From Military.com:
“10 Years After Don't Ask,
Don't Tell Was Repealed, the Military Reckons with Past Discrimination”
Iraq War veteran Shon Washington
spent his career wracked by paranoia, sneaking to places far from his duty
station to date men in the hopes that his fellow service members wouldn't see
him. Two other gay men with whom he served were discovered and swiftly kicked
out of the military. Washington, whose service ran from 2004 to 2011, struggled
with his own sexuality for a long time, dating a long-term girlfriend he
considered proposing to throughout his initial year in the Navy.
The "Don't Ask, Don't
Tell" policy, instituted by President Bill Clinton in 1993, appealed to
Washington at first, he said, given that it gave him a chance to have a career
in an institution where being gay was against the law. The policy was
instituted as a compromise that barred military leaders and personnel from
discriminating against or harassing gay and lesbian troops. But it also
required those troops to keep their sexual orientation private. As Washington
reconciled with his sexuality, the policy effectively forced him to conceal his
identity from most people with whom he worked. "I had to be really
careful," he told Military.com. "It was a little lonely."
Monday marks the 10th anniversary
of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- a change that heralded a cultural
shift within the military ranks to embrace diversity and different perspectives
as a strength and to focus more on whether a person could perform their
assigned duties based on ability rather than gender or sexual orientation. Since
the fall of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, all military occupational specialties,
including ground combat jobs, have been open to women (2015), and transgender
personnel have been allowed to serve under their preferred gender identity
(2016 and 2021).
On Sept. 20, 2011, after a
contentious debate and passage of the bill that overturned the policy, the
repeal was finally enacted. At the time, President Barack Obama said service
members would "no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve
our country." In a statement released Monday, President Joe Biden, who as
a U.S. senator supported allowing gay and lesbian troops to serve openly and as
vice president advocated for the repeal, said the change was "the right
thing to do." "Ten years ago today, a great injustice was remedied
and a tremendous weight was finally lifted off the shoulders of tens of
thousands of dedicated American service members," Biden said. "[It]
showed once again that America is at its best when we lead not by the example
of our power, but by the power of our example." A 2018 Defense Department
survey of military personnel found that 2% of male service members and 7% of
female service members identified as being gay or lesbian, while an additional
5% of men and 7% of women declined to answer the question.
But there is still a reckoning
with past policies that forced service members out of the military for their
sexual orientation, one that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs
are just beginning to undertake. According to the White House, more than
100,000 service members have been discharged as a result of their sexual
orientation or gender identity, including 14,000 who were kicked out under
Don't Ask, Don't Tell. With many of those service members receiving other-than-honorable
discharges -- a designation that deprived them of an array of benefits -- the
DoD encouraged service members to seek redress, and the VA announced Monday it
plans to provide benefits for these veterans. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
said there is "more work to do, particularly as it relates to righting old
wrongs," and he encouraged service members to contact their service's
Board for Correction of Military/Naval Records or Discharge Review Boards to
have their cases reviewed. "No veteran should bear a less-than-honorable
discharge based solely on sexual orientation or gender identity," Austin
said.
At the VA, claims adjudicators
will begin searching for all discharged service members who were separated
based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status and ensure
that they have veteran status, according to Kayla Williams, the VA's assistant
secretary for public affairs. The designation will give them access to benefits
that include VA medical care, disability compensation, vocational training, and
education and home loans. Under the new policies, discharges that were
administered for poor performance reports that may be related to discrimination
also will get a second look, Williams said. While all veterans are able to appeal
their other-than-honorable discharges, this new initiative would sidestep that
lengthy and often unsuccessful claims process. Personnel who received
dishonorable discharges or have a criminal conviction that precludes them from
attaining VA benefits will not be covered by the change. Officials said the
change would not require legislation to take effect, because the VA has broad
authority to decide who is eligible for its services and benefits. "Although
VA recognizes that the trauma caused by the military's decades-long policy of
discrimination against LGBTQ+ people cannot be undone in a few short months,
the Biden administration and Secretary Denis McDonough are taking the steps
necessary to begin addressing the pain that such policies have created,"
Williams said. The move follows an initiative announced earlier this year that
will let transgender veterans receive gender-related surgeries and medical
treatment through the VA.
The initial legislation to repeal
Don't Ask, Don't Tell was introduced by then-Rep. Patrick Murphy, the first
Iraq War veteran to serve in the House of Representatives, a Democrat who later
served as Under Secretary of the Army. Murphy said Monday that the repeal of
the "disastrous" policy was one of his proudest accomplishments as a
lawmaker. "When I saw over 13,000 of my brothers and sisters get thrown
out after 9/11 when we needed folks to serve our country during a time of war
-- get thrown out because of who they loved -- when I got the incredible
opportunity to serve as representative of Pennsylvania's 8th District, I jumped
at the chance [to repeal the policy]," Murphy said during a virtual
presentation hosted by the Center for New American Security on Monday. Under
Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones attended Boston University on an
Air Force ROTC scholarship; later, as an intelligence officer, she deployed to
Iraq -- all under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. During a White House event
Monday, she called the anniversary of the repeal a "BFD," since she
is gay and signed up to serve knowing she would have to hide her
"authentic self." "The repeal communicated that people
courageous enough to serve could now do so without living in fear. Repeal meant
that their service as an LGBTQ member mattered as much as anyone else's,"
Ortiz Jones said during a virtual White House event.
Washington was able to serve and
leave with an honorable discharge -- mainly by staying just one step ahead of
the rumors, moving from base to base through natural career progression and
leaving before too many people started asking questions. He said he might have
reenlisted if he'd known the repeal was coming. "And not gonna lie, I was
a little jealous the policy came after me [leaving]. I remember hearing about
it on NPR during my drive home and feeling bitter," Washington said.
^ It doesn’t seem like it has
been 10 years, but I guess it has. The VA needs to go through and change the
status of the Gay and Lesbian Soldiers kicked-out for being Homosexual (it
shouldn’t have taken them 10 years to really do this.) ^
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