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webmasterb@nationalvoicesite.com Ruling Allows Openly Gay Men, Women to Sign Up For Military Service By Jim Garamone WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2010 – Openly gay men and lesbian women now can apply to join the military, Defense Department officials said today. The department issued guidance Oct. 15 to process paperwork for openly gay men or lesbian applicants. The instructions come from a California federal judge’s decision that the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law is unconstitutional. On Oct. 12, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips enjoined DOD “immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation or other proceeding that may have commenced under the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Act or its implementing regulations.” Pentagon officials said the department will abide by the judge’s order, and that part of that compliance is allowing openly gay people to apply to join the military. But citing uncertainty over final disposition of the matter in the courts and on Capitol Hill, a DOD spokeswoman said potential applicants must be aware that the situation may change. “Recruiters are reminded to set the applicants’ expectations by informing them that a reversal in the court’s decision of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law/policy may occur,” Cynthia Smith said. Phillips said yesterday that she is leaning against granting the government’s request for a stay of her order. The Justice Department has indicated it will appeal her decision declaring the law unconstitutional to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Defense Department wants a deliberative, long-range look at any changes in the law, said Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates set up a working group to examine the ramifications of a possible repeal of the law that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The group is scheduled to submit its report Dec. 1. “The review that is going on would look at all the far-ranging impacts of what changing the law would mean,” Lapan said. A long-range plan for changing the law would include a period of transition to conduct training, to ensure that everybody was informed about new policies and procedures, Lapan explained. “In the current environment with the stay, you don’t have the time to go through all these processes and make sure you determine what effect this has on housing, benefits, training on individuals across the board,” he said. The legislative remedy would allow that work to move forward, Lapan said, as the department would have “the chance to study the impacts, to get the input from the force and to make adjustments and changes before an abrupt change in the law occurs.” Lapan said it is too early to draw any conclusions about Phillips’ stay and what is happening in the force. “I would caution against conclusions made from just a few days of having a stay in place,” he said. “A repeal of the law will have far-reaching effects. Now we are sort of in a holding pattern on discharges and proceedings related to enforcing the current law.” American Legion National Commander On DADT
Don't ask don't tell American Legion National Commander Jimmie Foster is calling on President Obama to immediately appeal the ruling from U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips in Riverside, Calif., that would “immediately suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation or other proceeding that may have been commenced” under Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell. “Consistent with our long-standing policy of allowing the military to police its own requirements and standards for service, The American Legion requests you appeal this decision and seek a stay on the current injunction,” National Commander Jimmie L. Foster wrote in a letter to the White House. “No action by a single federal judge should obviate the policy of Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell before the Department of Defense completes its review.”...... Commander Foster went on to say... .....“For an unelected judge with lifetime tenure to issue such a ruling while the military was in the process of surveying its troops on the impact of such a policy change is outrageous,” Foster said. “She is basically saying that she knows more than our military leadership, our Congress and our elected commander in chief.” The Department of Defense has always established fitness for duty criteria and standards of conduct consistent with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. “Our military is engaged in two wars,” Foster said. “Military commanders have much more important issues to deal with. This is not about politics. It’s about doing what’s best for our troops and not distracting from the war effort. Our military should not be micro-managed by judicial edicts.”
Obama Tweets : This Policy Will ‘End On My Watch’, favoring judge Phillip's decision against DADT. Sen. Al Franken, the junior United States Senator from Minnesota, is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party; is urging Attorney General Eric Holder not to appeal a United States District Court decision on Tuesday that ruled the military’s ban on openly serving gay and lesbian servicemembers unconsitutional. In a letter, signed with 18 other senators, Franken wrote that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) “not only weakens our military, but neither is it an effective use of our government resources or taxpayer monies.”
The suit against DADT was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans in California District Court. Judge Virginia A. Phillips issued a worldwide permanent injunction against the law when she declared it unconstitutional. The Department Of Defence was in the process of polling the troops on how they felt about DADT when judge Phillip's made her worldwide permanent injunction against the DADT policy. Gates Reaffirms Position on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
By John D. Banusiewicz BRUSSELS, Belgium, Oct. 13, 2010 – As Justice Department officials consider the implications of a federal court order for the Defense Department to stop enforcing the so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that whether the law is repealed is a matter for Congress to decide. While en route here from Hanoi, Vietnam, Gates told reporters traveling with him that much remains to be worked out before DOD effectively could implement a change allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. A review panel led by Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, and Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe, still is researching the issue, and input from servicemembers and their families remains to be compiled and evaluated, Gates noted. “I feel very strongly that this is an action that needs to be taken by the Congress,” the secretary said, “and that it is an action that requires careful preparation and a lot of training. We have a lot of revision of regulations that has to be done.” The review also will determine what other kinds of changes would be necessary if the law is repealed, including benefits and adjustments to facilities, he added. “This is a very complex business,” Gates said. “It has enormous consequences for our troops. And as I have said from the very beginning, I think there should be legislation, and that legislation should be informed by the review we have under way.” The review panel is considering results of an extensive survey of active duty and reserve-component servicemembers, and Johnson and Ham conducted numerous town-hall meetings to get face-to-face input, Gates said. Tens of thousands of comments have been submitted to a special e-mail address set up to gather additional input, he added, and hundreds of gay and lesbian servicemembers took advantage of a chance to share their views anonymously. In addition, the final responses from a survey of spouses and family members assessing their views on the impact of a repeal of the law have just been received, the secretary noted. “I think we had a very strong return on those,” he said. “My recollection is that we sent out 150,000 surveys and got back somewhere between [40,000] and 50,000. Those all still have to be collated and analyzed. The surveys are an important piece of this.” When all that feedback is compiled, Gates said, the panel will put together its recommendations. Then everything, including the raw data, will go to the services for their individual analyses. “I think there’s a lot going on here,” the secretary said. “Frankly, to try and accelerate it would be difficult. There are a lot of moving parts as we’re trying to get as thorough a view of all of this as possible.”
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