Restoring Honor, Years After DADT

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced the completion of their proactive review of hundreds of records for military members discharged under the now-repealed “Don’t Ash, Don’t Tell” (DADT) because of their sexual orientation.

“After a year of exceptional work, the Military Department Review Boards directed relief in 96.8 percent of the 851 cases that they proactively reviewed,” said DoD Sec. Lloyd J. Austin III, saying 96 percent of the 13,500 discharged under DADT have had their status upgraded to fully honorable.

DADT was signed into law by President Clinton in 1993, and went into effect in 1994. It remained in effect until 2011, one year after President Barack Obama signed its repeal into law. During that time about 2,000 of the 13,500 discharged under DADT received a status of less than fully honorable, disqualifying them from certain jobs, as well many benefits and programs offered to those with honorable discharges through the Dept. of Veterans Affairs.

In the 13 years since its repeal, most of those 2,000 discharged service members applied for, and in most cases received, upgrades to their discharges. The recent review focused on the 851 cases where the discharged service members had not applied for a discharge upgrade, likely having no idea they were eligible to do so.

No, Bill Clinton Wasn’t The Villain

President Clinton’s signing of DADT has been used by some to criticize him — or, by extension, former Sec. of State and Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton — as being insufficiently progressive on issues of LGBTQ+ equality. The truth, however, is not that simple.

As candidate for President in 1992, Clinton campaigned on a platform including a repeal of the ban on military service, though once elected he faced opposition from Republicans and Democrats alike in the U.S. Congress.

So, he compromised. Under DADT, LGB service members were allowed to serve, so long as they did not disclose or discuss their sexual orientation or any non-heterosexual relationships. If violated, they were often discharged — sometimes dishonorably — for “homosexual conduct.”

Prior to DADT, homosexuals had been regularly discharged from military service — sometimes subject to jailing and court-martial — and had been explicitly banned since the 1940s.

“Homosexual personnel, irrespective of sex, should not be permitted to serve in any branch of the Armed Services in any capacity, and prompt separation of known homosexuals from the Armed Forces is mandatory,” the 1949 DoD policy reads.

In the 1950s, homosexuals were categorized as “aggressive,” “active but non-aggressive,” or “professing or exhibiting homosexual tendencies without committing [sodomy].” Anybody found to have engaged in homosexual conduct could only avoid a court-martial by accepting a dishonorable discharge (or, for officers, by resigning). Over the decades that followed, discrepancies between policies across military branches resulted in a number of lawsuits, until 1980 when Defense Sec. W. Graham Claytor Jr. proposed — and in 1981 issued — a revised policy on homosexuals in the military.

Though some language was removed calling homosexuals physically or mentally unfit for military service, the opposition to LGB participation in active duty remained, with the policy’s preamble beginning with “Homosexuality is incompatible with military service,” and requiring their discharge from service.

According to a 1991 GAO report, Between 1980 and 1990 approximately 17,000 service members were discharged under the category of “homosexuality.” The report adds that “no determination that their behavior had adversely affected the ability of the military services to perform their missions was required.” The report estimated, at the time, that five to ten percent of the military was homosexual.

The report found that the Navy was particularly harsh in enforcing the ban on homosexuality, accounting for 51 percent of the 17,000 discharges — most of which were issued against enlisted white men — despite representing just 27 percent of the active military at the time. In addition, 22 percent of Naval discharges for homosexuality were women, despite making up just 11 percent of the Navy.

The report estimated the cost to recruit and replace each of the LGB service members discharged under DADT to be between $28,226 per troop and $120,772 per general: about $500 million dollars in total. With another 13,500 discharged under DADT, the U.S. military has officially discharged over 35,000 LGB service members since 1980. Adjusting for inflation, and considering the first homosexual discharge from the military was ordered by General George Washington in 1778, our country has easily spent over one billion dollars replacing those removed for homosexuality.

The Bottom Line

For the 35,000 LGB service members removed for their sexual orientation, justice can never be fully achieved — but, for the 13,500 discharged under DADT, at least honor has been somewhat restored. Hopefully a similar review will be conducted of the records for the 17,000 LGB service members discharged before DADT. Only time will tell.

To those who serve, regardless of whom or how you love or identify: thank you for your service.