Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Dollar Signs and Question Marks

by Dana Rudolph · 2011-01-23 06:00:00 UTC
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What would you do with $193 million dollars? That's what the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) ban on openly gay servicemembers cost our country between 2004 and 2009, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The GAO says that during that time period, 3,664 servicemembers were separated under DADT. Of those, 1,442 "held critical occupations, such as infantryman and security forces," and another 23 "held skills in an important foreign language, such as Arabic or Spanish." Seven separated servicemembers fell into both categories. All told, that's about 40 percent of all DADT discharges who were in critical roles.

It cost the government -- read, you and I, as taxpayers -- $185.6 million to recruit and train replacements and $7.7 million in administrative costs.

And lest we forget: DADT is still law, and will remain so until 60 days after the President, Secretary of Defense, and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sign a certification that the repeal won't harm military effectiveness. When will that happen? The Palm Center research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, one of the leading experts on DADT, says it could be "as 'early' as late February," or not until early fall. Truth is, they say, the date that gay servicemembers may serve openly remains "a giant camouflaged question mark."

In the meantime, the question remains: What else might we have done with $193 million dollars? That amount could have equipped over 120,000 troops with body armor, at a rough cost of $1,500 per unit. Or paid for over 70 million school lunches through the National School Lunch program, at a cost of $2.72 per lunch. Or covered over 34,000 Pell Grants for higher education, at $5,550 each. You get the idea.

Which begs the additional question: If all the millions of dollars that will be spent this year trying to pursue (and defend against) anti-LGBT legislation and lawsuits were put to other use, what would that buy us?

Photo credit: U.S. Army

Dana Rudolph is the founder and publisher of Mombian, a blog and resource directory for LGBT parents.
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