"Don't Ask Don't Tell" Has Lasting Impact
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(Adam Fagan, Creative Commons)
“The wording of it is really misleading because it makes people think that under the policy you could be gay, lesbian, and bisexual and serve, but just not talk about it. But it’s a lot more than that,” stated Jeremy Johnson, a former First Class officer of the United States Navy who was discharged in 2007. “You give up so much of yourself in order to pursue a job that you love. You give up your relationships, you’re willing to lie to people… it’s a field full of land mines.”
The policy of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell not only caused many service members to hide their identity in order to keep their jobs, but it also prevented perfectly qualified service members from receiving the same benefits heterosexual couples enjoy.
Heterosexual service members receive additional pay when they are given an assignment that prevents their family from coming along – under DADT, homosexual service members were denied this benefit.
The spouses of heterosexual service members are legally entitled to certain health benefits, to which homosexual couples were not entitled under DADT. For example, designating a partner as a life insurance beneficiary or as a caregiver in the Wounded Warrior program was legally prohibited for homosexual service members under DADT. Partners of members were also not able to receive military health insurance or have access to a support group while their partner was overseas, reports Mother Jones.
Additionally, according to The Washington Post, homosexual service members did not have access to family support services provided by the military, services that often serve as crucial conduits of information regarding what forms of assistance are available and how to take advantage of them.
If a service member is killed, his or her partner would be denied the same financial support that heterosexual families receive. Unless the two had children together, the partner might not even have been the first to know about the death.
“On the morning of September 11th, 2001, I had a meeting at the Pentagon that adjourned at 9:30. I was at the bus stop when the plane hit the Pentagon. As it turned out, the space I was in 7 minutes earlier had been completely destroyed, and seven of my co-workers were killed. I realized that if I had been killed, my partner quite literally would have been the last to know, because I was unable to put her name in any emergency contact information,” retired Captain Joan Darrah remarked. “The events of September 11th made us realize that we really were making a much bigger sacrifice because of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Living under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell meant [my partner] didn’t exist.”
Karen, a second year political science student from the University of Hawaii, told Neon Tommy:
“I used to think DADT was appropriately placed. I thought that DADT protected service members from atrocities they would have faced if they went around telling people they were homosexual. I thought that the military was doing the homosexual community a favor… because people in the military probably would be better off getting fired than beat up if their homosexuality was revealed… I had no idea what DADT further implied… and I didn’t realize that homosexual service members join fully aware of the risks of discrimination. I now understand that DADT, in effect, only encouraged discrimination… it was for the good of no one, not even the military.”
It is important to keep in mind, however, that although DADT as an official policy has legally ended, the negative effects of the policy will not necessarily be lifted or even alleviated in every scenario.
While the official end of DADT is a historic landmark, unresolved issues with the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and military regulations mean that service members and their partners in same-sex relationships will continue to suffer second-class treatment, writes Adam Serwer, a reporter for Mother Jones.
Dr. Aaron Belkin, author of How We Won: Progressive Lessons From the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," however, reminds homosexual service members to consider the repeal a stepping stone to the ultimate goal of full equality. He says that with DADT gone, DOMA, and the hardship it continues to place on the families of gay and lesbian service members, may not be long for this world either.
"If you look at the countries around the world that have marriage equality, the lifting of the military ban almost always comes first," Belkin says. "[It] sends a very powerful message that it's wrong to discriminate and that gays and lesbians are first-class citizens and deserve the same rights as everybody else."
Reach Michelle Baron here.
