Congresman Moran's News Commentary

The military has historically been a force for integration in our country. It served to help African Americans and women come closer to being accepted as equals in society. Through benefits such as the GI bill, doors previously closed to these individuals were opened for the first time.

But there has been and continues to be one particular minority who has yet to benefit openly from the military’s tradition of integration. These men and women have fought, died and served with distinction since the country was founded. They serve at all levels of the armed forces, from the ranks of the enlisted to generals, but are forced to do so without revealing an integral part of who they are. That is, their sexual orientation.

After being elected in 1992, President Clinton tackled head on the issue of the military’s ban on gay and lesbian service members head on. Unfortunately, the response from the public and Congress was swift and negative. Being the ever skillful tactician, the President proposed what at the time, was considered a compromise. Under Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, gay and lesbian servicemen and women could no longer be asked whether they were gay. At the same time, they could tell no one that they were gay. The official harassment of having their personal lives investigated without documented justification would end, but they would be discharged if found to have ever spoken about their sexual preference.

In the 11 years since DADT was implemented, the military has discharged over 10,000 service members. A General Accounting Office (GAO) report has pegged this cost to the military and American taxpayer at over $191 million. This is money that could have been much better spent up-armoring humvees or providing body armor to our troops in the field. Just to put it into perspective, $191 million could purchase a dozen Blackhawk helicopters or more than 800 sidewinder missiles.

Besides the cost, we have also discharged some 800 military specialists with critical skills. These include 322 linguists, 54 of whom focused on Arabic, a language vital to the war on terror. It is shameful that in order to preserve some outdated conservative social agenda, we are weakening our military intelligence and leaving the homeland more vulnerable to attack. This week, I was proud to be an original cosponsor of legislation introduced by Representative Meehan to roll back DADT. Known as the

“Military Readiness and Enhancement Act” this legislation would allow gay and lesbian service members to serve openly and with dignity, under the same rules of conduct every other service member must follow.

When 13 of our fellow NATO members, including our steadfast allies in the war on terror UK, Australia and Israel, allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, the U.S. has no excuse for continuing this discriminatory and wasteful policy. Our troops serve side by side with these forces in operations across the globe. In that time not a single conflict or troop cohesion issue has been raised stemming from open service. In Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, over 60% of the troops on the ground were from open service militaries.

The time has come to overturn this inane policy and put America’s defense first. With troop retainment at dangerously low levels due to the war in Iraq, we need every good soldier we can get.