Senator Gillibrand Issues Statement Backing Repeal Of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

02/02/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been a vocal advocate for LGBT rights since taking her Senate seat last year. She has been one of the most vocal Senators regarding repealing the law known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Today, Senator Gillibrand was joined in her push to repeal DADT by Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Mullen stated that he, personally, believes that this law should be repealed. At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on DADT, Gillibrand was, in essence, joined by Senators Levin, McCaskill, Reed, Lieberman, Webb and the other Democrats in the feeling that this law should come down, as well as, it appears, Senator Susan Collins of Maine. While Collins’ questions were not an absolute indicator of her future vote on this issue, she was the lone Republican to actually ask questions germane to the discussion of repealing DADT.

Senator Gillibrand has issued a fairly long statement regarding the hearings today.

James Madison once said, “Equal laws protecting equal rights… the best guarantee of loyalty & love of country.”

Lesbian and Gay servicemen and women have been serving in our armed forces bravely while being denied the full equality they deserve. Since 1993, more than 13,500 American troops have been discharged from the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), at an estimated cost of over $400 million. Those discharges include more than 800 specialists with skills deemed mission critical by the U.S. military, including at least 323 linguists, approximately 10% of foreign language speakers, 59 of which specialized in Arabic, and at least nine of which specialized in Farsi, the official language of Iran. Among these specialists were pilots, engineers, doctors, nurses, and combat medics, all of which the military has faced shortfalls of in recent years.

Senator Gillibrand went on to note that there is an estimated 66,000 gay and lesbian service members currently in the military, and that discharges have declined in part because of the pressures to keep as many soldiers in the field as possible. Gillibrand made mention of the fact that many commanders in the field are ignoring the reports of some one being gay or lesbian in order to retain especially qualified personnel. This is an incident backed up by several members of the military who have come forward after departing the services. One former intelligence officer stated that she had an openly gay colleague and the commanding officer for the unit refused to do anything about it because it would mean losing a valuable soldier.

In a January 2007 Op-Ed article published in The New York Times, General John M. Shalikashvili, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the policy was enacted, stated that his opinion was that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell should be repealed. He argued that due to the U.S. military being stretched thin by its current deployments in the Middle East, the Armed Forces need to accept every American who is willing and able to serve. Last week I was proud to share another statement from General Shalikashvili, 1 of only 17 people in the country’s history to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, calling for an end to this failed policy. In his statement he said:

“When I was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my support of the current policy was based on my belief that implementing a change in the rules would have been too burdensome for our troops and commanders at the time.

“The concern among many at that time, was that letting people who were openly gay serve would lower morale, harm recruitment and undermine unit cohesion. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was seen as a useful measure that allowed time to pass while our culture continued to evolve. The question before us now is whether enough time has gone by to give this policy serious reconsideration. I believe that it has.”

Gillibrand makes note of the same fact that Senators Collins, McCaskill and Reed also made note of during the hearing. There are twenty-five militaries in the world which allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, and twenty-two of those are part of NATO. Many of these militaries are currently serving with the United State’s soldiers in Afghanistan. According to Admiral Mullen, there have been no problems with American soldiers serving along side Canadian, British, French and other NATO troops.

Senator Gillibrand closes with several personal stories from service members affected by DADT.

One is then West Point Cadet, Lt. Alexander Raggio. In his 2006 award winning thesis he stated:

“The military should abandon the false acceptance of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and allow the open service of homosexuals immediately.”

And he added, “Current policy cannot be rationally explained except as a reflection of the personal prejudices of those who create and enforce it and, rationalized by faulty logic and double standards.”…

Pepe Johnson, a former Sergeant, U.S. Army sums up the moral imperative on why we have to change this policy. Every day this policy remains we ask these soldiers to lie about who they are, Pepe said “Honesty and integrity are everything in the army. I felt if I was lying, I didn’t have it. I wasn’t serving with integrity. I felt trapped. Lying is not the way of the Army — I felt I was violating regulation.

“During the three years I served I only wanted to be all I could be – to borrow the old recruiting slogan – but Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell forced me to be something other than what I was. And that’s not consistent with the Army’s Values: ‘Leaders are honest to others by not presenting themselves or their actions as anything other than what they are, remaining committed to the truth.’ (FM 6-22, Army Leadership) As long as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell exists, there is a hole in the integrity of the entire military.”

Senator Gillibrand essentially wraps up with “We must recognize that human dignity and respect are part and parcel of who we were as Americans – male or female, African American or Caucasian, Gay or Straight, Bisexual or Transgender. ” It should be noted that transpeople are disqualified from service in the military due to reasons entirely different from Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and those barriers are likely not to be easily overcome. Currently, transpeople are disqualified from service due to medical reasons including the psychological nature of transsexuality.