Defense officials want end to gay silence
Source: Agencies |
February 4, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IT'S time to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and allow gay troops to serve openly for the first time in history, the nation's top defense officials said on Tuesday, with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff proclaiming that service members should not be forced to "lie about who they are."
However, both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen asked for a year to study the impact before Congress lifts the controversial policy.
In the meantime, Gates announced plans to loosen enforcement rules for the policy, which says, in essence, that gays may serve so long as they keep their sexuality private.
Reversing the Pentagon's 17-year-old policy toward gays "comes down to integrity," for the military as an institution as well as the service members themselves, Mullen told a Senate hearing. Unpersuaded, several Republican senators said they would oppose any congressional effort to repeal the policy.
Ten months before voters elect a new Congress, some Democratic leaders also were wary of trying to change the policy this year, when both sides concede Republicans are likely to pick up seats, especially after Republican Senator-elect Scott Brown's surprise victory last month in Massachusetts. Repealing don't-ask-don't-tell is not a winning campaign strategy for a party under siege especially in the South and Midwest.
Obama has called for repeal but has done little in his first year in office to advance that goal.
However, both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen asked for a year to study the impact before Congress lifts the controversial policy.
In the meantime, Gates announced plans to loosen enforcement rules for the policy, which says, in essence, that gays may serve so long as they keep their sexuality private.
Reversing the Pentagon's 17-year-old policy toward gays "comes down to integrity," for the military as an institution as well as the service members themselves, Mullen told a Senate hearing. Unpersuaded, several Republican senators said they would oppose any congressional effort to repeal the policy.
Ten months before voters elect a new Congress, some Democratic leaders also were wary of trying to change the policy this year, when both sides concede Republicans are likely to pick up seats, especially after Republican Senator-elect Scott Brown's surprise victory last month in Massachusetts. Repealing don't-ask-don't-tell is not a winning campaign strategy for a party under siege especially in the South and Midwest.
Obama has called for repeal but has done little in his first year in office to advance that goal.
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