Ellison, McCollum, Oberstar Co-sponsor Repeal of Military Discrimination

Reps. Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and James Oberstar are co-sponsors of bill introduced by Marty Meehan, D-Mass., yesterday to repeal the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. The bill, called the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, has 109 co-sponsors, including three Republicans.

According to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the U.S. military policy of discriminating against openly gay and lesbian service members has resulted in the  discharge of between 700 and 1,200 military personnel each year. Since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was enacted in 1994, 11,000 troops have been discharged, of which 7 percent were medical personnel, about 800 were “mission critical” and 54 were Arab language specialists. The policy cost the U.S. government $190 million from 1994 through 2003.

Currently, the policy says: “Sexual orientation will not be a bar to service unless manifested by homosexual conduct. The military will discharge members who engage in homosexual conduct.”

On the chance for passage of the bill to repeal the policy, Meehan told CNN, “The momentum is clear. It is time to end this outdated and discriminatory policy.” But he cautioned that it could still be tough: “It will be an uphill climb, but I think the November elections can only mean good things.”

Oberstar and McCollum were co-sponsors of Meehan’s 2005 introduction of the same bill. Ellison promised support for a DADT repeal during the 2006 election.

The pentagon’s justification for its policy rests in their assumption that anti-gay feeling runs so rampant in the military, that to openly have homosexual service members would undermine unit cohesion and performance. Thus, their problem is not with gay service members, but with heterosexual service members who they assume will have problems with them. Well, these same assumptions were made about African Americans when Truman integrated the Armed Services more than fifty years ago, and this assumption has proven, over time, flagrantly untrue. I believe the same result will occur when gays are allowed to openly serve.