A Turning Point for Troops & Their Families The Huffington Post
By Steve Ralls
July 14, 2008
Next Wednesday -- July 23 -- may well mark a critical turning
point in the fight to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the federal ban on open
service that has cost our country the talent and skills of more than 12,000
patriotic Americans and cost tax-payers an estimated $363 million.
Congresswoman Susan Davis
(D-CA), Chairwoman of the Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services
Committee, will hold the first stand-alone hearing on the law since it was
implemented 15 years ago. Davis, who is a co-sponsor of Congressional
legislation to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," deserves great praise for her
courage in bringing about this momentous hearing. More than a decade of evidence
has shown that our country's ban on gay troops is counter-productive,
un-necessary and downright foolish. It has ruined careers, ruined lives and put
an unacceptable burden on the men and women who wear our country's uniform, and
the family members and partners who love them.
In preparation for next week's hearing, Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) will submit written testimony to committee members,
highlighting the impact this archaic law has on American families. A close look
at how far the law reaches, and how many lives it touches, clearly shows that,
in fact, countless Americans' lives are touched by this official policy of
discrimination. Here's a sampling of what PFLAG will say to Congresswoman Davis
and the Subcommittee
on Personnel:
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" not only impacts the estimated 65,000 lesbian, gay
and bisexual troops on duty today, and the 12,000 who have been dismissed under
the law, but it also has a very real, direct impact on the families, partners
and spouses and loved ones of those who serve. The law denies patriotic
Americans the opportunity to serve our country and also denies service members
and their families critical benefits, protections and rights and
responsibilities that come along with military service.
Under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," service members may not be open and honest
about their sexual orientation to anyone, at anytime, including family members
and friends. Throughout the 15-year history of the law, parents have been
questioned about their children's sexual orientation, placing them in the
untenable position of potentially ending a child's military career. Spouses and
partners, both heterosexual and gay, have also been questioned by military
investigators and all of the loved ones of service members have, essentially,
been muzzled by this unnecessary and un-American law.
The federal ban on open service also affects service members' abilities to
protect their families and take advantage of both civilian laws that recognize
their relationships and important military benefits for their dependents.
Lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel, for example, are unable to register a civil
unions, domestic partnership or marriage in states where those are legal, for
fear that the public document of their relationship will result in an
investigation into their private lives. Because of this prohibition on the state
and local recognition of relationships, service members and their partners and
spouses are barred from receiving the important civilian legal protections
available to them.
As more and more lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans choose to begin families
and raise children, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" also puts an unacceptable burden on
military members who want to enroll their children in the military's benefits
system or who want to participate in a second-parent adoption with a partner of
the same gender. Doing either can raise suspicion about a service member's
private relationships, and potentially trigger a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
investigation, leading to their dismissal from the armed forces.
It isn't just gay and lesbian troops and their families who are affected by
the law, however.
In fact, heterosexual service members are also often targeted under "Don't
Ask, Don't Tell." The law has become an especially effective weapon of vengeance
for those who understand its workings. The easiest way to jeopardize a career,
instigate an investigation or carry out a grudge against a service member is to
make an accusation regarding their sexual orientation.
Service members who are gender non-conforming, or who are in non-traditional
job roles in the armed forces, also often find themselves the target of rumor,
speculation and innuendo about their sexuality. According to the Transgender
American Veterans Association, a recent survey found that a large percentage of
the organization's members who were gender non-conforming during their time in
the services were often impacted by the law. The organization recently reported
that,
One of the questions we asked was, "Did anyone ever suspect you were gay or
asked if you were gay?" Out of the 801 people who answered that question, 302
said, "Yes." We also asked, "Have you ever been questioned by your commanding
officer or any other officer because someone said they thought you were gay?"
799 people answered that question and 109 of them said "Yes."
Private First Class Barry Winchell, one of the top Army marksmen at Fort
Campbell, Kentucky, was the target of rumors about his sexual orientation after
he began a relationship with Calpernia Addams, a transgender woman living in
Nashville. PFC Winchell endured months of taunts and threats from fellow
soldiers and was brutally murdered, in July 1999, by two of them while he slept
in his barracks on the base. In the wake of Winchell's murder, his parents,
Patricia and Wally Kutteles, spoke widely about the fact, because their son was
involved in a relationship with a transgender woman, he was the object of
suspicion, which led to the attack that took his life.
At least two service members -- Winchell and Navy Seaman Allen Schindler,
have been murdered because of their real or perceived sexual orientation,
leaving their families to grieve their loss and speak out for an end to "Don't
Ask, Don't Tell." No family should ever have to endure such loss, but the law
creates a military environment where lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel, and
those perceived to be, are classified as 'second-class' by federal law. That
sends an unacceptable message that discrimination against gay troops is
acceptable and condoned ... and that's just plain wrong.
And that's why it's also welcome news that, next week, Congress will turn its
attention to a long overdue conversation about possibly ending
federally-sanctioned discrimination in our armed forces. That, in turn, also
offers a glimmer of hope that those hearings will mark a turning point for our
troops and their families, who give our nation far too much to have our nation
leave them so far behind in our quest to live up to the American ideal of
"liberty and justice for all."
