Editorials

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   HAVE YOUR SAY Feel strongly about something? Share it with the community by writing a letter to the editor. You’ll need to include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) We reserve the right to edit letters, but if you keep yours to 300 words or less, we won’t ask you to shorten it. If your letter is published, please wait 30 days before submitting another. Send it to: E-mail: letters@heraldnet.com Mail: Letters section The Herald P.O. Box 930 Everett, WA 98206 Fax: 425-339-3458 Have a question about letters? Contact Carol MacPherson (cmacpherson@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3472).   Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 'Don't ask, don't tell' full of ugly numbers The military's disingenuous "don't ask, don't tell" policy continues to indict itself. It was revealed this week that the Army and Air Force discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the rule that prohibits "openly gay" people serving in the military. A policy advocacy group, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, obtained the information under a Freedom of Information Act request. "Women make up 15 percent of the armed forces, so to find they represent nearly 50 percent of Army and Air Force discharges under "don't ask, don't tell" is shocking," Aubrey Sarvis, the organization's executive director, told the New York Times. The Pentagon released its overall number of discharges for 2007, without a breakdown by gender. The number of gay men and lesbians discharged from the military in 2007 rose to 627 from 612 in 2006, according to Pentagon statistics. The case of the state's own Maj. Margaret Witt, who spent 18 years as a McChord Air Force Base nurse, saving the lives of soldiers on medical-evaluation missions, reflects how the policy has been abused. Witt's attorney, James Lobsenz last November asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to invalidate the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, or at least reinstate Witt's lawsuit seeking to block her discharge. Witt was honorably discharged in October 2007, two years short of what she needed to receive retirement benefits. Her career ended this way: In 2003, Witt was deployed to Oman in support of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. In 2004, an anonymous tipster told the Air Force that Witt was in a long-term relationship with a civilian woman. Witt at all times kept her sexual life private; her relationship took place hundreds of miles from McChord Air Force Base. How does a tip from an anonymous source translate into someone being "openly gay"? The law prohibits investigations solely to determine a service member's sexual orientation. (Right.) A commander must initiate an investigation, however, upon receiving credible information that a service member has engaged in homosexual conduct. An anonymous tip apparently is close enough to "credible information." The military obviously spent a lot of time investigating the Witt tip. And all the tips that have led to the dismissal of 11,000 service members, many with key specialty skills, since the policy's implementation. The old, embarrassing premise that having gays in the military could be disruptive, and/or a threat to unit morale and discipline isn't supportable. Discriminating against people who are admirably serving their country is incomprehensible. Oh, and wrong.

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