LGBT POV

The highly regarded Palm Center – which has been researching and advocating for lifting the ban against gays serving openly in the US military since 1998 – just sent out a press release saying Sec. of the Army John McHugh thinks the military is ready to lift the ban – and is just waiting on President Obama and Congress. Sounds about right. This is a civilian-lead government, after all, and once upon a time, the military was a hierarchy where good order and discipline meant following orders.

Of course, that was before the all-volunteer military and Senators Sam Nunn and John Warner asked what those volunteers thought about living, sleeping and showering in closed quarters with gay men.

This is a precarious time not only for President Obama and the antigay military policy just as the heat is turned up in Iraq and Afghanistan – but for Republicans, too. The Log Cabin Republicans recently expressed outrage over the Obama Administration apparently ordering the Justice Department to get LCR’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t’ Tell” lawsuit thrown out – despite a federal judge ruling it can proceed.

And now Army Secretary McHugh says it’s time to lift the ban. What adds a political twist to this story is that there is a HUGE fight among Republicans over the best candidate to replace McHugh in an upcoming special election in New York’s conservative 23^rd district. “Mainstream” conservative Republicans – such as Newt Gingrich (and no, I never thought I’d write that Gingrich was the more moderate Republican) are backing Dede Scozzafava, while ultra-conservatives such as Sarah Palin are backing Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman. Here’s Talking Points Memo on the race; here’s Politico on Palin’s endorsement; and here’s Michelle Malkin – just to see how this very popular ultra conservative blogger thinks.

What’s this got to do with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? Well, that’s McHugh’s seat – he was re-elected nine times – and the timing of this statement to the Army Times is just too interesting to not be considered a suggestion of who he might like to see replace him in Congress – and it isn’t Sarah Palin and Michelle Malkin’s candidate.

Here’s the release from the Palm Center:

The Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, indicated this weekend that the Army is prepared to lift the ban on openly gay service if the Commander-in-Chief and the Congress decide to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, a prospect that has gathered steam in recent weeks. McHugh, formerly a Republican congressman from the conservative 23rd district of New York, is the highest official inside the Pentagon to express such support. He told the Army Times on Sunday that there was no reason to fear that major difficulties would result from lifting the ban, and that he would help implement the policy change when the time comes.

“The Army has a big history of taking on similar issues,” he said, with “predictions of doom and gloom that did not play out.”

He also suggested that repeal may come in phases, with early action involving, for example, allowing open gays to serve in some occupations and not others.

“What we’re seeing is a tipping point in the opinions of both military and civilian leaders on this issue,” said Dr. Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Palm Center. “The Army is the largest of the services and the most heavily involved in our wars abroad, and for Secretary McHugh to state clearly that it can handle repeal sends a strong signal to the other service secretaries that they can do the same.”

Dr. Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, said Secretary McHugh’s comments were enormously significant. But he pointed out that there is no research to support the idea of letting gay soldiers serve in some units but not others. “The rationale for the ban applies equally across all job categories,” he said. “So if it’s okay to be an openly gay Arabic interpreter, it’s also okay to be openly gay in the infantry or on a submarine. Since conduct rules apply across the board, there’s just no basis for applying different standards to different specialties.”