In Brief: DADT's Last Days

From June, 2010 eNews Vol. 7 No. 6

Four months after President Obama called for an end to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) in his State of the Union address, we are closer to seeing promise become reality.

This has been a long time coming. Lambda Legal won our first case against antigay discrimination by the military in 1975, when we represented Ensign Vernon Berg III. Berg was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and an admiral’s aide in Italy when he was anonymously outed and then discharged. In 1979, the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. found that the Navy rules on homosexuality were too vague. Under pressure from the Carter White House, the Defense Department entered into a settlement.

Fifteen years later, just after DADT went into effect, Lambda Legal won a federal court ruling that the prior ban on gays in the military was unconstitutional, resulting in the reinstatement of Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, a 27-year service member and Vietnam veteran. (Col. Cammermeyer was selected on Wednesday to join the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, which makes policy recommendations regarding recruitment, retention and integration of women in the armed forces. We congratulate her on her new appointment.)

After 17 years, it looks like DADT is finally on its way out. Last Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16 to 12 to approve a measure that would allow the Defense Department to end the policy. The next day, the full House approved the measure by a decisive vote of 234 to 194. The ball is now in the full Senate’s court.

Once approved by the Senate, the measure requires the completion of a study, due Dec. 1, demonstrating that a policy of inclusion won’t disrupt our military. This is an insulting and redundant exercise. A RAND survey that arrived at that conclusion was completed back in 1993. The earliest that gay and lesbian service members could serve openly without fear of discharge will be 60 days after the study. This means the end of January—seven months from now.

Until that point and well beyond, we need to remain vigilant. Opponents of inclusion have vowed to step up their fight against repeal. Even with DADT gone, service members may still face discrimination, as LGBT people could in any workplace. (Lambda Legal is also calling for swift passage of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act to protect workers in both public and private employment.)

Moreover, DADT is a textbook case of how different types of discrimination can compound one another. Last month, Servicemembers United released Defense Department numbers showing that of the 619 people discharged under DADT in 2008, 45 percent were people of color, who represent 30 percent of the military, and 34 percent were women, who make up only 14 percent.

The legislative agenda for ending discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression is beginning to move—but only because we are all pushing hard to move it. The votes taken to repeal DADT are exciting. It’s powerful to see a majority of elected officials stand up and say that discrimination in the military must end. But the work isn’t finished. We all need to keep speaking up and standing firm until the full Senate acts and the unfair discharges finally stop.