Jul 30, 2004  |  By: JOE CREA  | COMMENTS     

A new report shows the military is losing critical personnel because of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, with 6,200 gay and lesbian service members being discharged since 1998.

Meanwhile, a senior Defense Department official has told members of Congress that implementing a policy aimed at curtailing anti-gay harassment is “not necessary.”

The plan, “13-Point Anti-Harassment Action Plan” (AHAP), was enacted in 2000. In a letter dated July 23, 2003, 22 members of Congress asserted that based on a number of findings, “The Services are not in full compliance” with AHAP.

“Harassment in the Armed Forces, including anti-gay harassment, is unacceptable,” the congressional members wrote. “Our interests lie with all of our service men and women and with the Armed Forces. The 13-Point Anti-Harassment Action Plan will serve to better our forces by ensuring a harassment-free climate that fosters unit cohesion and good order and discipline.”

But Under Secretary of Defense David Chu, in a letter dated June 24, 2004 and obtained by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, wrote that the “over-arching directive recommended by the plan is not necessary.”

Chu stated that the “Service policies and programs are sufficient to address this important issue. All of the Services have implemented homosexual conduct policy and anti-harassment training programs within their institutional training programs.”

Defense Department officials did not respond to Blade calls for comment.

Chu’s letter came nearly a year after the 22 Democratic members of Congress requested information on the matter. Steve Ralls, communications director for SLDN, a group that works to combat anti-gay discrimination in the military, said that Chu does not address the “very specific prongs of the harassment policy that was adopted.

“[The military] have not even come close to accomplishing this,” Ralls said. “Chu is asserting that the policies in place are sufficient. But look at the harassment numbers and complaints we get.”

Ralls said that during 2002, SLDN logged 802 reports of anti-gay harassment from service members. While the group urges service members to report cases of harassment, many of the avenues open to heterosexual service members to report abuse are not available to gay men and lesbians.

“If you are an African-American and you think you’ve been the subject of racial discrimination, you can report that to the Equal Opportunity Office,” Ralls said. “Gays and lesbians cannot do this. They must report through the chain of command and often the chain of command is responsible for the harassment.”

Ralls noted that in 1999 the Department of Defense Inspector General surveyed 72,000 troops in an attempt to assess anti-gay sentiment in the military. Eighty percent of respondents said they heard anti-gay remarks during the past year, 37 percent had witnessed or experienced anti-gay harassment and 9 percent reported being either the victims or witnesses to anti-gay physical assaults.

AHAP was adopted after Pfc. Barry Winchell was killed in July 1999 at Fort Campbell, Ky., by two soldiers who thought he was gay.

DADT claims 6,200 troops since ‘98
A recent report released by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), of the University of California at Santa Barbara, notes that the military is losing critical military specialists because of DADT. Since 1998, the military has discharged 6,200 troops under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow at CSSMM, compiled the information from the Defense Manpower Data center through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been in effect since 1993. The newly released data detailing the areas of expertise for those discharged under the policy extend back only to 1998.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon recalled more than 5,600 Army troops for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan who had already completed their active duty requirements. Critics of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” have speculated that those troops would not have been needed if thousands of gay service members had not been kicked out.

The study also found that the military has discharged 88 foreign language specialists between 1998-2003. Seventy-three service members from the Presidio of Monterey, home of the Defense Language Institute along with 15 specialists in language interrogation were dismissed. The CSSMM has filed another Freedom of Information Act to determine the specific languages studied by the former service members.

According to the study, gay and lesbian service members were discharged from 241 different American military bases and posts located throughout the world.

Joe Crea can be reached at jcrea@washblade.com.