This Time, Hear All Opinions on Gay Troops Issue

While Barack Obama has said he thinks the ban on open gays in the military should end, military leaders themselves have mixed views on the matter. This is important because it was the opposition of Colin Powell and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 that derailed Bill Clinton's effort to lift the ban on gay troops.

Senator John McCain said during the presidential debates that he would give "full consideration" to legislation on "don't ask, don't tell" but that he would ultimately defer to military commanders who have told him the policy "is working." One of Obama's top military supporters, General Merrill McPeak, bore out McCain's comments last month, saying he believes the ban should remain.

But yesterday a document was released that was signed by over one hundred retired generals and admirals calling for repeal of the gay ban. The statement says that replacing the current policy with one of equal treatment "would not harm, and would indeed help, our armed forces," and it points to countries such as Britain and Israel which both ended their gay bans years ago. "Our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality," says the statement. "Such collaboration reflects the strength and the best traditions of our democracy."

Clearly opinion is mixed on the issue, but the very existence of support for repeal by so many top military leaders undercuts McCain's suggestion that the military believes the policy is working. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said he will support whatever decision Congress makes, and two former chairmen of the JCS have said they think the ban should end.

In researching my forthcoming book on gays in the military, I learned from Clinton transition officials that there was disagreement, behind the scenes, about whether and how military officers should resist lifting the ban. Military brass even met with members of the religious right and settled on a public relations strategy to cast the policy in terms of military effectiveness when their real reason for supporting the ban was moral and religious opposition to homosexuality. And when it came time for the brass to speak publicly, they all fell in line behind Powell in opposing openly gay service.

The political history books fault Clinton for not consulting enough with the military. In truth, he met with the Joint Chiefs just two weeks after his election, and again the week after he took office. The reality is the he did consult; but some powerful military men didn't like what they were hearing, and they squashed the effort to end the ban.

This time, we must hope that all opinions and positions will be heard. At a time when our military is stretched thin, the nation owes itself no less.

Comments

[Pearlswan]

Please, protect female soldiers from being sexually assaulted by their male comrades before you try to protect them from sexual advances from gay soldiers. I am a female who was in the first regular army unit to admit women into the regular army. I attended basic training at Fort McClellan, AL in January 1980. At the time, they would only let women serve in the Women's Army Corp (WACs) until we insisted we be admitted to the regular army. They would not let us serve in combat jobs because they said it would put male soldiers at risk trying to protect us weaker women from harm. However, I turned out to be stronger than most of the men I served with and dealt with sexual harrassment from my superior officers for my entire six years of service. On my wedding day, for instance, I was assigned extra duty as punishment for some fictitious violation. It never stopped. When the gay ban is finally lifted, its the gay soldiers that will be in danger, not their straight comrades!

[roger3815]

How to ruin a great editorial:

Include a variation of the phrase "in my new book."

[SonofLiberty1]

Oh, let's throw out the straights, the gays, jews, catholics and everyone else...
Who's left?
Is it any wonder that we lost many of the folks that had a particular skill and ability?

LIKE UNDERSTANDING AND TRANSLATING ARABIC?

As in all things, common sense should apply here as well.

Some things should not be talked about at work...some things are private.
If PROFESSIONALISM were applied more and not less, we would all breathe a heck of a lot
easier.

[janinius]

As a gay woman, the stance on both gays in the military and gay marriage is near and dear to my heart . . . literally. However, I will say that in order to NOT have a repeat of 1994 midterm elections happen again, I think this should be on the back burner. That is not easy to say and will probably get loads of criticism. But I think, in time, these decisions can be in the fore front. First we must put the country back on track strongly and appropriately in terms of economy, war and reputation. We must avoid doing anything to potentially bring down the majority in the house and senate in 2010 and allow our brilliant new president to work without his hands being tied for more than 2 years. I say 2011 is the year for equality! Let's give the nay sayers who are looking for an ultra liberal obama to bash a challenge versus a drive through window!

[Hobay]

Well said, I totally agree. We sacrificed good government for this very issue in 1994. Do not pursue this red herring until say 2015.

[ObamaSheeple]

Oh heck, why not 2099?

[roundtheblock]

Having now retired from a career in the military, I like many, have watched this debate wondering when the PC nation would catch up. Gays in the military, please, like it hasn't always been in the back of everyone's mind... I always chose to look at this from a command position, dating within a command is seriously frowned upon, and dating between officers and enlisted is illegal. So why not treat gay soldiers the same as straight? No messing around in your own house! Too easy, any variation from that rule lands you in front of the old man. So what you do in your time is irrelevant. I just don't understand what the big deal is, we know they are in our midst, we need every able body, and as long as they get the job done, let everyone in, we are great as a result of our diversity!

[janinius]

I thank you for this, sir!

[CelticMajic]

Please do not make this a huge issue orwatch the recent victory crumle before our eyes. Don't you all see that overreaching will doom the new administration. Every progressive special interest is demanding action no matter how far from the centerist position espoused during the campaign. To take on these issues is political suicide.

[000Jade000]

Where has the "morality" of the "religious" right been these past 8 years? Fighting hard against gays, minorites, and women's rights. Shouldn't they have been fighting against things like poverty, an unjust war, and the destruction of over a million human lives in Iraq and Afghanistan? Shouldn't they have been using their time to offer service to those who lost everything they owned in our many natural disasters? Those phonies need to get the hell out of our politics and out of our democracy. They serve NO USE for the good of the country.

[jackcrow2001]

Like Rozboy, I also served in the US Navy for over 20yrs, in that time I encountered more than a few men and women who I am fairly certain were gay or lesbian. In my time on active duty I can only remember one occasion where a gay servicemember made an inappropriate sexual advance towards another sailor, the number of times I've known of, or after becoming senior enough, had to deal with, inappropriate hetero advances........ I can't begin to count. Point is, straight boys caused me far, far more problems than any suspected gay. And before some reich wing troll starts on the presence of females being the problem...... Statistically when you consider the percentages the young women I worked with did their jobs just fine, and again less working hours lost to discipline issues

Later Days

[ObamaSheeple]

Thanks for sharing, and thanks for serving.

[Strepsi]

@Simon:
Exactly. Canada has had gay marriage for 5 years, and gays in the military for 10, and the sky did not fall. Canadians live loonger, pay less per person for health care, earn more, get sick less than Americans. As Pierre Trudeau stated in 1968, "The State has no place in the bedrooms of the nation."

Basically, U.S. right wingers are saying that American soldiers are less intelligent and less mature than Canadian, Israeli, and British soldiers. How insulting to their own!

[ObamaSheeple]

Listen Canuck, don't try and confuse us with your fancy statistics, facts, logic, and hoozie whatsits. Also too, Sarah would say she is surrounded on BOTH sides by Americas enemies!

Seriously though, now that the grownups are in charge, we may get some actionable change in all areas of gov't and join the other civilized industrial nations like Canada. I can't wait for 01.20.09 to get here.

[S1m0n]

Canada's had full on military weddings involving two serving officers, who also happen to be gay. It made the papers, and while there were probably soldiers somewhere that didn't like it, no one heard a peep out of them, and the armed forces as a whole was fully in support.

[WRPrintz]

Look, we have a lot of General Officers. A lot. We need need to choose our commanding officers based on their expertise in the field, their respect for their nation, and their ability to submit to civilian oversight.

Any General, Christian or otherwise, must follow the commands of the civilian government. As President Obama directs, they must follow, as long as he is giving them a legal order.

If they feel they cannot accept a legal order given to them by the commander in chief, they must either accept early retirement, accept re-asignment, resign or face a courts marshal.

This policy must end, IMMEDATELY. It is bad for our goverment, bad for our troups, and bad for our nation. We must offer re-instatement to ANY gay service person discharged due to this policy, and offer a review and possible reinstatement to any person who was discharged for a less than honerable reason where this policy was considered a contributing factor (Someone who was discharged both for drug offenses and DADT, for example, should be open for review, and not immediate reinstatement.)

Further, the government agencies such as the FBI and CIA should activly recruit our loyal, patriotic gay and Lesbian service members who speak Arabic, and have the qualifications for other positions inside their organizations to encourage goverment service.

We must not allow this horrid act of discrimination to infect one part of our goverment.

[ObamaSheeple]

I agree. One note, HP had an article about 3 mos. ago about the FBI actively recruiting gay people for jobs. The CIA, I don't know.

[JayJonson]

Polls have shown that over 70% of the country are in favor of lifting the ban. If Obama is going to be held hostage by the religious right and other wingnuts, then we have all wasted our votes. He should move quickly but carefully to lift the ban. He should also move in the first session of the new Congress to pass the Employment NonDiscrimination Act. DOMA may be more difficult, but I hope that he will attempt to repeal it during his first four years.

[RussellH]

"At a time when our military is stretched so thin, . ." Ah, yes, now I understand. Allow gays and lesbians to openly serve because we need more cannon fodder! So let's allow some gays and lesbians in uniform to be slain. Please, please, that must not be the reason the ban is lifted. I would prefer the phrase, "Don't ask, don't tell," remains the guide for the Bush administration's pathetic members. If Bush had been asked, by the congress, by his supporters, and especially by the press, maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. And excuse this irrelevant comment, but Bush's economic summit last weekend was such an obvious struggle to add something to his pathetic and diminished legacy. Could you believe the number of photo ops?

[Davwbaird]

Let's get real, its 50 years past due. Its insane otherwise. We will be so much the better off.

[republifornian]

RETIRED generals not serving says all I need to hear, they dont have to deal with the troops

[antaeus]

So suddenly they're struck by an urge to act in bad faith on this issue? That's illogical.

[JayJonson]

So many of these posters want Obama to betray his promises before he even gets into office. This is outrageous. Luckily, I think Obama is an honorable person and will do what he said he will do: lift the ban.