Accelerate repeal of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’

Nearly 90 days ago, President Obama signed legislation to enable the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, a discriminatory law that had been rejected by 75% of the American people and substantial majorities of both Houses of Congress. At that time, the President said, “I have spoken to every one of the service chiefs and they are all committed to implementing this change swiftly and efficiently. We are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done.”

The repeal legislation established only one requirement before the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could certify that the armed services were ready for repeal — that the Pentagon had prepared the necessary policies and regulations. Ninety days later, this relatively straightforward task has not been completed.

An additional problem is that the Pentagon has imposed new and unnecessary hurdles that must be cleared before certification and the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”. Pentagon leaders have developed plans to inform the force about the change in policy and have said that the “bulk” of this training should be completed before certification. That might not sound unreasonable, but the Army says it expects to reach the whole force by mid August. 

Assuming this schedule holds and there are no delays, this would mean that the “bulk” of the training would not be complete until late summer. If certification is in August, repeal will not be effective until October, a full ten months after the President signed the repeal legislation. Ten months to bring about repeal could be seen by some, to quote Secretary of Defense Gates, as a “dawdle or slow roll.”

Some of the services’ training materials are publicly available. They show that this training is not rocket science. It is sound and simple and builds upon what service members have long been taught: service members “are expected to conduct themselves professionally at all times,” “sexual misconduct of any kind is inconsistent with our values and will be dealt with swiftly and severely” and the services “will not tolerate harassment or violence against any [service member] for any reason.” 

Surely it should not take nearly a year to transmit these messages to the force. This task should be accelerated and repeal accomplished before Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen, whose leadership has been so important, leave their posts later this year. 

Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not by itself sufficient to eliminate the traces of the discriminatory policy. As the President said, this “will require the implementation of anti-harassment policies and protocols for dealing with abusive or discriminatory behavior as we transition our armed forces away from a policy of discrimination.” 

We have called upon the President to act on these words and to issue an executive order prohibiting discrimination in the armed forces based on sexual orientation and gender identity to be effective on the date of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

 If certification is made by the end of April and the Executive Order issued, then service members marching in July 4th parades can do so knowing that they will not be fired from their jobs for being who they are and that the institution of which they are a part does not discriminate. That will be a special reason to celebrate Independence Day 2011.

Aubrey Sarvis is the Army Veteran & Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.