Gates to announce
review of military gay ban
By The Associated Press
02.02.2010
12:21pm EST
(WASHINGTON) Defense
Secretary Robert Gates is promising to try to spare more gay troops from being
dismissed from the military while the Pentagon takes a year to study revising
its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Obama has called on
Congress to repeal the law, but Democrats say they want more guidance on how to
allow openly gay service members to serve without causing a major upheaval. The yearlong study could
pave the way for the biggest social change to the military since the 1948
executive order for the racial integration of units. While his promise is being
hailed as a good start by gay rights’ activists, Obama is finding resistance in
several corners. Some high-ranking military officers are reluctant to embrace
the change while troops are stretched thin at a time of two wars. For their part, Democrats
in Congress are unlikely to press the divisive issue until after this fall’s
midterm elections. This will probably satisfy
Gates, who has long suggested that change shouldn’t come too quickly. In a
speech last year at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., he noted that the
executive order for racial integration took five years to implement. “I’m not saying that’s a
model for this, but I’m saying that I believe this is something that needs to
be done very, very carefully,” he said. According to U.S. officials,
the senior-level study will be co-chaired by a top-ranked civilian and a senior
uniformed officer. It would recommend the best way to lift the ban, starting
from the premise that the goal will take time to accomplish but that it can be
done without harming the capabilities or cohesion of the military force,
officials said. The officials spoke on
condition of anonymity to describe the emerging Pentagon plan ahead of Gates’
announcement during his Senate appearance alongside Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. One U.S. official said
Gates and Mullen will outline a more lenient standard for enforcing the current
ban, as Gates had said last year he would consider. The interim policy would
make it harder for a third party to turn in a gay service member and would
raise the standard for evidence that the service member is gay before the
person could be dismissed. Under the 1993 law,
engaging in homosexual conduct – even you don’t tell anyone – can been enough
to qualify a person for dismissal. The law was intended as a compromise between
then-President Bill Clinton, who wanted to lift the military’s ban on gays
entirely, and a reluctant Congress and military that said doing so would
threaten order. According to figures
released Monday, the Defense Department last year dismissed the fewest number
of service members for violating its the policy than it had in more than a
decade. Overall, more than 10,900 troops have been fired under the policy. The
2009 figure – 428 – was dramatically lower than the 2008 total of 619. David Hall, a former Air
Force sergeant, said he was discharged in 2002 after someone else reported that
he was gay. “That ended it,” said Hall,
who now works for a gay rights advocacy group. “Just like that, based off what one
person said, ended my dream of getting to fly planes.” In addition to addressing
the military’s policy on gays, Gates and Mullen planned to outline the
military’s $768 billion budget for 2011 and another $33 billion requested in
war spending this year. Both Gates and Mullen were
expected to underscore the importance of succeeding in Afghanistan, where Obama
has ordered 30,000 more troops. “Our future security is
greatly imperiled if we do not win the wars we are in,” Mullen said in prepared
remarks. Further, he added, “the
outcome of today’s conflicts will shape the global security environment for
decades to come.”