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Discharge of Gay U.S. Army Linguists

Below is a statement made earlier today by Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, regarding “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the recent dismissal of lesbian and gay linguists from the armed forces. This is reposted from an e-mail announcement from SLDN: The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

I encourage you to contact your Senators and US Representatives to ask that they take a similar stand on behalf of our men and women in uniform. To locate information for your Members of Congress, please visit www.senate.gov and www.house.gov.

STATEMENT ON THE DISCHARGE OF GAY LINGUISTS FROM THE MILITARY
February 27, 2003

Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I want to speak on the military’s recent discharge of several linguists who are critically needed in our nation’s fight against terrorism but who, in the military’s eyes, are unfit for the job because of their sexual orientation. The military’s treatment of these individuals is not only a grave injustice to these talented men and women who have bravely volunteered to defend our nation, but it poses a serious threat to our nation’s preparedness.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, our nation’s security agencies and all branches of the military recognized that they must increase the recruitment and training of linguists who can speak and interpret languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian. Understanding these languages is critical to ensuring our nation’s security. Those who are able to communicate in these languages can translate communications that may be made by terrorists or others intent on doing us harm. In fact, a large portion of the intelligence information retrieved by the U.S. security agencies currently cannot be translated, hindering the ability of the federal government to protect our country.

According to a study released by the U.S. General Accounting Office in January 2002, the Army is facing a serious shortfall of linguists in five of the six languages it categorizes as most critical: Arabic, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Farsi, and Russian. The Army has met only 50% of its need for linguists who speak Arabic, 63% of its need for Korean speakers, 62% of its need for Mandarin Chinese speakers, 32% of its need for Farsi speakers, and 63% of its need for Russian speakers. This leads to a 44% total shortfall in translators and interpreters for 5 of the 6 critical languages. Furthermore, the Army only has 75% of the cryptology linguists needed who speak Korean and Mandarin Chinese, and has a 13% shortfall of Army Human Intelligence Collectors in five of the languages found to be of critical importance. Spanish is the only language for which the Army has met its linguist needs.

Although the military faces a crisis in the linguistics field, linguists with a high level of proficiency in languages determined critical by the military and security agencies have continued to be discharged from the Armed Forces simply because they are gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

In 1993, the military instituted a plan known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass,” known more commonly as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The basic premise of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is that, while military leaders know that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals have always played an important part in America’s military, homosexual members of the military are not allowed to be asked about or to tell anyone about their sexual orientation. Furthermore, the Department of Defense generally cannot conduct investigations regarding the sexual orientation of service members, and the Armed Forces has a policy that does not tolerate harassment of anyone based on perceived or actual homosexuality.

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been, by most accounts, a failure. Homosexual military personnel continue to be harassed within all the branches of the Armed Forces. In fact, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SDLN), an advocacy organization dedicated to aiding gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members who face discrimination in the armed services, in 2001 the armed services fired more than 1,250 gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans; more than any other year since 1987. Furthermore, since the initiation of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, more than 7,800 American service members have lost their jobs because of anti-gay sentiment.

Not only does the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy needlessly discriminate against courageous Americans, it also wastes millions in taxpayer dollars. For example, according to SLDN, the government spent $36 million to replace gays, lesbians, and bisexuals who were discharged from the military in 2001. Even more staggering is the fact that the government has spent over $234 million to train replacements for homosexual service members since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was enacted in 1993. Thus, Mr. President, instead of using those millions of dollars on fighting terrorism, the military is spending it to replace linguists that they already have in their ranks.

Not only does the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy waste time, money and linguistic skill, it also initiates discrimination against those who simply want to serve their country. One of these Americans is Alastair Gamble. He had been in training in Arabic for only a few months at the Defense Language Institute when the terrorist attacks of September 11 occurred. After the attacks, he decided that his skills were needed more than ever. He continued his studies and soon was able to converse about military operations, economics, and politics in Arabic. He, however, would not be able to serve his country. Why? Because he was caught one night in his partner’s room after hours. Though Gamble admits that he broke the military’s policy, he states that many heterosexual couples also broke this same rule on that same night. The heterosexual couples, however, were only reprimanded. In stark contrast, Gamble's infraction lead to a search of his room where military officials found evidence that led to the discovery of a relationship with another officer who was studying Korean at the time. Soon both Gamble and his partner were dismissed from the Army, and the American people were denied the service of two young men who were learning badly-needed language skills.

Gamble and his partner are not alone. From October 2001 through December 2002, seven other linguists specializing in critical languages were also discharged after telling superiors that they were gay.

Gamble and the eight other linguists should not be treated this way. It is past time for the U.S. military to modernize its attitudes toward soldiers’ sexual orientation. It is time for the U.S. military to recognize the contributions of gay, lesbian, and bisexual military officers and enlisted personnel by allowing them to serve in the Armed Forces without fear and prejudice. Currently, security organizations within the United States allow for open service, most notably, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. These openly gay men and women serve our country well. In fact, they sometimes serve along-side military men and women who cannot discuss their sexual orientation.

Not only do United States intelligence agencies allow for open service, but many other nations allow open service as well. Some of our closest allies - Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Iceland and Italy - allow open service in their military. In fact, the United States and Turkey are the only two NATO countries that do not allow open military service for gay men.

Nations that allow for open military service have not reported any change in the way the military is run because of their policies. According to a study by Aaron Belkin, the Director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Jason McNichol, senior officials, commanders, and military scholars within the Australian Defense Forces consistently praise the lifting of the gay ban, which occurred in 1992. The report states that there has been no overall pattern of disruption to the military, recruitment and retention have not suffered, and military performance was not affected because of the ban.

In January 2000, Britain too lifted its ban on gays in the military. According to PlanetOut News, a review of the policy by the British military, released in late 2000, found that there was no discernable impact on the military after it lifted the ban.

If some of our closest allies have been successful in allowing open service in the military, why not the United States?

Mr. President, our military has been fighting terrorism and may soon go to war against Iraq. We desperately need the specialized language skills of our fellow Americans as resources. Our military should cease the discriminatory and counter-productive policy of discharging competent military personnel simply because of their sexual orientation. I hope that this Administration will consider the consequences of the decision to discharge the linguists I have spoken about today and will give gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans the chance to serve openly in the United States military.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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ATTENTION SERVICE MEMBERS: Under Article 31 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, you have the right to remain silent and to consult with a defense attorney if you are investigated. Say nothing. Sign nothing. Get legal help. Call SLDN at 202.328.3247.