Retreat Ceremony tonight at Piedmont Park commemorates end of military gay ban
Sept. 20 will mark a major turning point in the fight for LGBT equality, as the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, a law that bans gay and lesbian soldiers from serving openly, will finally be repealed. At least two local events are planned to commemorate the milestone.
Passed by Congress in 1993 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was the basis for some 14,000 military discharges during its 18 year-history.
The repeal effort was one of the final acts of the Democratically controlled 111th Congress and fulfilled a 2008 campaign pledge from President Barack Obama.
“By ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay,” Obama said after Congress passed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 in late December.
A federal appellate court issued an order late July 15 prohibiting the U.S. government from discharging additional service members under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” while allowing recruiters to continue to bar openly gay people from enlisting in the armed forces.
The order from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals partially reinstates a stay on an injunction barring the enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The injunction was reissued by the appellate court July 6 after it was first issued by a U.S. district court last year.
“[T]he stay entered November 1, 2010, is reinstated temporarily in all respects except one,” the order states. “The district court’s judgment shall continue in effect insofar as it enjoins appellants from investigating, penalizing, or discharging anyone from the military pursuant to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.”
President Barack Obama held a reception yesterday honoring LGBT Pride Month. Several LGBT Atlantans, including James Parker Sheffield, Executive Director of the Atlanta Pride Committee, and Jeff Graham, Executive Director of Georgia Equality, attended. You can read their story here.
The reception comes as advocacy organizations step up the pressure on the president, and in particular, his stance on same-sex marriage. The president, who called the recent passage of marriage equality in New York "a good thing," has shied away from outright support of marriage equality.
Obama instead used yesterday's reception to highlight his achievements in the equality movement, citing hate crimes legislation, hospital visitation, removing the HIV travel ban and the repeal of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy.
The United States Army has put together an informational website regarding the upcoming repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”
According to the Army, the website was launched last week to provide the most up-to-date information for servicemembers and their families on the law's repeal.
"It's a way for the Army to provide the latest and greatest information about the repeal to Soldiers, family members and the public," said spokesperson Lt. Col Timothy M. Beninato via a media release.
Although “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been officially repealed with President Barack Obama’s signature, when the repeal will actually be implemented is still not determined.
For more than 20 years, American Veterans for Equal Rights has sought fairness for LGBT people in the military and to make sure LGBT veterans have access to benefits, says Danny Ingram of Decatur. Ingram is the former Georgia AVER chapter president and now serves as the national president for the nonprofit organization.
Each year the Georgia AVER chapter holds a Taps service at Piedmont Park on Memorial Day.
“The national organization started about 21 years ago in Washington, D.C., and the Georgia chapter was formed about eight years by Jeff Cleghorn, who is now a board member for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund,” Ingram says.
The House Armed Services Committee held a hearing today on the implementation of the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.” For the first time since the repeal was signed into law by President Barack Obama late last year, the military's service chiefs were called before Congress to testify on the anti-gay policy's repeal.
Though no firm date for full repeal was given, several service chiefs said their branches are aiming to complete training before mid-summer and that most were on track or ahead of schedule with regard to training.
Today's hearing featured Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos and Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who represented the Army in the place of Gen. George Casey, who was tending to family matters.
OutServe, a collection of underground LGBT military personnel, announced today that it will publish a new magazine geared toward gay servicemembers. OutServe was formed in 2010 as the debate over the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy moved into the political spotlight.
The magazine's inaugural cover highlights a United States military in a post-DADT era.
“Our first objective with the magazine is to let all the gay, lesbian, bi, and trans members currently serving know that they are not alone,” said OutServe’s co-director, an active-duty officer who goes by the pseudonym JD Smith, via a press release. “And we also want to communicate to all troops that there are capable gay military members serving honorably, and that accepting that and moving on will make our military stronger.”