Jul 18, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

An upcoming congressional hearing on the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, coupled with recent calls from former military leaders to repeal the law, is raising questions about whether the gay ban is nearing its end.

The congressional hearing on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” scheduled for Wednesday, is slated to feature witnesses on both sides of the issue. Witnesses will make their cases before the personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.), chair of the subcommittee, said she decided to hold the hearing because Congress has not looked at military policy toward gays in 15 years.

Alastair Gamble, 29 Arabic linguist, Army Enlisted: October 2000 Discharged: August 2002 (Photo by Marie Marzi/AP)

Alexander Nicholson, 26 Army Enlisted: 2001 Discharged: March 2002 (Photo by Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Alex Blais, 22 Army Enlisted: June 2004 Discharged: March 2007 (Photo courtesy Blais)

“Being in the middle of the two wars, as we have been, I think the issue has come up repeatedly, and it’s important to start that conversation,” she said.

The hearing marks the first time that Congress has held a discussion devoted to gays in the military since lawmakers passed the law barring open service in 1993.

Witnesses that Democrats have selected to speak at the hearing include Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, who is gay and the first U.S. service member wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Alva lost his right leg as a result of his injury.

Alva said he intends to tell lawmakers about his experience in the Marine Corps, how he was injured on the first day of the Iraq war and how current military policy shows that there is “prejudice” in the U.S. government.

“We’re allowing our prejudice to be put into action by allowing this discriminatory policy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to still exist, even in this day and age,” he said.

Alva, who left the military in a medical retirement, said “it just doesn’t make sense” to discharge people who are playing important roles in the military because of their sexual orientation.

Other witnesses chosen by Democrats include retired Capt. Joan Darrah, a former Navy intelligence officer and lesbian, and retired Army Maj. Gen. Vance Coleman, who is straight and a decorated division commander.

Bleu Copas, 32 Arabic linguist, Army Enlisted: post-Sept. 11, 2001 Discharged: January 2006 (Photo by Earl Neikirk/AP)

Heather Sarver, 27 Air Force Enlisted: July 2000 Discharged: October 2003 (Photo courtesy Sarver)

James S. Taylor, 28 Navy Enlisted: December 1999 Discharged: 2003 (Photo courtesy HRC)

Republicans have selected Elaine Donnelly, president for the Center for Military Readiness and opponent of gays serving openly in the military, and retired Army Sgt. Maj. Brian Jones, who formerly served in special operations.

No one who has been discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is slated to testify before Congress.

A number of gay advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign and Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG), are planning to submit written testimony to the committee.

Davis said organizers had to “really bend over backwards” to create what she called “a balanced hearing” with witnesses on both sides of the issue.

The subcommittee asked the Defense Department (DOD) to send a representative to the hearing, but the department declined to send a witness.

“I would have frankly liked to have witnesses from the Department of Defense, but at this particular time we’re not doing that and they’re really not quite willing to come forward,” Davis said.

DOD did not respond to a request seeking comment.

Davis said the upcoming hearing should “break the ice” for involving DOD in future hearings on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Another recent event drawing attention to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a recent discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival in which creators of the law called on the Pentagon and Congress to take another look at the issue.

Gen. Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was implemented, told the audience in Aspen, Colo., that “the country has changed enormously in 15 years” and said it was time to “review the policy.”

In his tenure as chair of ...