A Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Begins with an Executive Order

by Michael Jones · 2009-06-24 13:09:00 UTC
Topics:

Obama

Despite the fact that the thought seems to make the Obama administration skittish, it seems clear that in order to move a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" forward, action must start with the Executive Branch first.  That's not only the conclusion reached by the Palm Center in California, and by 77 members of the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week.  It's also the conclusion reached by the Center for American Progerss (CAP), which released a report today detaling the "practical steps" that need to happen in order to stop a flawed military policy that has fired more than 260 gay and lesbian soldiers since Obama took office in January.

CAP's first suggested step for ending Don't Ask?  "Signing an Executive Order banning further military separations based on DADT and sending a legislative proposal on DADT repeal to Congress."  Which means action, if folks from the Obama administration are reading.

Here are some of the statistics cited by the CAP report.  Reading this, it becomes even clearer that Obama should publicly start the wheels turning now to end this bad policy:

  • DADT has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,000 patriotic and highly qualified men and women since its enactment more than 16 years ago;

  • At least 1,000 of these 13,000 have held “critical occupations,” such as interpreters and engineers;

  • Approximately 4,000 service members leave the service voluntarily per year because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell";

  • By the end of fiscal year 2003, a few months after the fall of Baghdad, the military had forced out more than 320 service members with vital language skills such as Arabic and Farsi; and

  • “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is no longer supported by the majority of the American people, nor is it even supported by a majority of service men and women.

It would be a sign of national security strength for Obama to take leadership on this issue and sign an executive order suspending the firing of openly gay and lesbian soldiers.  Yes, legislation is necessary to put "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" into a grave.  But legislation is not necessary to put an immediate halt to the discrimination unleashed by the U.S. Armed Forces.

According to CAP, here are steps they're recommending for the Obama administration as a means of addressing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell":

1. Sign an Executive Order banning further military separations based on DADT and sending a legislative proposal on DADT repeal to Congress

2. Form a presidential panel on how to implement the repeal

3. Repeal DADT in Congress and change the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, or UCMS

4. Change other necessary military guidelines to conform to the new policy

5. Follow-up to ensure that the armed forces implement the policy changes

Obama can and should start this on his end.  Anything less will keep in place a policy that makes the U.S. less safe, and will send the message that the military isn't strong enough to handle a fully integrated and equal membership.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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