Shays Supports Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
SHAYS
The Hour
Anthony Rotunno
Boston University Washington News Service
2/28/07
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 – With President Bush’s troop surge in Iraq already underway, Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass., re-introduced legislation Wednesday to repeal the disputed “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans gays from openly serving in the military.
The U.S. military is already suffering from troop shortages, Meehan said, and a policy that discharges qualified individuals from armed service because of their sexual orientation only places additional strains on the current system.
“The president and the Republicans in Congress say they are committed to fighting the global war on terror, but when it comes time for action, they haven’t provided the number of soldiers we need,” Meehan said. “Repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and allowing our military to keep all of the best and brightest really is a matter of national security.”
Serving in the military is one of the greatest privileges a U.S. citizen can have, Shays said, and the current policy forces gay men and women who enlist to live in fear of being exposed and discharged.
Under the current law, any member of the military can be discharged for openly admitting he or she is gay.
“I look at Arlington Cemetery and wonder how many men and women who sacrificed their lives for our country were gay,” Shays said. “We will never know and the point is it doesn’t matter. Their service is as appreciated and valuable as that of the military personnel that were heterosexual.”
In addition to the policy’s blatant discrimination against homosexuals, Meehan said, it places an unnecessary financial burden on the Department of Defense.
In 2005, the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, estimated that the policy cost the Pentagon more than $190 million between 1994 and 2003, an amount Meehan said was “vastly underestimated.”
A separate study released by Meehan last year concluded that the cost of implementing “don’t ask, don’t tell” was more than $363 million for the same period.
“Wasting taxpayer dollars by discharging competent service members under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It’s long past time that we act to repeal it.”
The majority of the coalition forces fighting alongside the U.S. armed services in Iraq allow openly gay men and women to serve in their militaries, Meehan said, including the British and Israeli armies.
Roughly 11,000 members of the U.S. armed services were discharged between 1994 and 2003, according to the Government Accountability Office’s 2005 report.
To compensate for the loss of thousands of qualified personnel, Meehan said, the Pentagon has continually lowered its recruiting standards. The number of waivers given to recruits with criminal records has risen by almost 80 percent in the last three years, he said.
“There is no excuse for sacrificing safety in the name of discrimination,” said Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a national organization that provides assistance to military personnel affected by “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Meehan proposed a similar bill last year, but the Republican majority did not let it move out of committee deliberation. With 109 cosponsors already in support of the current legislation, Meehan said, he believes it has a strong chance of succeeding.
Reps. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Shays are currently the only three Republican co-sponsors but, Shays said, he will help Meehan find more support in the House and the Senate.
“The American people are very fair minded, and they will put pressure on us just to get this done,” Shays said.
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