Congress looks at overturning military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Congress looks at overturning military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy

Military lowers standards for age, education, criminal history, while
still rejecting the openly gay

Story by ABC News

9:36 a.m. Monday, February 26, 2007

Decorated Air Force Staff Sergeant David Hall wants to fly missions in
Iraq and was training to be a pilot. But the Air Force discharged him in
2002 because he's gay. "To have that taken away from me, it was
devastating," Hall said. Hall is one of more than 11,000 gay and lesbian
servicemembers discharged under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy enacted
in 1993. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of Congressmen will introduce
legislation to overturn the ban many Democrats now mock.

"For some reason the military seems more afraid of gay people than they
are against terrorists," said New York Rep. Gary Ackerman. "If the
terrorists ever got a hold of this information, they'd get a platoon of
lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad." But beyond such snipes is a serious
debate Congress will take up this week about a policy that forces able
troops out when the military is stretched so thin it's had to lower
standards for age, education and even criminal history. One government
study found that 8 percent of the discharged gay soldiers "held critical
occupations" including 322 with "skills in an important language such as
Arabic, Farsi or Korean."

Public opinion has shifted. In 1993, only 44 percent of the American
people supported letting gays and lesbian troops serve openly. In 2004, 63
percent supported their serving openly. "They're watching Ellen Degeneres
on TV or their knowing someone who is a self-identified homosexual," said
Retired Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis. "That's understandable, in a cultural
context." But Maginnis says changes in the civilian culture are not
relevant to the field of battle. "Really the bottom line for the military
is this a policy change that's going to help promote combat effectiveness?
I see no evidence of that,"  Maginnis said.

"They need leaders and that's, you know, that's what I was and that's what
I am," Hall said. The fight will officially begin in Congress this week.

http://www.49abcnews.com/news/2007/feb/26/congress_looks_overturning_militarys_dont_ask_dont/

***********************************************************************************

N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal.

***********************************************************************************