“DON’TASK DON’T TELL”
THE UNFINISHED STORY by william e kelly
Many believe the battle is over, and LGBT people won the
fight for the right to serve equally alongside all servicemem- bers in the U.S. military. But the story is unfinished. After years of lobbying by the Servicemembers Legal De-
fense Network (SLDN) and a host of allied organizations, con- gressional leaders last year secured passage of a stand-alone bill repealing the 1993 law called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) and President Obama signed the repeal law in December 2010. In July this year, he, along with the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, certified that all of the services were ready to implement the new policies and regulations “consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces.” Their signatures started a 60-day clock ticking until “full implementation” goes into effect on Tuesday, Sep- tember 20 of this year. So what’s left? According to retired Colonel Stewart Born-
hoft, “plenty!” A highly-decorated West Pointer, he served for more than 26 years on active duty, commanded soldiers in combat during two tours in Vietnam, taught at the U.S. Military Academy, is former Chair of the Military Advisory Council of SLDN and a member of Knights Out, the gay/straight alliance of West Pointers.
Colonel, it seems like gays can now serve in the military. Doesn’t that mean we achieved our goals? Far from it. A lot of progress has been made, especially in the last year, but the goal
has never been just to serve in the military. Gays have served in the military since the Revolutionary War and in every war and conflict since. Reliable estimates report 66,000 LGB servicemembers serve in our armed forces today. The question isn’t whether they should, but under what conditions. So what conditions have changed? DADT forced people to lie. Deceptive statements and half-truths are not truth! Courts require that we tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,”
SEPTEMBER 2011 | RAGE monthly 53
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