Researchers: Pentagon Using Myth, Not Fact in ‘Don’t Ask’ Appeal

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips overturned "don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT), the 1993 law prohibiting open military service by gays and lesbians. In her ruling, she said the law violates servicemembers’ constitutional rights to equal protection and due process, among others.

In the time since, LGBTQ activists, gay servicemembers, and the U.S. government have jockeyed for attention in both the court of law and public opinion as the Department of Justice tried to decide whether to appeal the Phillips’ injunction. The Department of Justice has announced it will, in fact, appeal Phillips’ injunction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals if she declines their request to continue enforcing the ban. Today she is expected to deny the Pentagon's request to continue enforcing DADT until the ruling can be appealed.

Researchers at the Palm Center, an LGBTQ think tank at the University of California-Santa Barbara, say the Justice Department and the Pentagon are using age-old myths in their filings to the court and statements to media. In a release yesterday, researchers outlined their thoughts on several of those alleged myths.

First they say Pentagon officials believe that “gays will suddenly out themselves” entailing “a shift in military culture from an environment in which nobody knows who is a gay, to a new climate in which suddenly the troops are surrounded by peers who advertise their sexual orientation.”

The Palm Center says it isn’t true, and that many servicemembers are already aware of gay or lesbian people serving next to them in their units.

“In fact, polls by Military Times, Vote Vets and Zogby show that between 57 to 67 percent of service members know or suspect that someone is gay or lesbian in their unit,” the release reads. “The Zogby data reveals that even in the Marine Corps, 45 percent of Marines know or suspect someone who is gay or lesbian in their unit. The bottom line is that most straight troops already knew who was gay prior to the suspension of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ and the numbers will not change significantly when "don’t ask, don’t tell" is permanently repealed.”

They added, “The silence we heard last week is the same silence we will hear when the ban is permanently repealed.”

Palm Center also says claim Pentagon officials erroneously believe that there are financial costs in stopping DADT but not in keeping it. Researchers say it costs $34,000 for the cost of each person discharged under DADT. They also say the Pentagon believes repeal will increase anti-gay violence. Researchers point out, however, that there was anti-gay violence in the armed forces prior to last week’s injunction and that it will likely continue.

They say, “If anything, research suggests that the repeal of the ban will diminish the rate of violence because victims will be better able to report trouble without fearing the loss of their careers, and would-be perpetrators will know this.”

The Palm Center has also launched a website to track each of the consequences of DADT repeal about which they say Defense Secretary Robert Gates has expressed concern. The site contains a tracker of how many hours, minutes and seconds have passed since the injunction, and a tally of any unit cohesion problems, disciplinary problems, resignations or privacy problems caused by DADT’s suspension. So far, they say they’ve heard of no such incidents.

Phillips’ injunction on DADT has, however, caused some confusion. One day after the injunction was filed, five-year Navy veteran Omar Lopez, who was discharged under DADT, attempted to reenlist. His attempt, documented by The New York Times, was denied as recruiters at the station said they had no knowledge of the injunction.

After Lopez’ reenlistment attempt, an internal memo from Richard C. Harding, Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force, was released to media. In it, Harding said the “Department of Defense will abide by [the injunction’s] terms” and said instructed members of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps to “inform your commanders of this injunction and its terms.”

Despite the ban’s suspension, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, one of the nation’s leading DADT repeal advocates and a legal defense group for discharged vets, has warned currently serving gay and lesbian Americans to proceed with caution. In several releases last week, they reminded servicemembers that the policy and its enforcement could be changed at any time, placing openly gay members of the Armed Services at risk.

“The headlines are everywhere on the federal court order placing an immediate stop on all investigations and discharges under "don’t ask, don’t tell," a letter from SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis reads. “But DADT remains a risk, and service members should not come out. This interim period is dangerous. We need to put the safety and well being of gay service members first, and become realistic. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members continue to remain vulnerable under DADT.”

UPDATE: As expected, Judge Phillips denied the Pentagon's request to continue enforcing "don't ask, don't tell."

Matt Comer is a staff writer for Campus Progress.

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