Practical Steps to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

The following was published in 2009 via the Center for American Progress, a think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action.

Read the full report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell by the numbers (pdf)

Conversations I’ve held with service members make clear that, while the military remains a traditional culture, that tradition no longer requires banning open service by gays. There will undoubtedly be some teething pains, but I have no doubt our leadership can handle it.
– Gen. John Shalikashvili, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

You don’t have to be straight in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.
– Sen. Barry Goldwater

Then-Senator Barack Obama pledged during the 2008 presidential campaign that he would work with military leaders and Congress to repeal the law that bans openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military. Yet the law commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” or DADT, remains in effect despite his campaign promise and subsequent pledges to fulfill it.

As a consequence, more than 265 service members have been discharged on the basis of this discriminatory, outmoded, and counterproductive policy since Obama took office. Furthermore, the policy has deterred untold others who want to defend their country from serving. Gary Gates, a senior research fellow at the UCLA School of Law, found that if the proportion of gay men in the military was allowed to rise to equal that in the general population, “the military could raise their numbers by an estimated 41,000 men.”

DADT has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,000 patriotic and highly qualified men and women since its enactment more than 16 years ago. At least 1,000 of these 13,000 have held “critical occupations,” such as interpreters and engineers. Moreover, approximately 4,000 service members leave the service voluntarily per year because of this policy.

For example, by the end of fiscal year 2003, a few months after the fall of Baghdad, the military had forced out more than 320 service members with vital language skills such as Arabic and Farsi. These are the very critical specialties in which the military con- tinues to face personnel shortfalls. Meanwhile, the Army and Marine Corps have been forced to significantly lower their moral and aptitude standards in order to overcome recruitment shortfalls. Perhaps most troubling is the fact that the military has at the same time granted so-called “moral waivers” to thousands of new recruits, including people with felony convictions.

Despite these serious losses, there are no signs of momentum within the Obama adminis- tration to fulfill its campaign promise to repeal DADT. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated that “The president and I feel like we’ve got a lot on our plates right now and let’s push that one down the road a little bit.” Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently noted that “The president has made his stra- tegic intent very clear…that it’s his intent at some point in time to ask Congress to change the law.” Admiral Mullen and Secretary Gates display a clear lack of urgency on a major campaign promise; as President Clinton’s experience in 1993 demonstrates, any delay can allow those who oppose repealing DADT to seize the momentum. [FULL STORY]