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New Study Casts Further Doubt on Military’s Gay Troops Banby Kilian MelloyTuesday Nov 10, 2009 The United States military continues to discharge gay and lesbian troops under the provisions of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," but the ban is increasingly subject to skepticism. The rationale for its implementation has been cast into doubt by the results of a new study.
A recently completed RAND study shows that straight soldiers do not suffer erosion in morale or discipline when they know they are serving alongside gay people. The results contradict stated concerns among the ban’s proponents that serving with openly gay fellow soldiers would damage the morale and combat readiness of heterosexual troops.
A Nov. 10 Boston Globe article reported that the new report, based on responses from servicemembers who had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, showed that unit cohesiveness was not destroyed by the presence of openly gay troops. To the contrary, the surveys indicated that gays and lesbians serving openly alongside straight peers had no perceptible impact at all.
"Service members said the most important factors for unit cohesion and readiness were the quality of their officers, training, and equipment,’’ RAND Corporation military sociologist Laura Miller said. "Serving with another service member who was gay or lesbian was not a significant factor that affected unit cohesion or readiness to fight."
The RAND Corporation in cooperation with the University of Florida undertook the study.
In recent months, the issue of gay and lesbian troops being discharged despite commendations, sterling service records, and specialized, mission critical skills has become more prevalent in the media, as more gay and lesbian troops have stepped forward to challenge the ban. Earlier this year, West Point graduate and Arab linguist Lt. Dan Choi made headlines when he spoke up against the ban and outed himself as gay on The Rachel Maddow Show; despite Choi’s appeals not to be discharged, he was separated from the Army under the provisions of the anti-gay ban.
Text at Choi’s Web site explains the former Army officer’s decision to break his silence even though he faced expulsion from the service. "At West Point, Lt. Choi recited the Cadet Prayer every Sunday. It taught him to ’choose the harder right over the easier wrong’ and to ’never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.’ The Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort. Following the Honor Code isn’t always easy, but honor and integrity are 24-hour values. That is why Lt. Choi refused to lie about his identity."
Another high profile case is that of Sgt. Darren Manzella, who served two tours of duty in Iraq--the second deployment coming after he had told his supervisor that he was gay, been investigated, and then suffered no punitive action.
A Nov. 10 CNN.com article noted that Manzella received three promotions during his six-year Army career. However, Manzella told CNN, "After returning from my first deployment in Iraq, after seeing death and violence, losing friends and comrades, it really made me look over my life." Manzella started seeing a man between his deployments, the article said, and others noticed: harassing phone calls and email messages started coming his way.
"They told me, ’You are stupid, the Army is going to kick you out, but before they do, they are going to take your rank away and all your money away,’" Manzella recounted. "I didn’t know if the military police would be coming through the door to take me away because someone had reported me. This was some of the paranoia I was living with every day."
Finally, Manzella approached his supervisor, who soothed him--and then turned him in, triggering an investigation. "Ironically, it pulled the unit together," Manzella told CNN. "A lot of them started to invite me out. My co-worker was getting married; she told me that my boyfriend and I were invited to the wedding. It made me feel like I was more a part of the family."
The investigation ended and Manzella remained in the service. He was sent back to Iraq in 2006; the second deployment lasted for a year and three months, during which time he felt no need to be closeted. "I could have pictures of my boyfriend out, I could talk freely on the phone without having to worry about someone overhearing me and reporting me," Manzella recounted.
When a group for gay soldiers, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, asked Manzella if he would be willing to put his own face to the issue of gay troops in active service for a story on national television, Manzella deliberated about it--and then agreed.
The better part of a year elapsed after the news segment featuring Manzella as a gay soldier serving combat area duty aired--then, in March of 2008, Manzella was informed that he would be discharged under the ban on openly gay troops." Up until that point, I hadn’t heard anything," said Manzella. "I had lived openly for nearly two years. I thought that was a huge step forward, that finally people were being recognized on their performance and how well they served their country and their comrades and peers."
Manzella was discharged--honorably--in June of 2008, one of more than 13,000 men and women to be separated from the service under the provisions of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. CNN reported that around 800 of those discharges involved troops who had mission critical skills such translation capabilities and engineering training.
"The Army enforces the homosexual conduct policy because it is the law," Army spokesperson Lt. Christopher Garver told CNN. "The policy is not a military policy, and the Army has a policy because it is bound by current statute. If the law were potentially to change, the Army would change to enforce whatever the law may be."
Indeed, Congress enacted the policy in 1993 following an attempt by then-President Bill Clinton to integrate the U.S. military fully. Claims that openly gay troops would derail unit cohesion and erode morale were the chief arguments behind the ban’s implementation. Since that time, a number of retired high-ranking officers from different branches of the military have come out as gay, or come out against the ban, or both. Even some of the ban’s initial supporters have now come to the conclusion that the issue needs to be re-evaluated.
Critics of the ban note that America’s all-volunteer fighting forces are spread thinly as military actions continue in Afghanistan and Iraq. Lifting the ban, they say, could replenish America’s military forces.
But opponents argue that allowing openly gay and lesbian troops to serve would discourage young heterosexuals and their parents from considering military service.
The new report reflects a shift in American attitudes toward gay troops, with a press release about the report stating that, "40 percent of the military members surveyed expressed support for the [current] policy, while 28 percent opposed it and 33 percent were neutral--less support than seen in previous surveys." The release added, "About 20 percent of those polled said they were aware of a gay or lesbian member in their unit, and about half of those said their presence was well known. In addition, three-quarters of those surveyed said they felt comfortable or very comfortable in the presence of gays or lesbians."
The new report was published in the periodical Armed Forces and Society.
President Obama spoke out against the ban as a candidate last year. He also denounced the so-called "Defense of Marriage" Act, a 1996 law that excludes gay and lesbian families from any federal level recognition. To date, however, President Obama has declined to pursue the repeal of either statute with vigor.
Meantime, Iraq veteran and Democratic Congressman of Pennsylvania Patrick Murphy has sponsored a bill in the House that would repeal the ban.
In comments to the media, Murphy denounced Don’t Ask Don’t Tell as "insulting" to the professionals that make up America’s fighting forces. ""We have the finest military in the world," Murphy said. "And what the military has done for the American people over many generations is form a more perfect union, because over time it has been the perfect union, because it has been a place where we have gotten rid of racial discrimination far before we did it in our own country. And if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell were repealed and replaced with a non-discriminatory policy based on sexual orientation, I think our military and nation would be the better for it."
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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