SLDN Frontlines: Making Sense of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Puzzle
Just across the Potomac from the nation’s capital, the Pentagon stands as the iconic symbol of America’s strength, influence and ultimately our values as a nation. Anyone who has spent time working in the famous five-sided building or tried to master its culture understands that the reason it is called “the puzzle palace” has little to do with the thousands of offices and miles of corridors. Like the country it defends, the Department of Defense is a confusing melting pot of cultures, competing interests and belief systems. It is no wonder that so many are confused by the twists and turns of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell fight.
Over the past two months, our hopes have been raised by the soaring rhetoric of a young President calling for open service. Then, the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs outlined a year long review of how to best implement that repeal. We were then sobered by the political reality that not all within the hallowed halls of the Pentagon believe as Admiral Michael Mullen does that repeal is the right thing to do when several service chiefs, including the Marine Commandant, General James T. Conway, said they did not think this was the right time for repeal.
Then, just last week, we were heartened by news that the battle had been joined by influential Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) with his introduction of S. 3065, the Senate’s bill to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell which mirrors the House bill H.R. 1283 authored bu Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA).
The puzzle metaphor has never been more apt in describing the current political and legislative status of the battle for open service especially when one considers that the Pentagon announced at a hearing that it was going to seek the input and opinions of not just servicemembers but of their families as well. Going one step further they said they would use conventional polling methods, focus groups and social media. Yes, you read that correctly. The Pentagon is going to use Facebook to cull the opinions of servicemembers and their families about the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Never in the history of our republic have the uniformed services been polled about a proposed policy change, let alone their families.
Congresswoman Susan Davis
When pressed by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-CA) and her colleagues on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel about what the parameters of the polling would be and what defines “families” for this project, none of the Pentagon leadership were able to completely answer the question other than to say that they had to work out a lot of the details.
Most disturbing was the news that the leadership of the Pentagon had not yet developed a way in which gay and lesbian servicemembers on active duty would be able to offer input into the survey process without putting themselves into severe jeopardy of initiating an investigation. The law is very clear and offers little room for such things as momentary “carve outs.”
During this process, the administration has said it will tinker around the edges by trying to make the existing law more humane in its application by tightening up the rules surrounding third party outings, and taking the decision to trigger an investigation out of individual unit commander’s purview and moving it up the chain of command. All of which just reinforces what SLDN, HRC, Servicemembers United and all of our allied organizations have been saying since the President’s State of the Union, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will never stop threatening the careers of gay and lesbian service members until the law is finally and completely repealed.
It has been often said of President Obama that he needs to exercise his “Truman Moment” which refers to President Harry Truman’s decision to issue his historic executive order, integrating the military. Both President Obama and Congress have the opportunity to exercise their Truman moment right now. They can say that they will support inclusion of repeal language in the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill which, when passed, will not go into effect until late this year. This gives the Pentagon more than enough time to complete their work and submit a final implementation plan to the Defense Secretary. This would allow our servicemembers to go about their jobs knowing that the end is in sight and soon their honored service will be recognized by a grateful nation like that of their straight counterparts. In essence, it is time for President Obama and the Congress of the United States to pick up the pieces and put the puzzle together.
After 17 years and over 10,000 requests for help, SLDN’s talented group of lawyers continue to field calls from beleaguered men and women both young and old who are guilty of nothing more than being who they are. Until the time when a Presidential signature is affixed to a piece of paper to end this ridiculous law, SLDN will continue to be a beacon of hope for those caught up in the morass of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Good review. It doesn’t change the reality that the US Senate is split 50/50 on the repeal of DADT (and anything else LGBT-related).
The “study” will defer action by the Congress until after the mid-terms and then it’s likely to look even worse.
We can’t change the outcome until we change the US Senate or we change the minds of their constituents. We’re not doing that, not. Instead, we’re wishing and hoping there’s a political solution. Or we spend a lot of time and money “lobbying,” which, as John Aravosis (political expert) said is just “political masturbation” and has no effect on legislation.