Focus On The Rainbow

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The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) International President Patricia Friend issued the following statement supporting the Military Readiness Enhancement Act that was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. The bills, H.R. 1283 and S. 3065, would repeal the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military practice.

“For over 30 years AFA-CWA has been leading the fight to end workplace discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex and sexual orientation.  We strongly support the efforts of President Obama and military leaders who are taking steps towards ending all forms of discrimination for U.S. Armed Service members.

“The current ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ practice denies qualified Americans with critical skills the freedom to serve. Our government has invested billions of dollars and countless hours of training in our troops, often in highly classified and technical specialties, and it is imperative that we retain their service.

“A number of AFA-CWA members serve as reservists and have fought for our country.  While many are not affected, nor would they fall victim to the current and archaic ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, they deserve the right to serve our country without fear and with the same anti-discriminatory protections they enjoy under their AFA-CWA contracts.

“It is time we end the practice of forcing out valuable service members due to perceived sexual orientation. It is time to close the chapter on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and promote an all-encompassing policy of nondiscrimination once and for all.”

Source – PR Newswire

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I got to thinking about that question when I was doing article searches for today’s Focus On The Rainbow Daily News Brief when in my topic searches ROTC came up in several stories albeit not about DADT.

When I went to Danbury High School I was in the Air Force ROTC program and as it was back in the late 60’s/early 70’s I well remember the “discrimination” on Fridays when we wore our uniform and over the course of those three years because of the Air Force’s involvement in the Vietnam War being called everything from baby killers to being spate on.

So I did a google search for ROTC Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and my question was answered at the website Washington City Paper in an article from last month.

According to the G.W. student newspaper the Hatchet, University Freshman Todd Belok was dismissed from the Navy ROTC program after his fellow midshipmen learned that he was gay. Belok didn’t explicitly inform the Navy that he was gay, but after he was observed kissing “another male” at a fraternity party, Belok was “officially dismissed from the program in December,” the Hatchet writes.

On September 13, 2008, Belok attended a party at Beta Theta Pi, a fraternity which he later pledged, when two other midshipmen [MIDN], Dave Perry and Squad Leader Nick Trimis, said they saw Belok kiss another male on the lips.

“In the basement of Beta Theta Pi, MIDN Belok introduced me to another male, who he referred to as his ’special friend,’ ” Trimis wrote in the Performance Review Board report. “Within five minutes of this introduction, I witnessed MIDN Belok kissing this individual on the lips. I decided I needed to leave after this encounter.”

Belok says he’s still determined to become a Navy officer—after “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is repealed. Belok has, however, now pledged Beta Theta Pi.

Congressman Jim Moran read a letter on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday from an active duty soldier in Iraq. Congressman Moran stated that the soldier had, “learned that a fellow soldier was also gay, only after he was killed by an IED in Iraq. The partner of the deceased soldier wrote the unit to say how much the victim had loved the military; how they were the only family he had ever known.” The soldier originally provided the letter in response to an inquiry for the Pentagon’s current study of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

This is the second publicly known case of a gay soldier killed in action during the current wars in the Middle East. The first was U.S. Army Major Alan Rogers, who died while on patrol in Iraq in January, 2008. Statisticians have estimated that more than 200 gay and lesbian service members have perished since the onset of the conflict. Military leaders this week suggested in Congressional hearings that gay and lesbian troops disrupt the force.

Dr. Nathaniel Frank stated that, “It is important to honor the sacrifice of all American troops, and we do so today and always.” Frank is Senior Research Fellow at the Palm Center.

Source – PR Newswire/Palm Center

AND HERE’S THE BUT !

Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was nearing the end of a 25-minute question-and-answer session with troops serving here when he raised a topic of his own: “No one’s asked me about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ ” he said.

As it turned out, none of the two dozen or so men or women who met with Mullen at Marine House in the Jordanian capital Tuesday had any questions on the 17-year-old policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military – or Mullen’s public advocacy of its repeal.

Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Darryl E. Robinson, who’s the operations coordinator for defense attache’s office at the U.S. Embassy here, explained why after the session. “The U.S. military was always at the forefront of social change,” he said. “We didn’t wait for laws to change.”

At Tuesday’s session, which included not only Marines, but members of the Army and the Air Force, both male and female service members explained why they were nonplussed by the issue: They’d already served with gays and lesbians, they accepted that some kind of change was imminent, and, they said, the nation was too engulfed in two wars for a prolonged debate about it. – Source – Miami-Herald

A new Quinnipiac University national poll shows majorities of American voters think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military and that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy constitutes discrimination.poll, voters surveyed said that gays should be allowed to serve openly by a margin of 57% to 36%. Respondents also said that DADT is discrimination by a margin of 66% to 31%. -Source – Advocate

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The Palm Center has announced plans to convene a Washington, D.C. summit of officials and experts from military forces that allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly, including the Israel Defense Force and NATO member militaries. The summit, which is planned for early spring, will focus on the implementation of personnel policies for openly gay troops. British and Israeli experts have confirmed their participation.

“As military and political leaders anticipate the end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the lessons from the twenty-five foreign forces that allow open gay service are instructive,” stated Dr. Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center. Belkin cited three questions that generally dominate the comparison: Did the decision to allow open gay service undermine military readiness? How was implementation managed? To what extent can lessons from abroad help U.S. officials plan for an inclusive policy?

In 1993, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) submitted a report to Congress regarding gays and lesbians in foreign militaries. It assessed the impact of open service on military readiness, finding that, “Military officials in all four countries said that the presence of homosexuals in the military is not an issue and has not created problems in the functioning of military units.” A 1993 report by the RAND Corporation reached a similar conclusion.

During last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Maine Senator Susan Collins asked if any NATO partners had reported difficulties since their implementation of open service. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had spoken to many NATO allies and they reported “no impact” on military performance.

Palm Center scholars have published several journal articles and book chapters on gays and lesbians in the Israeli, British, Canadian and Australian Forces. A 2000 Palm Center conference at the Commonwealth Club included officials and experts from a number of foreign militaries that allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly.

Next week, the Palm Center plans to release a new, 150-page study on the status of gays and lesbians in foreign military forces around the world. The study will include the first-ever in-depth analysis of gays and lesbians in the South African Defence Force, which dropped its ban in 1998.

Source – PR Newswire/Palm Center