07/08/2008
Study Says Gays Unlikely to Undermine Military's Ability to Fight, Win
A study by the Palm Center at UC Santa Barbara has concluded that gays serving openly in the military are unlikely to undermine its effectiveness:
"The study was conducted by four retired military officers, including the three-star Air Force lieutenant general who in early 1993 was tasked with implementing President Clinton's policy that the military stop questioning recruits on their sexual orientation. 'Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion,' the officers states."
The study was conducted by a bipartisan panel — "Army Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, who supports Barack Obama, and Marine Corps Gen. Hugh Aitken, who backed Clinton in 1996" as well as "Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Minter Alexander, a Republican," and "Navy Vice Adm. Jack Shanahan...a self-described Republican who opposes the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war."
According to the AP's report, "Shanahan said he was struck by the loss of personal integrity required by individuals to carry out 'don't ask, don't tell." He said: "Everyone was living a big lie — the homosexuals were trying to hide their sexual orientation and the commanders were looking the other way because they didn't want to disrupt operations by trying to enforce the law."
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Posted 5:50 PM EST by Andy Towle in Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Military, News | Permalink
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Don't Ask, Don't Tell?
Don't Serve!!!
Posted by: MAJeff | Jul 8, 2008 5:56:24 PM
gays in the military? just ask the spartans and they were pretty tough cookies too!
Posted by: the queen | Jul 8, 2008 5:59:29 PM
And the military will conveniently ignore this. We can't change things during a war! Unless we need the gays to fight, so we sort of can. But they can't talk about it. Unless they do. But we'll be sure to discharge them after the war. If the war ever ends.
Posted by: Paul R | Jul 8, 2008 6:07:50 PM
NAH! REALLY?!
And that's the big "DUH" of the day.
If they're concerned about soldiers doing too much fucky-sucky and not enough fighting they should institute a rule that says they can't fuck each other or anyone else on the job lest they be discharged. Problem solved.
Posted by: chas | Jul 8, 2008 6:13:08 PM
They already have that rule, Chas.
Today the Palm Center released a statement signed by 52 retired generals and admirals to repeal DADT.
http://www.palmcenter.org/press/dadt/releases/52_retired_generals_and_admirals_call_for_repeal
Posted by: kevinvt | Jul 8, 2008 6:17:07 PM
Do they? Then there's no excuse--reasonable or otherwise--for DADT. It's pure, unadulterated homophobia.
Posted by: chas | Jul 8, 2008 6:30:37 PM
I urge anyone that is interested in gays in the military to google the Plam Center and join their mailing list.
Posted by: James P. | Jul 8, 2008 6:36:10 PM
If McCain's elected, forget even trying repeal as he'd veto it if God Herself appeared to him in a cloud and said, "Let my people serve."
But even if Obama is elected, there would still need to be a huge groundswell of support for repeal by Congress as the pro-DADT forces are already screaming about preventing it despite the fact that even before this latest study at least four studies prior to the pouring of the old wine of bigotry into the new bottles of DADT found that out gays could serve with no compromise of "mission success."
Nowhere is the correlation between generation gap and rationality more vivid than between the younger rank and file in the military and current and retired "brass" who, in the last survey I saw, oppose out gay integration by 3 to 1, and without steel balls leadership are likely to put up the same level of refusal to obey that then Joint Chiefs head Colon [sic] Powell virtually promised in 1993. Tell me again why he wasn't fired for insubordination?
There is SOME hope in that the current JCS head has publicly said he's open to the idea of repeal. BUT it will still take convincing Congress that they have more to lose by refusing than to gain.
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Jul 8, 2008 8:07:20 PM
Hi Andy,
The Time cover you included as illustration hit me in powerful way. I rememeber reading the title aloud as a child as the magazine sat atop the tv. My mother spun around upon hearing me say those words. She didn't have a nice thing to say when she figured out why I was saying those words, but in that instant I knew. It is a vivid memory and at the same time I thought I imagined it.
Posted by: Louis Gervais | Jul 8, 2008 11:57:58 PM
Could you elaborate Louis? Did your mother mistakenly believe you were talking about yourself?
Our progressive, liberal, Democratic Congress and Senate could repeal DADT and attach it to war funding IF they wanted to. We should pressure them to do so during the election.
Posted by: anon | Jul 9, 2008 2:17:00 AM
Leonard, Leonard, Leonard...what a great guy, what a good man.
A thousand years ago, when I was National Youth Director for the President Ford Campaign (much has changed, since then), I got a call from the receptionist, telling me that there was a man, down here, who wanted to start a new Voter Group. Youth being the largest Voter Group on the Campaign, any new groups were vetted by me. So, downstairs I went.
Imagine my shock and awe as this deeply closeted (drop your date off at midnight and go park outside a dark-windowed gay bar - I was sure it was just a phase) homosexual walked into the lobby to find Leonard Matlovich, with that magazine in his hand. Digging down to find my voice from wherever I'd dropped it, I introduced myself, as did he - handing me the magazine (which I still have). He wanted to launch "Gays for Ford."
Though terrified in my closeted-even-to-myself heart, I spoke with him for about 30 minutes as he made his case for creating such a group. (In retrospect, I'd say Jerry Ford was probably the last Republican possibly supportable by Gay people; after all, his....well, that's another story.) Thanking him, I shakily returned to my office, upstairs, to WRITE THE MEMO. Eek.
I made his case for him, as was my responsibility...deeply frightened that my Objective Analysis would be the window to my Pink Soul. Needless to say, the Ford Committee, headed by the likes of James Baker and Richard Cheney, et al, were not vaguely interested in entertaining such a concept. I got a call, saying as much; and communicate that as gently as possible, to Leonard, by phone and letter. He had pretty much expected this.
Years later, I met a man, fell in love, immediately realized that I could no longer be a Republican and moved to San Francisco (he has since met another and lives in Palm Springs - again, another story). About a minute after moving to SF, I was walking down Castro Street and ran into Leonard; who exclaimed and exuberantly hugged me, welcoming me to San Francisco, saying, "...I KNEW it! I wondered if you would ever come out! Welcome to San Francisco....now, all you need is a mustache!" (it was 1979).
There followed eleven, mustache-free years in The City; those early years enhanced in no small part by Leonard and the inimitable Michael Bedwell, brilliant and articulate, tireless curmudgeon before his time. My life and my commitment to our "community" would not have been the same, without those two.
Posted by: Kile Ozier | Jul 9, 2008 9:14:48 AM
Lest anyone think the following is part two of a premeditated mutual uh admiration exchange, Kile Ozier and I haven't seen each other in about 25 years [he was MUCH younger than moi when we met]. In fact, although I discovered sometime back that we have a mutual friend, we didn't actually reconnect [via e-mail] until recently when I saw his name here on Towleroad. Thanks Andy!
And thank you, Kile, for your kind words, particularly about Leonard. And thank you, too, for all you've done for the community in so many different and creative ways these many years. Anyone who's ever been to the annual fabulous Academy of Friends AIDS fundraiser in San Francisco or benefitted from the millions of dollars it's raised over these many years should thank Kile. It grew out of a private Oscar watch party hosted by him and his then partner that I was lucky enough to be included. [Don and his top hat...come back!]
Kile's myriad other achievements are far too lengthy to list here, but they include being the creative director for the dazzling opening and closing ceremonies of two editions of the Gay Games. Check them all out at www.kileozier.com, particularly if you know someone looking for someone of his talents.
Thanks again, Kile....and I, too, think you'd still look terrific in a moustache!
:-}
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Jul 9, 2008 1:25:19 PM