Aug 20, 2004  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

In an interview in June that went largely unnoticed by gay activists, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told the Army Times newspaper that he was uncertain over how to change the current military policy on gays without disturbing “unit cohesion.”

“There must be a way for those people to serve somehow,” the newspaper quoted Kerry as saying in response to a question about gays in the military. “It seems to me we are losing a lot of talent for our nation in interpreters, in intelligence, in a lot of different things,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

But the paper, which is not connected to the U.S. military, said Kerry indicated he was “not certain” the policy should be changed.

Kerry said he would “sit down with my lead commanders in the military and figure out whether there is a way to put talented people to work without running into a confrontation with unit cohesion and other things that I respect and understand,” according to the Army Times, which also published the Kerry interview in its sister papers, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marines Times.

The paper said it conducted the interview June 24 aboard Kerry’s campaign plane. The interview covered a wide variety of military issues, including military pay, veterans’ benefits and troop levels in Iraq.

Kerry’s presidential campaign has highlighted his record as a decorated Navy combat veteran in the Vietnam War. Although most of the crew and fellow officers who served with Kerry in Vietnam have praised him for saving the life of a fellow sailor, saying he demonstrated skilled leadership under enemy fire, others who claim to have served with him, and who oppose his race for president, have questioned the accuracy of reports of his heroism.

With that as a backdrop, Kerry’s campaign has not responded to an inquiry from the Blade seeking to clarify his position on gays in the military. Jin Chon, the Kerry campaign spokesperson designated to address questions by the gay media, did not return repeated calls by press time.

Kerry was one of just 12 senators to vote against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation in 1993. Shortly before the Senate vote, he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee against the legislation, saying he favored working out an arrangement where gay Americans could serve openly.

Since that time — including during the Democratic primary campaign — he has told gay rights groups that he supports allowing gay men and lesbians to serve and that he dislikes the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Similar reservations about gays four years ago
Kerry’s comments to the Army Times in June were not the first time he has expressed reservations about changing the policy. In a January 2000 interview with the Boston Globe, Kerry criticized then Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley for calling for a complete, across-the-board lifting of the ban on gays.

“I think it’s a bad idea and I disagree with the positions of both people,” he told the Globe, referring to Gore and Bradley’s positions on lifting the ban.

While saying he believed there was a place for gay Americans to serve in the military, Kerry told the Globe there were limited situations where a military commander should have the discretion to remove a gay service member or a service member representing another minority group.

“I’m not going to sit there and tell you that if you had six cracker-jack people who had all kinds of experience and one person [came out as gay] and the unit went crazy — that I’m going to junk all five of them,” the Globe quoted Kerry as saying. “I’d be a liar if I told you that. It’s just not practical.”

“If you put three people in a small boat and send them up the river at night and they hate each other, somebody might be kind of nervous as to where a gun might be pointed,” Kerry told the Globe.

At the time the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was enacted in 1993, military leaders said they opposed allowing gays to serve openly because doing so would destroy unit cohesion. They described unit cohesion as the personal bonding between service members assigned to work together in various military units, which they said was essential for achieving a qualified fighting force.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington, D.C. group that advocates on behalf of gay service members, has disputed this assumption.

SLDN officials have cited statements by experts who believe that support by military leaders for integrating gays into the armed services would smoothe ...