Historic Hearings on DADT Begin Today As Pentagon Pushes Back

Military Plans to Study Implementation on How Gays Can be Integrated up to One Year

by Tanya Domi, for Pam's House Blend

Since last weekend, following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union pledge issued on Jan. 27^th, to “work with Congress and the Military” to reverse DADT this year, the Pentagon has been leaking like a sieve, apparently pushing back against a tide of change long-sought by members of the LGBT and progressive communities and will announce another study of DADT at the first hearings about the law to be held in the U.S. Senate in 17 years since its adoption in 1993.

Today’s hearings will feature Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.  As recently as December 2009, Secretary Gates had said he was looking for a way to make the law “more humane,” although he indicated ending DADT would take several years to accomplish—drawing more recently on analogous comparisons to desegregating the military in 1948 which took five years.

According to the Associated Press the study could take up to a better part of the year, as the military figures out how to accommodate openly gay and lesbian soldiers without “jeopardizing the morale” of straight military members.  This time-line will certainly extend through the mid-term campaign period when the House of Representatives is up for re-election and one-third of the Senate.  There is no doubt many politicians, especially the “Blue Dogs” in the Democratic caucus will be relieved  not to be pressed to vote to repeal DADT before the elections in November.  On the other hand, much of Obama’s liberal base, including a once solid backing by the LGBT community will not only be angry by another study announcement by the Pentagon, but could become much less enthusiastic about the Obama Administration policies in general and vote with their feet in the mid-terms by staying home.

The Pentagon does not need to do another study, as the Rand Corporation has updated its 1993 report (funded by the government) which states if sexual orientation is set aside as a factor for exclusion in the military, the key to implementation of an effective policy must be based on leadership from the top accompanied by clear communication of support.

The country and its attitudes has significantly changed during the past 17 years since adopting DADT, yielding in most respected opinion survey research as much as 69 percent or more support by the general public to reverse the law.  In fact, according to a Center for American Progress report published last year outlining practical steps to repeal the ban, contained a Zogby poll conducted in 2006 of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that reported 73 percent were personally comfortable with gay people in the ranks.

And here is the rub—younger soldiers and commissioned officers do not have issues with gay people in general due to exposure to openly gay populations in school and at universities, as well as the presence of openly gay people  throughout the popular culture of American society.  What we are dealing with at the moment is a significant generation gap and world view between younger troops and the leadership of the Pentagon who have lived within the insular world of the military for perhaps the past 30 years or more, less exposed to the vastly changing culture within a pluralistic America.

As the Obama Administration insists on Congress taking the lead to reverse the law, the President clearly is not comfortable initiating a “stop loss” discharge policy of all alleged gay, lesbian and bi-sexual service members, freezing further discharges for gay sexual orientation and stopping discharges from be carried out, although he has the power and authority to do so.  More than likely, he has concluded he does not have the Joint Chiefs of Staff support for exercising such authority.

In fact, the most likely candidate for being deeply opposed to reversing DADT is Marine Commandant James Conway, who has been reported to have voiced his strong opposition in private in conversations with the other Chiefs. This blog has also reported about efforts being spearheaded by a former Naval chaplain called the Pray in Jesus Name Project:  ‘defending our troops against open homosexual aggression’. For those tracking this issue, do not underestimate the powerful influence of Christian fundamentalist wing-nuts within the military, which has enjoyed a long run of distortion particularly in the Air Force and is present throughout the military. 

The Senate hearings were rescheduled to accommodate President Barack Obama’s request to wait to hold them until after his State of the Union speech.  During Obama’s remarks about reversing DADT, the Joint Chiefs of Staff remained seated and stoic, as a loud cheer went up from the Democratic caucus in the House chamber.

Gates comments on making the DADT policy more humane followed a letter signed by approximately 77 members of House of Representatives who wrote to President Obama in June 2009 urging him to initiate a stop loss policy thereby discontinuing discharge proceedings against gay and lesbian service members.

After pushing for more than a year for hearings on DADT, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), appointed to fill former Senator Hillary Clinton’s seat in January 2009, has aggressively sought support from the LGBT community almost from her first day in office as the junior Senator in New York, quickly backing marriage equality and surprisingly taking on the issue of DADT as a matter of principle and fairness in response to constituents such as Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, who came out on the Rachel Maddow Show last year.  Last night, while appearing on the Rachel Maddow program herself, Gillibrand unveiled a DADT story board on her campaign website featuring the stories of several service members (disclaimer:  I happen to be one of those profiled among several others) who were either discharged because of DADT or left the service in fear of being outted by fellow soldiers. 

Gillibrand, a young Senator and a woman, two distinguishing characteristics that set her apart from more than 75 percent of the Senate, also reflects that gap that exists in our politics today.  At this moment in time, regardless of the next study the military may order up again, history is with Gillibrand and the forces for change.  For it is always the right time to do right, as Martin Luther King Jr. reminds those who of us who are willing to listen.