aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Incremental progress against don’t ask, don’t tell

In a March 13 press briefing, in response to a question about what gay servicemembers serving in Iraq should take from General Pace’s comments on gays and morality, Dan Bartlett said, “ the President appreciates the sacrifice and service of every service member.”

The Bay Area Reporter now tells us that:

Steve Ralls was stunned. The spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the leading group working to repeal DADT, said, “As far as I’m aware, this is the first time the Bush White House has said they appreciate the sacrifice of gay troops.”

“In late February, after Congressman [Marty] Meehan re-introduced his repeal legislation, Tony Snow said, ‘We’ll wait and see what Congress comes up with,’ when asked if the president would support the bill. That wasn’t a flat no, and I had to read that transcript twice, too!” Ralls added.

SLDN also released the latest of its annual reports on DADT. It showed that 612 service members were kicked out of the military under the policy during fiscal year 2006. That is down from 742 in 2005. The total number has ebbed each year since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, when it was more than twice as large as today.

“The Pentagon’s data shines a bright light on the hypocrisy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” said SLDN Executive Director C. Dixon Osburn. “When military leaders need the talent, skills, and qualifications of gay personnel, dismissals decline. The Pentagon’s own data shows that, during times of war, when unit cohesion is most important, fewer gay troops are dismissed. The ban on their service, and not their service itself, is what erodes cohesion most.”

RELATED: Pam’s House Blend blogged last night’s SLDN 15th Annual National Dinner and Clarence Page’s Don’t ask, don’t tell—and don’t leave column from yesterday.