tax code, to ensure our national laws are not unfair to same-sex couples, and that committed adults who are adopting are not discriminated against because of sexual orientation. He supports letting states determine how to recognize civil unions and define marriage.

Ending Don"t Ask, Don"t Tell: Joe Biden supports ending the military"s Don"t Ask, Don"t Tell Policy. Twenty-four of the nations serving alongside U.S. forces in Iraq permit open service, and it has no negative impact on their forces or the morale of the soldiers. Joe Biden believes turning away patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve solely because of their sexual orientation is wrong.

Equal Work, Equal Paycheck: Today, with women still earning 77 cents for every dollar a man makes doing the same work, Joe Biden is fighting for the Paycheck Fairness Act. It would help prevent pay discrimination by strengthening penalties should it occur. Joe Biden also fought for the federal minimum wage increase to $7.25 an hour from $5.15, where it had been stuck for 10 years, giving 13 million workers a pay raise.

[Brainspore]

Lest we forget the political climate of the time, the 1993 DADT compromise was actually a step FORWARD for gay rights in the military. Heck, back then it was still a major controversy for a sitcom to include a homosexual as a supporting character. Now "Will & Grace" seems quaint and mainstream.

Our society has made enormous strides on its attitude toward gays over the last 14 years. It's time for the military to reflect that.