{"id":471124,"date":"2010-03-25T11:36:46","date_gmt":"2010-03-25T15:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=80452"},"modified":"2010-03-25T11:36:46","modified_gmt":"2010-03-25T15:36:46","slug":"gates-sharply-limits-%e2%80%98don%e2%80%99t-ask-don%e2%80%99t-tell%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/471124","title":{"rendered":"Gates Sharply Limits \u2018Don\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_80453\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 490px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/gates.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-80453\" title=\"Robert Gates\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/gates-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Defense Secretary Robert Gates (Matthieu Rondel\/Maxppp\/ZUMA Press) \" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Defense Secretary Robert Gates (Matthieu Rondel\/Maxppp\/ZUMA Press) <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a major victory for opponents of the military&#8217;s ban on open  homosexual service, Defense Secretary Robert Gates significantly revised  how the Pentagon will implement the so-called &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221;  law, effectively making it difficult to remove a soldier, sailor, airman  or marine who does not out himself or herself as gay.<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_2848\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 140px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2848\" title=\"nationalsecurity\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/nationalsecurity.jpg\" alt=\"Image by: Matt Mahurin\" width=\"130\" height=\"130\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by: Matt Mahurin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"floatButtons\">\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"\n\tsrc=\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/ds\/badge2.js\"\n\tbadgetype=\"square\">\n\t<?php the_permalink(); ?><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\">\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\ntweetmeme_source = \"TWI_news\";\ntweetmeme_service = \"bit.ly\";\n<\/script> <script src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gates said  the changes, endorsed by Joint Chiefs of Staff and vetted by the  Pentagon&#8217;s top lawyer, would add &#8220;a greater measure of common sense and  common decency&#8221; for service members negatively impacted by the law. The  Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an advocacy organization for gay  and lesbian service members, considered Gates&#8217; changes a &#8220;major step  toward the end of the law,&#8221; according to spokesman Kevin Nix.<\/p>\n<p>Starting  today, only a general officer in an accused service member&#8217;s chain of  command can discharge someone for a violation of the ban, and only an  officer with the rank of commander or lieutenant colonel or  higher can conduct a fact-finding inquiry to recommend a discharge. The  standards of evidence provided to those inquiries will become far less  burdensome on the accused, with what Gates called &#8220;special scrutiny on  third parties who may be motivated to harm the service member.&#8221; Entire  categories of evidence will no longer be admissible, including testimony  from clergy members, physicians, abuse counselors, security-clearance  review personnel and mental-health personnel &#8212; a move that also  significantly improves troops&#8217; quality of life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A good friend of  mine just left the Navy as a Navy doctor,&#8221; said Christopher Anders, a  lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes &#8220;Don&#8217;t  Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell.&#8221; Anders said that while his friend never turned in  service members for violating the ban, the gay ban &#8220;was an obstacle to  medical care,&#8221; as some personnel opted not to pursue certain medical  care out of fear that treatment might be used against them in a &#8220;Don&#8217;t  Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Seated beside Adm. Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who forcefully endorsed  repealing the &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; law, Gates said at a press  conference this morning that the new procedural changes apply to all  ongoing investigations related to the ban on open gay military service.  Gates clarified that he would not endorse any changes to the law until  he sees the results of a review led by Pentagon general counsel Jeh  Johnson and Army Gen. Carter Ham due by the end of the year. But Gates  also clarified that the Johnson\/Ham review &#8220;is about how you implement&#8221; a  repeal of &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell,&#8221; and &#8220;not about &#8217;should we do it.&#8217;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While  recent polls show repealing &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; is broadly popular  among both <a id=\"nhgh\" title=\"civilians\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/washwire\/2010\/02\/10\/poll-shows-support-for-repealing-dont-ask-dont-tell\/tab\/article\/\">civilians<\/a> and <a id=\"g:q5\" title=\"Iraq and Afghanistan military veterans\" href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/79493\/iraq-afghanistan-vets-overwhelmingly-support-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal\">Iraq and  Afghanistan military veterans<\/a>, there has been some opposition to the  looming repeal from senior levels of the military. The commandant of  the Marine Corps, Gen. James Conway, <a id=\"kerc\" title=\"favored keeping the gay ban in testimony last month\" href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/77753\/dont-ask-dont-tell-not-every-marine-into-the-fight-after-all\">favored  keeping the gay ban in testimony last month<\/a>. Army Lt. Gen. Benjamin  Mixon <a id=\"owij\" title=\"wrote\" href=\"http:\/\/www.stripes.com\/article.asp?section=125&amp;article=68534\">wrote<\/a> a letter to &#8220;Stars &amp; Stripes&#8221;  earlier this month urging advocates of the gay ban to &#8220;write your elected  officials and chain of command and express your views.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That letter earned Mixon a  rebuke from both Gates and Mullen this morning. &#8220;That letter was not an  appropriate letter,&#8221; Gates said. Mullen reminded Mixon that &#8220;as a  three-star leader in command, he has great influence,&#8221; and &#8220;all of us in  uniform are obliged to follow the leadership of the president,&#8221; who  urged an end to the gay servicemember ban in his State of the Union  address in January.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) <a id=\"i9th\" title=\"introduced\" href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/77298\/lieberman-will-introduce-dadt-repeal\">introduced<\/a> a bill earlier this month  to repeal the ban. A statement from Lieberman and his co-sponsors  reacting to Gates&#8217; changes in implementing the ban is expected later  today.<\/p>\n<p>While Anders hailed Gates&#8217; changes, he noted that the  defense secretary did not exercise all his authority to relieve some of  the onerous provisions of the ban. Gates did not endorse <a id=\"qyce\" title=\"a recent ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2009\/06\/08\/AR2009060801368.html\">a  recent ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a> that said the  military must prove servicemember discharges under &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t  Tell&#8221; are vital to unit cohesion or combat readiness. Nor did Gates  reverse a policy that cuts troops&#8217; separation pay in half if the cause  of their discharge from the military is a violation of the gay ban.  Gates also clarified at his press conference that the changes are not  retroactive, and so service members who were kicked out of the military  for violating the ban will not be able to appeal their cases under the  new rules.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Anders said, Gates&#8217; changes &#8220;are really  important steps forward, obviously.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nix said that the  Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund&#8217;s attorneys are reviewing the changes  to determine what they mean for their clients, but that they dealt a  serious blow to the ban.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the end of the day, what happened  today is an important signal to Congress that repeal needs to happen  this year,&#8221; Nix said. &#8220;What the secretary&#8217;s recommendations should tell  Congress is this thing is on its way to an end, and Congress&#8217;s  responsibility is to get rid of the law once and for all.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defense Secretary Robert Gates (Matthieu Rondel\/Maxppp\/ZUMA Press) In a major victory for opponents of the military&#8217;s ban on open homosexual service, Defense Secretary Robert Gates significantly revised how the Pentagon will implement the so-called &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; law, effectively making it difficult to remove a soldier, sailor, airman or marine who does not out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}