Some Parts of
Military Still Hostile to Gays
By REUTERS, from the
NYTimes on the Web, August 6, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Gays in the U.S.
military face regular hostility on some bases and ships where commanders fail to
prohibit harassment more than a decade after the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law was
enacted, although seeds of greater tolerance may be taking root, advocates and
witnesses report.
While some leaders have created environments where harassment is not tolerated,
others have not and the evidence, according to witnesses, is both verbal and
visual.
On the Navy's USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, for example, anti-gay
statements and jokes are on display and have been incorporated into a video
about the F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft, recently shown to reporters on the
carrier.
Pilots on the Roosevelt sported T-shirts, also shown to reporters including this
Reuters correspondent, that said, "I'm a Tomcat guy and you're a homo."
The commander of the fighter squadron, in fact, wore the shirt.
"The line between that and threats and violence can be quite thin," said Aaron
Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the
Military at the University of California-Santa Barbara.
Openly gay people are prohibited from serving in the U.S. military under a 1993
law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The military can't ask if a service
member is gay, but those who say they are gay are discharged.
The U.S. military argues that banning gays from the military is critical to
maintaining a unit's "cohesion," the trust among service members crucial to
combat effectiveness.
Harassment of gays, however, is prohibited. The Pentagon, in a 2000 memo to the
armed services and commanders, said "mistreatment, harassment and inappropriate
comments or gestures" based on sexual orientation were not acceptable.
That followed a report from the Defense Department's inspector general that
found 80 percent of service members surveyed had heard anti-gay comments and 37
percent had witnessed harassment against people thought to be homosexual.
CHANGING ENVIRONMENT?
The anti-gay displays aboard the Roosevelt should be seen as harassment, said
Steve Ralls, communications director for the Service members Legal Defense
Network, a group working to see the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law repealed.
"That type of behavior has real consequences," Ralls said, pointing to the
anti-gay graffiti allowed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky before the 1999 murder of
Pfc. Barry Winchell, thought to be a gay soldier.
In response to questions from Reuters, Navy Rear Admiral Denby Starling,
commander of the Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, said the anti-gay
messages witnessed on the Roosevelt were "contrary to Navy policy and core
values and have no place within Naval Aviation or the Navy."
"Immediately upon notification of your observations, Naval Aviation leadership
engaged to take corrective action," he said in an e-mail. "Steps have been
taken to ensure that the offending messages have been removed. Squadron
and air wing leadership have been counseled regarding the inappropriate tone set
by such messages and poor judgment demonstrated in allowing their display."
Starling said other steps would be taken and the incident would be used to
reinforce policy across the force.
The University of California's Belkin said his research shows attitudes against
allowing openly gay people to serve may be changing, especially among younger
service members.
But he said pressure to conform in an organization that places heavy value on
tradition could inhibit change, noting servicemen may be "socialized to act
anti-gay."
The military has dismissed more than 11,000 people for Don't Ask, Don't Tell
violations, Ralls said. According to the Pentagon's latest data, 726
people were dismissed in fiscal 2005, representing 0.3 percent of all discharges
that year.
Derek Sparks was discharged in 2002 after 14 years in the Navy when he admitted
he was gay amid an investigation into alleged homosexual activity. He
denied committing the acts.
The former sailor, part of a group of plaintiffs in a suit against the Defense
Department, said anti-gay remarks were tolerated in the Navy throughout his
career. He hid his homosexuality because he wanted to serve, he said.
"I loved serving and I loved being in the military so much that it was a
sacrifice I was willing to make," Sparks said.
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