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| Among the U.S. Army Reserves and National Guard service members, like these, serving in Iraq are some who are openly gay because of a little known policy that requires they be deployed into a war zone even if they are discovered to be gay before leaving the United States. (Photo by AP) |
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Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities
in the Military
University of California, Santa Barbara
805-893-5664
www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu
Number of discharges under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy
The number of military discharges of service members who identify as gay has increased steadily since the implementation of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy except for during two periods when U.S. military forces were deployed in war zones. In 1999, the United States increased its presence in the Bosnia-Kosovo conflict in the Balkans. In 2002 the U.S. sent troops to Afghanistan and in 2003 to Iraq, where they are still deployed today.
- 1994: 617
- 1995: 772
- 1996: 870
- 1997: 1,007
- 1998: 1,163
- 1999: 1,046
- 2000: 1,241
- 2001: 1,273
- 2002: 906
- 2003: 787
- 2004: 653
Source: Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
continued...
enter AD [active duty] with the unit."
FORSCOM spokesperson Waldron said an alert notification means that the unit in which a Reserve or National Guard soldier is assigned has been converted into active duty status.
According to the handbook, if a discharge has been requested and approved for a service member accused of homosexual conduct "prior to the unit's receipt of alert notification, the member will be discharged prior to the unit's effective date" of active duty. If a gay-related discharge was requested, "but not yet approved," at the time of an alert notification, the handbook says, the service member's entry into active duty will be delayed "pending final determination."
Waldron said that in the latter category, it would be up to a unit commander to determine whether a service member who claimed he or she was gay or who had been accused of being gay and in violation of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy should be discharged or placed on active duty and to join the unit about to be deployed.
Belkin said the confirmation by FORSCOM spokesperson Waldron further confirms that gay service members are retained during wartime and adds to what he says is a growing momentum calling on Congress to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
A repeal bill pending in the House of Representatives currently is expected to line up more than 100 co-sponsors by the end of this year, supporters have said.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington, D.C. based organization that assists members of the military that face expulsion under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, initially questioned whether the FORSCOM regulation had ever been implemented.
"We have assisted many active duty soldiers who have been removed from the war zone because of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy," said Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for SLDN.
"The fact is that gay discharges continue, including discharges of active duty service members in Iraq," said Ralls, a development, he said, that has led SLDN to believe no such policy of retaining gay service members existed.
But upon learning about Waldron's confirmation of the policy, Ralls said SLDN reviewed its own records of the group's assistance to specific service members accused of violating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
"Our attorneys did a review of our recent cases and they did not come up with any cases where a Reservist or Guard member was discharged for coming out [as gay]," Ralls said. "They had cases where a Reservist and National Guardsman who came out was deployed," he said.
"What this document shows is that someone within the armed forces who wrote it felt that gays could serve during wartime without disrupting morale and unit cohesion," Ralls said, in discussing the FORSCOM regulation. "That is a very significant development."
Bridget Wilson, a San Diego, Calif
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