More than 1,000 retired military
officers are urging President Obama to maintain the military's ban on
open gay service.
Obama has said he favors repeal of the
so-called “don't ask, don't tell” law that prescribes discharge
for gay and lesbian service members who do not remain silent about
their sexuality or celibate.
A pledge to end the ban can be found at
the administration's official website (WhiteHouse.org): “President
Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John
Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the
'don't ask, don't tell' policy.”
And the Obama administration issued a
statement last month that it was discussing repeal of the gay ban
with top Pentagon brass. White House Spokesman Tommy Vietor said the
president has “begun consulting with Secretary Gates and Chairman
Mullen so that this change is done in a sensible way that strengthens
our armed forces and national security.”
The retired officers came out against
the law in a statement released Tuesday. They argued that repeal
“would undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadership at all
levels, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lend
their sons and daughters to military service, and eventually break
the All-Volunteer force.”
“We believe firmly that this law,
which Congress passed to protect good order, discipline, and morale
in the unique environment of the armed forces, deserves continued
support,” the retired officers wrote.
“We just see a great many downsides
to attempting to enforce on the military something I don't know is
widely accepted in American society,” General Carl E. Mundy, Jr., a
former commander of the Marine Corps and a signatory to the
statement, told The Associated Press.
Despite Obama's public endorsement of
repeal, his Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, told Chris Wallace on
Fox News Sunday that there has been little progress on the
issue.
Wallace asked Gates why there is money
in the 2010 budget to enforce “don't ask, don't tell.”
Gates answered that it “continues to
be the law.”
“We will follow that law, whatever it
is,” Gates said. “That dialog though has really not progressed
very far at this point in the administration. I think the president
and I feel like we've got a lot on our plates right now and let's
push that one down the road a little bit.”
Groups opposing the gay ban criticized
the new effort.
“The signers of this petition are
mired in the fears and politics of the past,” Aubrey Sarvis,
executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said
in a statement. “More than 75 percent of the American public,
including most younger service members as well as many active duty
flag officers, realize the question is not if 'don't ask, don't tell'
is repealed, but when and how.”
“The most important factor in lifting
a gay ban is a clear signal from senior leadership,” said Dr.
Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow at the Palm Center and
author of Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military
and Weakens America. “Everyone knows it's just a matter of
time before the gay ban falls, so for officers to come out and say
'gays are a threat to the military' could cause the very problems
that they ostensibly fear.”
The military discharged eleven gay
soldiers in January. The figure was released by Virginia Rep. Jim
Moran's office. Moran, a long-time opponent of the military gay ban
and a member of the Military Appropriations subcommittee, is a
co-sponsor of California Rep. Ellen Tauscher's Military Readiness
Enhancement Act, a bill currently in Congress that would repeal the
ban.