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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Excluding gays costly, and wrong

The Spokesman-Review

With a shooting war going on, it’s not hard to understand why American military recruiters are having trouble filling their quotas. It will be hard to understand, though, if the Pentagon and the White House don’t take a serious look at the implications of a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

At a time when manpower is of increasing concern in the U.S. armed forces, the GAO study calculated that the government has spent more than $190 million over the past 10 years to recruit and train replacements for the 9,488 service members who have been discharged for homosexual conduct. Of those separated under the “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” policy, 757 had critical skills, including Middle East language fluency that is essential to battle-theater interrogations in Iraq.

If anything, the cost estimate is understated, because the study concentrated only on those expenses that could be specifically attributed to the military’s anti-gay policy. It did not take into account costs associated with “inquiries and investigations, counseling and pastoral care, separation functions and discharge reviews.”

Thus, the total cost of the policy, which was enacted in 1993 by President Clinton, is substantially higher than the $190 million stated. That’s a burdensome price to expect the American public to pay for a policy that appeals to prejudice and contradicts some of the fundamental values our military personnel are expected to uphold.

The 1993 policy does not make it illegal to be gay and in the U.S. military. It makes it illegal to be honest about it.

Those 9,448 personnel who were separated from the armed forces during the 10-year period of the study could still be in uniform, doing their duty, if they had been more effective liars. If keeping gays and lesbians out of the U.S. military were justifiable in the first place — and the distinguished service of thousands of gay service members undercuts that presumption — “don’t ask, don’t tell” doesn’t achieve it.

In fact, the policy already has deprived the Pentagon of 322 gay service members who spoke such languages as Arabic, Farsi or Korean — languages for which interpreters could play a vital security role, given the regions of the world where America’s geopolitical interests are focused at present. That’s a dubious risk to take in the name of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans who want to serve their country.

Meanwhile, National Guard and Reserve levels have dropped below full strength. The active-duty Army is in danger of missing its recruiting goals. For the first time since before the first Gulf war, the Marine Corps fell short of its recruiting goal during January. Yet the Defense Department insists on discouraging gays and lesbians from serving and pays a premium in the process.

There are nobler reasons than cost for revoking an unjust policy, but if it takes a balance sheet to end the restriction on homosexual service members, so be it.