Squid Ink: Battle to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a bill which will effectively repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and replace it with a policy of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation, was introduced today by Senators Joe Lieberman, Carl Levin, Mark Udall, Kirsten Gillibrand and Roland Burris. The effort follows a letter sent to the four military branch chiefs from Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the Defense Departments year review of DADT. However, the push for repeal has been going on for the past 16 years since the law’s inception in 1994, and not without its fair share of controversy.
Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has undoubtedly been the most influential group when it comes to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Established in 1993, SLDN’s sole purpose is ending DADT, offering free legal services to military members affected and responding to more than 9,000 requests for assistance like Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach and Army Sergeant Darren Manzella. SLDN has also helped with the introduction of legislation to repeal DADT. While fighting the repeal efforts, the organization was suffering its own internal struggle with the introduction of a new Executive Director, Aubrey Sarvis in 2008 that accompanied a virtually complete turnover of staff including two high-profile veterans who resigned from the organization: Army Veteran Sharon Alexander, the director of Legislative Affairs, and former Navy Petty Officer Jason Knight (myself) who was highly critical of the organization’s redirection and its focus being taken away from the servicemembers being impacted. But internal strife and turnover isn’t unheard of within organizations that hire new leadership, and some would call it a natural and organic process of change. [A corresponding news article is no longer available because the Washington Blade no longer exists.]
The Human Rights Campaign, one of the most ‘influential’ gay rights groups, has encountered its fair share of flack when it comes to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and has been targeted many times for its lack of action. Recently a group of bloggers including John Aravosis, Pam Spaulding and Any Towle created a blog storm “asking readers to flood HRC’s phone lines and e-mail inboxes with messages that Obama needs to publicly specify he wants Congress to overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this year and take the lead in working with lawmakers to ensure repeal happens.” HRC’s leader, Joe Solmonese was slammed this summer because while publicly campaigning against DADT, allegations surfaced that he was secretly telling lawmakers to put DADT on the back burner and focus on the passage of ENDA, which was also confirmed in the military newspaper Stars & Stripes.
Eric Alva
Earlier in 2009, HRC and Servicemembers United launched Voices of Honor, a national speaking tour that included former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first US soldier wounded in the Iraq war, though the tour was said to be a result of criticism toward the organization’s lack of movement on DADT. Servicemembers United notes themselves as the “largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, their allies and supporters.” Frustrated with the lack of inclusion of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the ongoing debate over DADT, and with the ongoing tension between SLDN and HRC, SU quickly became the voice of the newest generation of gay and lesbian service members launching the Call to Duty tour in 2006, as well as suggesting a concrete timeline for repeal after HRC’s plan of repeal was touted as “so vague and conservative that it’s likely to leave gay service members quaking in their boots more than members of Congress.”
While each organization has made incredible efforts to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, there continues to be serious tension between them. While SLDN continues to be the leading organization on the issue of DADT and having been active since its inception, many people are pushing for HRC to take the lead because they are viewed as more influential on Capital Hill. Though HRC may be more influential, the younger generation see both HRC and SLDN completely out of touch and lacking a platform to highlight Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and, so, turn to SU to spearhead efforts.
Despite contentions among the organizations, they have each provided an invaluable step toward the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. But had we had a more collaborative effort, could we have repealed this law years ago? Is this historic moment the influence of legislative efforts by SLDN, or the influential push from HRC, the public awareness efforts from SU, the analytical data from the Palm Center think tank, or is the Senate finally coming to their senses and acting on their own accord?’
After today’s Senate bill introduction, we all must do our part to pressure Washington lawmakers to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Because, at the end of the day, no matter who claims glory, victory or credit, it needs to be repealed, period.
“But had we had a more collaborative effort, could we have repealed this law years ago? Is this historic moment the influence of legislative efforts by SLDN, or the influential push from HRC, the public awareness efforts from SU, the analytical data from the Palm Center think tank, or is the Senate finally coming to their senses and acting on their own accord?”
While many efforts may or may not have been effective, the reality is US Senators have determined (and continue to) the fate of DADT. In 2010 the US Senate is evenly split on the issue of repeal of DADT.
During the last 30 years not a single US Senator has changed their position on DADT, despite hundreds of millions spent “lobbying.” That’s not to say it couldn’t happen, it just hasn’t.
The makeup of the Senate has changed slightly and that is a reflection of cultural change and changing opinions of our fellow citizens. This reality is reflected in the understanding that opposition to LGBT-issues is based on morality. That makes both a Senators’ beliefs and the majority beliefs of their constituents immutable or non-negotiable.
Further progress for our movement will come when we invest in changing the “cultural conversation” sufficient enough for it to be reflected in polling data – not National polls, but in individual States. Recalcitrant conservative (religious) Senators will not change their positions until we demonstrate a change in the polling data. Remarkably, we do not invest in that effort.
Unfortunately the upcoming mid-term elections may single an additional setback for the LGBT Movement. Perhaps that could have been much different if we had been lobbying fellow citizens instead of politicians. Maybe we’ll learn from this and stop wasting millions of dollars and hours on the false promise of a “political solution,” and we instead actually invest in creating our equality.
John Aravosis called Lobbying “Political Masturbation.” From the article:
Remarkably, John is now admitting that lobbying in ineffective. When I made that observation on his website I was blocked. Just two weeks ago John was adamant that “lobbying was very effective.” Did he change or did somebody LOBBY him?
In the comments after this was posted, John actually said:
“I think, some of us would rather fix HRC than destroy it.”
But, HRC IS a lobbying organization. He wants to FIX something that “doesn’t work.”
This is why we have “political experts.”
Link:http://gay.americablog.com/2010/03/political-masturbation-wont-get-dadt.html