DADT State of Limbo

Historiaclly, the U.S. military has been one of the most change adverse institutions with a leadership cadre which is happy to merely continue doing things "the way it always has been done." Indeed, it took Billy Mitchell's demonstration of airplanes sinking captured German battleships after World War I to convince the Navy that aircraft had ushered in a whole new world for naval combat which in turn gave rise to the advent of the aircraft carrier, now the center piece of any battle group. In some ways DADT and its needed repeal is an example of a similar phenomenon. The fossilized and homophobic senior military cadre still kiss the ass of religious based discrimination while the young servicemembers and field officers who don't sit safely back behind the lines far from any on the ground experience know that there has been a generational shift and that DADT is a religious based anachronism that needs to go. With the recent House action on DADT "repeal" the limbo for many in the field has grown even more pronounced, The Washington Post looks at this screwed up situation where many are caught in limbo as a result of Congress' failure to catch up with the sea change in attitudes towards gays in the under 30 set. Here are some highlights:
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The day after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced in March that the military would ease enforcement of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, a 21-year-old soldier in Baghdad learned that he had been outed by a fellow service member.
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The soldier's command opened an investigation into the charge, and he quickly retained a lawyer. Then, nothing happened. His platoon sergeant told him that his command was going to "stick the investigation in a manila envelope and put the envelope in a desk," recalled the soldier, whose name is being withheld at his request. The only change he noticed was that his platoon sergeant, once prone to shouting out a derogatory term for gay men, cut back his usage.
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The soldier's case reflects the subtle, but significant, changes taking place throughout the military even before the expected repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Although it seems unlikely that changes to the policy will go into effect before next year, front-line troops, their commanders and others are already preparing themselves for the law's demise.
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For some gay soldiers, the current debate surrounding "don't ask, don't tell" has proved tough to manage emotionally. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which provides legal representation to gay members of the military, said it has seen a spike in calls to its hotline in recent months. Troops, the group says, are seeking legal advice and a forum to vent frustration.
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The soldier facing an investigation in Baghdad said he came out to a few of his comrades in mid-March, about six weeks after Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, condemned the current policy for forcing troops to lie about their sexual orientation.
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I am gay," he recalled saying loudly.
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After coming out to his fellow soldiers, he said he felt energized. "I was on the verge of tears and laughter," he wrote. "I felt those same emotions that ran through my head as a teenager following the coming out to my parents."
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The next day he was told that he was being investigated. "The other day I felt honorable," he wrote in his blog post. "Today I feel like a . . . criminal. I am tired. After serving this country for three years in two deployments I am no longer a soldier. I am now a prisoner."
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Although the soldier has been told that he will be allowed to finish his Iraq deployment, his fate remains unclear. In the interview, he said he's worried that his command will restart the investigation when his unit finishes its tour. "My biggest fear," he said, "is what happens when we are at home and they don't really need me any more."
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Brave servicemembers serving honorable subjected to religious based discrimination - all so that Elaine Donnelly, Tony Perkins and similar bigots - some within the military - can feel superior and have their prejudices stroked. It's beyond fucked up. It's criminal and clearly unconstitutional to anyone not blinded by religious based hate and bigotry. If our Federal courts had any balls, they'd strike down DADT and make Congressional action unnecessary.