Nov 30, 2007  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

An openly gay, retired general challenged the military’s ban on gay service members during Wednesday’s nationally televised presidential debate.

Keith Kerr, 76, asked the eight candidates at the YouTube/CNN Republican Debate to strike down “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and allow gays to serve openly in the military.

“I’m a retired brigadier general with 43 years of service,” he said in a video aired during the debate. “I’m a graduate of the Special Forces Officer course, the Command & General Staff course and the Army War College — and I’m an openly gay man. I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians?”

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, the first candidate asked to respond, said he agreed with Army Gen. Colin Powell, a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“General, thanks for your service, but I believe in what Colin Powell said when he said that having openly homosexual people serving in the ranks would be bad for unit cohesion,” Hunter said.

“And the reason for that, even though people point to the Israelis and point to the Brits and point to other people as having homosexuals serve, is that most Americans, most kids who leave that breakfast table and go out and serve in the military, make that corporate decision with their family, most of them are conservatives, and they have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. And to force those people to work in a small, tight unit with somebody who is openly homosexual, who goes against what they believe to be their principles — and it is their principles — is I think a disservice to them. And I agree with Colin Powell that it would be bad for unit cohesion.”

Wednesday’s debate, which aired live on CNN, was the second to pose questions submitted by members of YouTube, a popular video-sharing web site. A similar debate with the Democratic contenders was held in July.

Another candidate at Wednes-day’s debate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, said the Uniform Code of Military Justice is the “best rule” to govern conduct.

“People have a right to have whatever feelings, whatever attitudes they wish,” he said. “But when their conduct could put at risk the morale or put at risk even the cohesion that Duncan Hunter spoke of, I think that’s what is at issue, and that’s why our policy is what it is.”

The debate’s host, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, asked former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney if he stood by old comments in which Romney said he looked forward to the day when gays and lesbians could serve “openly and honestly in our nation’s military.”

“I look forward to hearing from the military exactly what they believe is the right way to have the right kind of cohesion and support in our troops,” Romney said, “and I’ll listen to what they have to say.”

Cooper then asked Kerr whether the retired general felt he got an answer to his question.

“With all due respect, I did not get an answer from the candidates,” Kerr said to applause. “American men and woman in the military are professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.”

Kerr said “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is “destructive to our military policy,” and noted the Department of Defense discharges an average of two people every day “simply because they happen to be gay.”

As he continued, Kerr was booed by some in the debate’s audience. Cooper thanked Kerr for the comments, then asked Sen. John McCain of Arizona to respond.

McCain noted that he’s conferred with military leaders on the issue, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanders in the field.

“Almost unanimously they tell me that this present policy is working, that we have the best military in history,” he said. “We have the bravest, most professional, best prepared, and that this policy ought to be continued because it’s working.”

Since its implementation in 1993, more than 12,000 service members have been dismissed under the law. Government studies show “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has cost taxpayers an estimated $364 million.

Kerr, who sits on the Service-members Legal Defense Network military advisory council, told the Blade in an interview this week that he posed the question to remind voters that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” hurts the armed forces.

“Kicking gay and lesbian people out of the military degrades our military readiness,” he said. “When you’re kicking out Arabic linguists, that can’t help but degrade military readiness.”

A veteran of the U.S. military’s intelligence division, Kerr left the ...