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Time for a Real Change in Military Policy on Gays
by Michele Forsten
Britain
has just joined France, Canada and Germany in allowing openly gay men and lesbians to serve in their armed forces. Almost all of the NATO nations have adopted the policy, with the U.S.
being a big glaring exception.
As long as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy continues in this country, hundreds of gay and lesbian servicepeople will be harassed with anti-gay
epithets and threats each year. Or even killed, as was the case with Private First Class Barry Winchell, who was brutally murdered last summer by a fellow infantryman. These displays of
physical and emotional violence are why the U.S. must change its policy.
The republican presidential candidates have all stood firm on continuing "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" if elected. They are backed publicly by the retired
joint chiefs who are trotted out any time the issue of gays in the military heats up. General Merrill A.McPeak, who in 1993 was chief of the Air Force when "Don't Ask, Don't
Tell" went into effect, said a couple of weeks ago that winning the nation's wars should be the primary qualification for the top spots in the military, implying that their stance on
homosexuals serving openly in the military is irrelevant.
It's time that those opposed to changing "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" realize that we are losing on the "war" on bigotry if our troops are killing
and harassing people who are supposed to be comrades.
Why shouldn't tolerance and acceptance of people's differences--whether race, gender or sexual orientation--be a top qualification for prospective joint chiefs of
staff? It is as important as military expertise. If some prospective military chiefs take themselves out of the running rather than submit to such a "litmus test," so be it.
There should be no room for bigotry in the military.
As it now stands, anti-gay harassment and reports of asking and pursuit continue to increase, according to the Service Members Legal Defense Network's (SLDN)
Fifth Annual Report on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue." SLDN documented 400 incidents of anti-gay harassment, including death threats and verbal gay-bashing, in 1998.
Anti-gay harassment surged 120% over the 182 violations documented in 1997 and homosexual soldiers are being discharged in record numbers.
Gay republicans gloat over these figures. A Georgia Log Cabin Republicans' web page criticizes Clinton and Gore for refusing to "lift a finger to protect gay
soldiers suffering and being murdered directly under their own supervision." What kind of protection would a candidate from their party give to homosexual soldiers?
Even if the next President were to appoint progressive people as the joint chiefs and the policy is changed, a massive effort has to be made to educate officers
and troops about homosexuality to truly create a safe environment for queer servicepeople. It's the same struggle that organizations such as the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education
Network (GLSEN) are dealing with in our nation's schools. Instead of being taught to hate and fear "the other," people of all ages have to be taught to tolerate and accept.
Everybody doesn't have to "love one another," like those idealistic lyrics of the sixties implored; respecting one another's differences would suffice.
It's time for a change, a real change in the military's policies towards gays and lesbians. But are any of the candidates "man" enough to see it through?
© Michele Forsten 2000
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