GOP Platform: Homosexuality Incompatible With Military Service

The Log Cabin Republicans have put the best face on the Republican Party's 2008 platform, which won't leave many American gays and lesbians smiling.

They write on their blog, " . . . rather than squabble over the platform (which we could have done), we decided to go to Minneapolis-St. Paul at the Republican National Convention and show LGBT Americans in a positive light. We’re going there to engage in conversations with delegates and Republicans of all stripes. Some will agree with us. Others won’t. One thing we know for sure is that we’re going to the RNC with a positive message about gay and lesbian Americans. We think that’s important.”

I think that’s important, too. Very important. But however “symbolic” platform language may be, and even though every candidate need not support every plank in it, a party’s platform is still a statement on where a party stands on the issues of our time. The Republican Party Platform, which convention delegates approved unanimously on Monday, certainly does not advance the position Servicemembers Legal Defense Network advocates: the repeal of the statute known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the passage of H.R. 1246. When that inevitably happens – and it is inevitable – our country will finally acknowledge what is already a fact – that 65,000 gays and lesbians are now fighting in the armed forces of the United States – and allow them to serve openly without fear of discovery, discharge, and the loss of their benefits.
We support this language in the Republican Party Platform: “Military priorities and mission must determine personnel policies.” You can’t have a man or woman in the infantry piloting a plane over Afghanistan, or a medic working as a navigator, etc., etc. And we strongly agree with the next sentence: “Esprit and cohesion are necessary for military effectiveness and success on the battlefield.“

It’s the sentence that follows that saddens and angers me: “To protect our servicemen and women and ensure that America’s Armed Forces remain the best in the world, we affirm the timelessness of those values, the benefits of traditional military culture, and the incompatibility of homosexuality with military service.”

Our servicemembers need “protection” from roving bands of gays and lesbians? Let’s get real, people. Our servicemembers need protection from hostile fire, not from the 65,000 gays and lesbians that every soldier, sailor, and airman knows are serving by their sides now with no apparent damage to esprit de corps and unit cohesion.

And homosexuality incompatible with military service? Ask Israel, whose military generally gets pretty high ratings. Ask our NATO allies who’ve managed to find homosexuality compatible enough. Many of them are actively recruiting gays and lesbian to help fill their ranks. This kind of language, in the platform of any political party in 2008, is offensive, insulting, and out of sync with what polls show most Americans, military and civilian, believe: that sexual orientation is not a factor when evaluating a person’s qualifications to serve in the military.

Fortunately for gays and lesbians everywhere, for Americans in general and for SLDN in particular, the majority of Republicans do not go along with the language of their own platform. A July Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 64 percent of Republicans support allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. I wish I could say that the party’s candidate for president was among that 64 percent, but I can’t.

John McCain’s currently beleaguered choice for vice president, Governor Sarah Palin, has taken no public stand on DADT that I know of, but it’s hard to be optimistic. She supported the 1998 Alaska constitutional amendment barring marriage equality. She has been governor less than two years but has already supported stripping away domestic partner benefits for state workers. From that record, it doesn’t sound as if she’ll be advocating the repeal of DADT – unlike her fellow Republicans who are co-sponsors of H.R. 1246, notably Christopher Shays of Connecticut, Maryland’s Wayne Gilchrest, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.
Like my friends in the Log Cabin Republicans, I’m not giving up on the Republicans in Congress. I’m not giving up on the Republicans at all. It’s clear from the Washington Post/ABC News poll that the language in the platform does not represent the views of the majority of Republicans – or the majority of Americans, for that matter. Party leaders just have to catch up with party members.

“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is not an issue of one party versus another. It’s a matter of military readiness and what’s best for the country. The armed forces need all the qualified men and women they can get. It’s a matter of fairness. Bigotry is bipartisan, but so are civil rights. It comes down finally to military readiness and fairness. What’s fair for me is fair for you. Most of us, Republicans as well as Democrats, gays as well as straights, see that.

--Aubrey Sarvis

From California to New York -- Next Stop, Washington D.C.

This week New York’s governor announced that his state would recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other jurisdictions, including California.

In his latest Huffington Post blog Aubrey Sarvis talks about American's changing attitudes towards lesbians, gays and bisexuals and how growing acceptance may impact legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

“Attitudes are definitely changing, and changing fast,” writes Sarvis. Click here to read about and comment on recent LGBT civil rights victories in California and New York, and how those developments may affect opinions in Washington, D.C.

-Victor Maldonado

Raising the Barr

Republican Congressman turned ACLU consultant Bob Barr yesterday announced he will seek the Libertarian Party’s nomination for the presidency in 2008.

An author of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which declared that states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, Barr captured Americas attention recently by publishing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“As a conservative Republican member of Congress from 1995 to 2003, I was hardly a card-carrying member of the gay-rights lobby. I opposed then, and continue to oppose, same-sex marriage, or the designation of gays as a constitutionally protected minority class. Service in the armed forces is another matter. The bottom line here is that, with nearly a decade and a half of the hybrid “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to guide us, I have become deeply impressed with the growing weight of credible military opinion which concludes that allowing gays to serve openly in the military does not pose insurmountable problems for the good order and discipline of the services,” wrote Barr in June 2007.

“Because the military can’t fill its slots, it has lowered its standards, extended tours of duty and increased rotations, further hurting morale and readiness. Conservatives are supposed to favor meritocracy — rewarding ability — especially in the armed forces. Instead, the military is firing badly needed, capable troops simply because they’re gay, and replacing them with a hodge podge that includes ex-cons, drug abusers and high-school dropouts.”

If Barr wins the Libertarian Party’s nomination, he would join both Democratic nominees, Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), in favoring repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the Republican nominee, has publically stated “it would be a terrific mistake to even reopen the issue” and that the ban is “working”.

-Victor Maldonado

The Advocate and Senator Obama

This week the Advocate magazine published its recent interview with presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) during which he and Advocate news editor Kerry Eleveld discussed, among other issues, the need to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.

When asked “if you were elected, what do you plan to do for the LGBT community -- what can you reasonably get done?” Senator Obama replied, “I reasonably can see ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ eliminated.”

I am extremely encouraged by Senator Obama's optimism to get "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repealed. He, like Senator Clinton, wants this terrible law repealed sooner rather than later. It is also my hope we can persuade Senator McCain this inequitable law must go. Our opportunity to repeal this law is in the next Congress -- with a new president in the White House demonstrating leadership in the repeal fight.

Later in the interview Eleveld returns to the issue of gays in the military asking, “you’ve said before you don’t think that’s [ repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”] a heavy lift. Of course, it would be if you had Joint Chiefs who were against repeal. Is that something you’ll look at?” Senator Obama responded saying he, “would never make this a litmus test for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Obviously, there are so many issues that a member of the Joint Chiefs has to deal with, and my paramount obligation is to get the best possible people to keep America safe. But I think there’s increasing recognition within the Armed Forces that this is a counterproductive strategy -- ya know, we’re spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn’t make us more safe, and what I want are members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are making decisions based on what strengthens our military and what is going to make us safer, not ideology.”

SLDN applauds Senator Obama’s support for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and, likewise, we appreciate Senator Clinton’s commitment to get this done. I hope the next president will expect everyone on his or her leadership team to be on the same page on major public policy initiatives, including “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I believe we have all learned tough lessons from what happens when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is not aligned with what his Commander in Chief wants to do. Unfortunately, that kind of disconnect is one of the reasons we got “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fifteen years ago instead of an executive order permitting open service.

-Aubrey Sarvis

Looking Back -- Looking Forward

What struck me yesterday, while I was watching John McCain speak in Memphis at ceremonies commemorating the assassination forty years ago of Martin Luther King , was that the particulars may change but the issues remain the same. The parallels between then and now are too strong to ignore.

“Forty years and more after the great struggles of the civil rights movement,” Senator McCain said, “we marvel that such fierce passions could be aroused in defense of such petty cruelties.” Forty years from now will we wonder that such fierce passions could be aroused at the prospect of admitting openly gay and lesbian soldiers into the military? I am an optimist: I think so.

We know, of course, that gays and lesbians are already there, they just can’t mention it, and if they do, under the current law they’re out. That is what Senator McCain correctly calls “the underside of life in America, where the rules of respect, and fairness, and courtesy were thought not to apply.” But that is what Senator McCain supports.

“Sometimes the most radical thing is to be confronted with our own standards,” Senator McCain said, “to be asked simply that we live up to the principles we profess.” That is precisely what we are asking, no more, no less: that this President, this Congress, Republicans as well as Democrats, this nation live up to the principles of equality and justice that Senator McCain so eloquently proclaims—and that Senator McCain live up to them, too, and support the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, instead of opposing it as he now does.

Senator McCain noted that “we do not always take kindly to being reminded of what more we can do, or how much better we can be, or who else can be included in the promise of America.” So let us respectfully remind him, him and every other candidate for the Presidency, for the Congress, and for every public office in this land—and push this land a little closer to the principles of liberty and justice for all that it espouses.

-Aubrey Sarvis

Of John McCain, Acronyms & What America's About

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), speaking to students at Concord High School in New Hampshire, became quite confused when asked about the LGBT community.

According to The Trail, a student asked McCain what he "would do on LGBT issues." Then, "McCain, paused, confused by the question. Someone in the crowd shouted out 'lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.' 'I had not heard that phrase before,' McCain said of LGBT."

Good grief. Is John McCain - who is campaigning to be our country's chief executive - really so out of touch with the country that he doesn't even know who we are? (I remember well, during the 2004 campaign, when Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun was praised for referring to our community by the very same acronym. At the time, one press outlet reported her embrace of the phrase progressive. And in the 2008, it should just be plain common sense.)

But regardless, once educated about the four-letter reference, McCain caught on, and came out with his usual anti-gay tirade.

"McCain then explained that while he opposed discrimination, he also felt marriage was between a man and a woman and noted he supported the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy on gays in the military," The Trail reports. "The student, a junior named William Sleaster, then persisted, asking the candidate if he supported gay marriage or civil unions. McCain said 'I do not.'" The student, standing at microphone across from the stage where McCain was speaking then declared 'I came here to see a good leader. I do not.'"

McCain just said, "That's what America's about."

Oh really, Senator? Because I have this crazy idea that, in addition to the right to disagree and dissent, America is also about equal protection, equal justice and equal rights under the law. Some of us actually think it's OK to serve our country, love our partner and be full citizens . . . even if, yes, we're LGBT.

It's sad to see John McCain so out of touch with the country he wants to lead. The 'maverick' Senator, once admired for taking principled stands is increasingly standing alone.

Do we really want a president who divides and conquers and thinks inequality is what America is all about?

I do not.

- Steve Ralls

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" at the Debates

Photo by Charles Krupa, Associated Press

Last week Democrat Presidential nominees gathered to debate . . . and every one of them affirmed their desire to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” On Tuesday, the Republican candidates gathered as well . . . . and all affirmed their desire to keep in place the ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service personnel. Whomever the eventual candidates will be, the American people have a stark choice before them.

Perhaps even more disturbing than their support for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was the clumsy and seemingly clueless way in which many of the Republican candidates fielded the question about open service. Mike Huckabee, Former Governor of Arkansas, said, “I think it's already covered by the Uniform Code of Military Conduct … it's about conduct; it's not about attitude.” Wrong, Mike. DA, DT is a Congressional Law, not a part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The UCMJ is about conduct, but DA, DT is about mere status. Just ask Jason Knight, who was just discharged for daring to serve openly in Kuwait.

Other Republicans also seemed out of touch on the question.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani punted, telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “I don’t think this would be the right time to raise these issues.”

Former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) acknowledged supporting a repeal of the law earlier in his career, saying that, “No, actually when I first heard of the ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ policy I thought it sounded awfully silly and didn't think that'd be very effective, and I turned out to be wrong.” Today, however, Romney supports maintaining the ban. “It's been the policy now in the military for, what, 10,15 years? But who knows with Romney, maybe if we wait another five minutes he’ll flip-flop again?

Then there was Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) cryptic response to the question, “I think it would be a terrific mistake to even reopen the issue. It is working, my friends. The policy is working.” What exactly does THAT mean? Gays and lesbians are being drummed out of the service, so the policy must be working? National Security is being placed at risk, so the policy must be working? Working how, Senator? Working for whom?

The truth of the matter is that there is that if Republican leaders believe this law is working, then their definition of ‘working’ is fundamentally flawed. As our military struggles to find qualified troops and our fighting forces are stretched to a near breaking point, turning away talented and skilled gay Americans is a detriment to our national security. Eight out of ten Americans understand the importance of repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ It is unfortunate that the Republican candidates for president do not. They are out of touch with their constituents and out of step with our country’s best interests.

- Victor Maldonado

John McCain Doesn't See Dead People . . .

. . . and so he cannot, apparently, tell you if Barry Goldwater still supports gays in the military. But he can tell you that he certainly does not.

The Senator (and 2008 presidential candidate), whose predecessor from Arizona was none other than Goldwater himself, recently spoke at a Google candidate forum in California, where he was asked about his stance on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." After the gathering, CBS 5 reporter Hank Plante followed up on the question, asking specifically about McCain's recent letter to SLDN.

As you can see from their report, McCain stands by his defense of the ban and insists, despite a recent poll showing that 73% of troops are comfortable with gays, that they really aren't.

Oh yes, and Barry Goldwater is apparently dead.

- Steve Ralls

Intolerable.

This morning, SLDN released a letter from Senator John McCain (R-AZ), also a 2008 presidential hopeful, outlining his thoughts on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Among other things, McCain insists that openly gay troops would present "an intolerable" risk to the armed forces and straight men and women in uniform.

McCain, famous for traveling in the 'Straight Talk Express,' doesn't mince words:

"I believe polarization of the personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for well intentioned but misguided efforts to elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual servicemembers above those of their units."

"Most importantly, the national security of the United States, not to mention the lives of our men and women in uniform, are put at grave risk by policies detrimental to the good order and and discipline which so distinguish America’s Armed Services. … I remain opposed to the open expression of homosexuality in the military."

Time for some 'straight talk' of our own.

The real questions are these: Are the gay doctors attending to the wounded an intolerable risk, or a welcome addition to the forces? Are the gay linguists translating Arabic for soldiers on the ground an intolerable risk, or a highly valued part of the military team? And are the openly gay British troops in Iraq an intolerable risk, or an important ally in the fight?

Would Senator McCain send the British troops home?

Are the gay troops intolerable? Or are McCain's views - putting discrimination ahead of the best interests of those on the ground - intolerable?

Think Progress weighs in:

McCain’s personal beliefs are antiquated and ill-informed. The overwhelming majority of the military supports equal rights for all servicemembers. Last December, a poll of servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan found that 73 percent were “comfortable with lesbians and gays.” A 2004 poll found that a majority of junior enlisted servicemembers believed gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, up from 16 percent in 1992. Furthemore, 55 percent of Americans believe “gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military.”

McCain claims that permitting gays to serve is detrimental to national security, but since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was instituted, at least 11,000 servicemembers, hundreds of whom had with key speciality skills such as training in Arabic, have left the military. While McCain vigorously backs the plan to send thousands of troops to Iraq, he should note that the military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits if gays could serve openly.

You can read Senator McCain's full letter here, and discuss his statement at the Think Progress website.

- Steve Ralls

Who's Telling?

The New York Daily News reports this morning that Arizona Senator (and 2008 presidential candidate) John McCain was in the city last night, talking about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

From the News:

" . . . he said he is not inclined to change the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on gay soldiers. He said military leaders tell him it's working."

What military leaders? Certainly not retired General John Shalikashvili, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Definitely not Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, one of the Army's most respected leaders. Likely not former Defense Secretary William Cohen, who has also joined calls for re-visiting the law. And probably not General Wesley Clark, either.

So which military leaders, exactly, are telling Senator McCain the policy is working? And how can they say such things when two people are fired, every day, for being gay and likely two more with sub-par qualifications are signed up for duty?

The fact is that the military is increasingly on the side of ending the ban. And those who aren't are likely to be remembered as being on the wrong side of history.

Really listen to the leaders, Senator McCain, and you'll hear a growing chorus for repeal.

- Steve Ralls