Former generals, admirals question military gay policy

Stars and Stripes

Twenty-eight retired generals and admirals released a letter on Friday urging Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ law, according to a report in Friday’s New York Times. The letter’s release marked the the 14th anniversary of the policy that allows gay men and lesbians to serve in the military but only if they keep their orientation secret.

“We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” says the letter, a copy of which Stars and Stripes also received.

The officers said in the letter that “scholarly data show” that 65,000 gay men and lesbians now serve in the American armed forces and that there are more than 1 million gay veterans.

“They have served our nation honorably,” the letter states.

Although the signers of the letter are high-ranking, none is of the stature of Gen. John Shalikashvili, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the policy was adopted and who now argues for its repeal, the Times noted. Shalikashvili refocused attention on the issue earlier this year when he wrote in a New York Times op-ed that conversations with military personnel had prompted him to change his position.

Through 2006, more than 10,000 people were removed from the military under the policy, according to government statistics cited by the Times.

But the number of servicemembers discharged under the policy has declined noticeably since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dropping to 612 in fiscal 2006 from 1,227 in fiscal 2001, the paper reported.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Times on Thursday that there were no efforts at the Pentagon or across the military to alter the policy.......