By: Sam Bouchat
A new magazine has just been launched called OutServe, aimed at gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender military members, both in celebration of the recent repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and as a means of spreading pertinent facts. One such fact — members of the military are still being discharged for their sexual orientation.
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy was repealed in 2010, though many service members still face discharge. What the general public doesn’t know about the repeal is that it won’t take place until possibly midsummer, according to policy makers, and that an openly gay member of the military will, until then, still face discharge under the old policy.
Currently it is illegal to discharge someone from the service for being a homosexual unless his or her orientation is somehow discovered. A soldier’s job hinges on a secret characteristic that has virtually nothing to do with his service.
As a strong advocate for equality, I find the then-Democratic-run Senate’s decision to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to be an obvious one. Currently, with Republicans the majority in the House and Senate, questions are being raised as to the benefit of this repeal. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) believes that it is a waste of government money that can better be spend on other military needs, despite the fact that “military needs” in 2010 was awarded a total of over $600 billion.
The cost of implementing the reintegration of gay and lesbian soldiers would be an estimates $10,000, while the cost of discharging them stands around $300 million, not to mention the millions of tax dollars wasted on training these soldiers who, apparently, were not as skilled as their orientation was offensive.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), worries that military chaplains will fear expressing their objections to homosexuality. Note this, Wilson: even if they do fear expressing their bigotry, they will not be discharged for expressing their views thanks to the First Amendment; a rather important part of our country’s constitution that didn’t apply to gays in the military until recently.
And maybe it won’t be so bad if they keep their mouths shut — I’ve always been told if you have something ignorant to say, don’t say it.
The repeal of DADT brings about new questions: will past military members who were discharged under the unconstitutional policy be allowed to re-enlist? Despite the horrible bullying and loneliness many gay and lesbian soldiers face, many still wish to serve. Over 11,000 soldiers have been discharged since 1997, and despite the repeal, that number will climb until the new policy is implemented (assuming the Republican majority fails in its attempts to change it).
Discharged soldiers will not be guaranteed a spot back in; rather, they have to jump through the hoops of reapplication once more.
In the end, it comes down to this: people who wanted to fight for their country were discharged for an attribute they were born with. After years waiting for the repeal of the policy that removed them from their posts, they still want to re-enlist to fight for a country whose government is being run by people attempting to remove them from the service yet again — aren’t these are the kind of dedicated individuals that the military needs?