12 Out in the Mountains May 2000 Time for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to Go BY CHUCK COLBERT Last December, Defense Secretary William Cohen directed the Office of the Inspector General to survey military personnel. The secretary wanted an “assessment,” he said, “in order to evaluate the climate at representative military installa- tions in each service with regard to our [don’t ask, don’t tell] policy on homosexual conduct.” The secretary’s directive came in the wake of last July’s murder of an army private at Fort Campbell, Ky, where fel- low service members of 21- year-old Barry Winchell blud- geoned him to death. About two months ago, Mr. Cohen released the results of thatsurvey, conducted at 38 bases and on 11 ships and sub- marines, from Jan. 24 through Feb. 11, 2000. A These results indicate seri- ous problems in a pervasively hostile, anti-gay climate in all four branches of the armed forces — the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. A whopping 80 percent — an overwhelming majority — of the more than 71,500 service members who were questioned reported hearing anti.-gay remarks during 1999. Morever, 33 percent said they heard such remarks often or very often. For the most part, junior personnel perpetuated the harassment against other junior enlisted service members. Nonetheless, 73 percent said ' that even when senior person- nel witnessed such harassment, they did nothing to stop it. What is even worse is this disturbing finding: 37 percent of those who participated in the survey said that they had either witnessed or seen harassment based on sexual orientation. The Secretary of Defense said he was “surprised at the numbers” of service members who had witnessed some form of anti-gay harassment. “The incidents and use of abusive language are more widespread than I had anticipated,” he said, quoted in the Houston Chronicle. One piece of good news from these disturbing, if not alarming, survey results is that after years of artful dogging and denial, Pentagon officials and the secretary are acknowl- edging that they have a serious long—standing problem on their hands. Anti-gay remarks and harassment abound in the armed forces. Why has it taken the mili- tary top brass so long to believe this reality? For more than six years the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, or SLDN, . has been documenting all sorts of violations to don’t ask, don’t tell. Earlier this month, for instance, SLDN published its sixth annual report, citing 968 incidents of anti-gay harass- ment during the past year, including assaults, death threats, and verbal gay-bash- ing.,That’s up nearly 150 per- cent from the past year’s report of 400 incidents of harassment. The Pentagon survey “sim- ply corroborates what we’ve been tellingvthem forvthe last six years,” said SLDN co-exec- utive d‘irector"Dixon Osborn, quoted in the‘Ne‘wv York Times. “For six years the uniformed leaders have been missing in action when it comes to stop- 0 ping anti-gay harassment,” SLDN co-executive director Michelle Benecke told the Houston Chronicle, explaining why the harassment has become such a serious prob- lem. “Ultimately, the key to stop- ping harassment and other vio- lations of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ violence against gays in the military is leadership and accountability,” she said. “Unless they take immediate steps, someone else is going to get hurt.” Don’t _ask, don’t tell’ was _ .' supposed to make it easier for gays to serve in the armed forces, although gay men, les- bians, and bisexuals must keep private their sexual orientation and are not permitted to engage in homosexual acts. The policy, in fact, has made matters worse, with thousands of gay service members discharged in recent years. . Prior to and during the implementation of “don’t ask, C What kinds of anti-gay behavior did . service members report? Offensive speech: 89 percent Hostile gestures: 35 percent Threats of intimidation: 20 percent Graffiti: 15 percent Physical assault: 9 percent Vandalism of personal property: 8 percent don’t tell,” military officials have asserted that the presence’ of openly gay service members would undermine morale and unit cohesion. Now, with the undeniable results of this survey, Defense Secretary Cohen is in the awk- ward, if not embarrassing posi- tion of having to admit that anti-gay harassment itself is the good order and discipline that is critical to an effective fighting force.” But that’s only half of the story.'At the very heart of anti- gay harassment is the don’t ask, don’t tell policy -itself. “When you have a [policy] that treats an entire class of people as second-class citizens, it sug- gests that you can treat them wha “seriously undermines that way,” Osborn told The Michael Gigante, Ph.D. Psychosynthesis Counseling, Psychotherapy, 6* Consultation (802) 254-8032 53 Myrtle St., Brattleboro, VT 05301 email mgigante@together.net . V 7 Real Estate, Wills &Trusts, General Practice Laurie S. Rosenzweig Attorney at Law _ 18 South Main Street, P.O. Box 1455, Rutland, VT 05701 802-786-2251 e-mail: Sabu234@AOL.com ‘ 802.660.8396 Diane M. Felicio, Ph.D. mediator Trying to work it out and getting nowhere? Conflict can be productive. separation - divorce - employee relations - consumer disputes New York Times. Ultimately, the policy has to change. And what the country needs is the kind of change in policy that “President Harry Truman brought about after World War II, when he fully integrated the military. The Secretary of Defense ought to advocate this change now. Chuck Colbert was a naval officer from 1981-85. He serves on the board of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. V Events Activities Advocacy A Education Networking Buyer's Co-Op Vermont People With AIDS Coalition P.O.‘Box 11 Montpelier, VT 05601-0011 in Vermont 800-698-8792 or 802-229-5754