Chipping Away at DADT

I heard about this on the news on my drive into work this morning...

The case was brought by Maj. Margaret Witt (pictured), a flight nurse at McChord Air Force Base, near Tacoma, Wash., who served in the Air Force for nearly two decades, and received several medals for, among other things, saving soldiers in the Middle East. In 2004, the Air Force suspended her without pay after receiving a tip that she’d been in a longterm relationship with a civilian woman. Witt was honorably discharged last year, after having put in 18 years - two short of what she needed to receive retirement benefits.

In 2006, Judge Ronald B. Leighton, of Federal District Court in Tacoma, dismissed the case. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, disagreed, reinstating Witt’s substantive and procedural due process claims (but affirming the dismissal of the equal protection claims) and returning the case to Judge Leighton for further proceedings. Here are reports from The Recorder, the NYT, the AP and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Click here for the Ninth Circuit’s opinion.

The Ninth Circuit didn’t strike down “don’t ask, don’t tell” (known as DADT) but it said the Air Force must prove that Witt’s dismissal furthered the military’s stated goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion — the goals that DADT was meant to further when Congress passed the law in 1993. “When the government attempts to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals,” Judge Ronald M. Gould wrote, “the government must advance an important governmental interest, the intrusion must significantly further that interest, and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest.” (source)

Don't Ask Don't Tell should go! This policy has done more harm to our military than the events at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. We've lost too many good people to this stupid, homophobic policy. I love what one of the commenter's stated:

I agree, DADT does not work. I was in a combat unit in early 2003, and it was quite interesting. As we were ramping up for deployment and subsequent conquest/occupation of Iraq (sold to Americans as “liberation”), we needed every soldier we had available, and DADT suddenly didn’t matter. In my unit at least, it was deliberately ignored (as in, the unit did not seek to separate known homosexuals) Sure, non-tactical, high level units still separated good soldiers because they were gay (linguists, e.g., who are often in the news), but most of the units that had boots on the ground in the fight consciously ignored DADT so that we could keep those great Americans with us. Funny that the policy is meant to maintain unit cohesiveness, morale, etc, during our war-fighting missions, but most units wait until after their deployments to start enforcing it again, when they no longer need every available soldier for a real mission. Comment by former Army Captain, current lawyer. - May 22, 2008 at 10:08 am

I can't tell you how many gay soldiers I've talked to online. They are currently serving in Iraq. We talk in code. I know what they are saying, but they can't say it. They know that even if it comes out about their sexuality, they are there to stay. The military will not discharge them, NOW. There are times, when they start trusting me as a friend, they start talking more openly. I give them a stern warning, "Be Careful!". They shut up about it. If they are found out, discharge proceedings will be held against them WHEN THIS WAR ENDS AND THEY ARE NO LONGER NEEDED (you didn't really think the military would forget about it, did you?). What the hell kind of a backwards county would do that?

My question is this. The year is 2008. We live in a "free" country where everyone is supposed to have so-called "equal rights". It's all bull. There can be no equality unless we are ALL equal. This country can not and will not be free until the freedom that the Constitution dictates is actually carried out throughout this land FOR EVERY SINGLE CITIZEN. It's not that hard to do. When are we going to get off our butts and just DO IT?

Until that happens, the United States is no better than any other third-world country that gives no regard to the rights of it's citizens.