Soldier: Policy on
Gays May Be Shifting
The
Advocate
January 10, 2008
Even if no one is asking, Army sergeant Darren Manzella
has been telling anyone who'll listen that he's gay
-- without serious retribution so far from the military.
Manzella, a medic who served in Iraq and Kuwait, has
acknowledged his sexual orientation in national media
interviews and again on Tuesday in a Washington news
conference.
''This is who I am. This is my life,'' said Manzella,
who received a combat medical badge for his service
in Iraq. ''It has never affected my job performance
before. I don't think it will make a difference now.
And to be honest since then, I don't see a difference
because of my homosexuality.''
Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network, said Manzella's case demonstrates
the military is arbitrarily enforcing its ''don't ask,
don't tell'' policy now that the country is at war.
The ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy prohibits active-duty
service members from openly acknowledging that they
are gay or lesbian.
Manzella still could be investigated now that he has
left the battlefield. Every time he has said he is gay
publicly can be counted as a violation of the policy,
one of his attorneys said.
Manzella first told a military supervisor about his
sexual orientation in August 2006 while he was stationed
at Fort Hood, Texas, and working in division headquarters.
Three weeks after Manzella made the revelation, his
battalion commander told him an investigation had been
closed without finding ''proof of homosexuality.''
A month later, Manzella was redeployed for the war
in Iraq.
Paul Boyce Jr., an Army spokesman, said he was unaware
of an investigation of Manzella being opened or closed.
He said the investigation would have been done by Manzella's
Fort Hood unit, and officials there are on leave and
unavailable to discuss the case.
''This particular soldier's unit only recently returned
from the war to Fort Hood, Texas, so it's premature
to speculate on any future actions until the young man's
situation can be considered by his chain of command,''
Boyce said in a statement.
Manzella, originally from Portland, N.Y., returned
from the Middle East last month and went on leave shortly
before Christmas. He will return to the 1st Cavalry
Division at Ford Hood at the end of the month.
A bill to eliminate the military's sexual orientation
policy, filed by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat,
is pending in Congress. Sarvis said the bill is unlikely
to get out of committee during this election year, but
hearings could be held.
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military
Readiness, said Manzella's commanders should have discharged
him when they learned he was gay. Her group opposes
allowing gays to join the military. (AP)
CBS Newsmagazine 60 Minutes to Feature Out, Active
Duty Army Sergeant
 WASHINGTON,
DC - This Sunday’s edition of the award-winning
CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes will include a story by
correspondent Lesley Stahl about reports from Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network (SLDN) of a growing number of
openly lesbian and gay troops in the United States armed
forces. The segment will also feature an exclusive interview
with SLDN client and openly gay Army Sergeant Darren
Manzella, who has served a tour of duty in Iraq and
is now serving inside Kuwait. Manzella tells Stahl that
he has received overwhelming support from both his fellow
soldiers and superiors since coming out last year. Stahl’s
report also looks at SLDN’s work in assisting
service personnel such as Manzella, and the organization’s
campaign to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell.” In addition to Manzella, Sunday’s
segment also features SLDN board member Cholene Espinoza,
an Air Force Academy graduate and the second woman to
fly the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
“Sergeant Manzella’s story illustrates the
arbitrary and uneven enforcement of ‘Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell,’” said SLDN executive
director Aubrey Sarvis. “Many commands, like Manzella’s,
recognize that their lesbian and gay troops are instrumental
in the work of defending our country. Those commanders,
who want to do the right thing and retain good troops,
should not have their hands tied by this unfair law.
Our nation’s commitment to fairness and civil
liberties demands an end to this law, and our national
security interests are best served by repealing it.”
Since 1993, more than 12,000 men and women have been
dismissed under “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell.” According to the Government Accountability
Office (GAO), nearly 800 of those dismissed had skills
deemed ‘mission-critical’ by the Pentagon,
including 322 language experts, 58 of whom were proficient
in Arabic. In FY2005 alone, the armed forces dismissed
at least 49 medical professionals, like Manzella, under
the law.
While “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
dismissals have declined by 50% since the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001, an average of two service
members are dismissed under the law every day. Enforcement,
SLDN reports, is largely arbitrary and varies from command
to command. A recent SLDN survey found that troops in
deployable units were far less likely to be dismissed
under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
than those stationed stateside. Less than 25% of discharges
in 2005, the SLDN analysis revealed, were from units
deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Sergeant Manzella joined the Army in April 2002 and
deployed to Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom
II, in March of 2004. He provided medical coverage during
more than one hundred 12-hour patrols on the streets
of Baghdad. While under fire, Manzella cared for Iraqi
National Guardsmen, Iraqi civilians and his fellow service
members, earning him the Combat Medical Badge, a swift
promotion and several other awards honoring his courage
and duty to service. He returned for a second tour of
duty in the Middle East in 2006 and is currently stationed
in Kuwait.
“It is perhaps only once in a lifetime that we
are given the opportunity to do something of paramount
importance, and I am honored to be able to use my voice
to speak out on behalf of the countless lesbian and
gay Americans currently serving in our armed forces,”
said Manzella. “More and more of us are serving
openly – and proudly – in our nation’s
military. It is important that Americans hear our stories,
see our commitment to our nation and understand the
harm ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
unnecessarily inflicts on our military and our troops.
I am grateful to Lesley Stahl and 60 Minutes for the
opportunity to share my story, and grateful to SLDN
for their fight on my behalf during my time in the Army.”
SLDN also announced today that Manzella will join its
national speakers’ bureau and join other veterans
who are helping to build public support for repeal of
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“All of us at SLDN are enormously proud of Sergeant
Manzella for risking so much in telling his story,”
said Sarvis. “We are honored to stand up, every
day, for patriotic troops like him; and we are more
dedicated than ever to repealing ‘Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell’ once and for all.”
60 Minutes airs this Sunday at 7/6c on CBS. For more
information on the program, visit www.cbsnews.com. For
more information on Sergeant Manzella, Sunday’s
story and SLDN’s campaign to repeal “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell,” visit www.sldn.org.
Twenty-Eight Generals and Admirals Call for End to
Military's Gay Ban
Largest Such Group to Support Repeal of “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell”
Date: November 29, 2007
Press Contact: Indra Lusero, Assistant Director, The
Palm Center, University of California, Santa Barbara
*805-893-5664* info@palmcenter.ucsb.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 SANTA
BARBARA, CA, November 29, 2007 – A group of twenty-eight
retired U.S. generals and admirals will release a statement
Friday urging Congress to repeal the current ban on
openly gay troops, according to a report in the New
York Times. The statement says that replacing the current
policy with one of equal treatment “would not
harm, and would indeed help, our armed forces,”
and it points to countries such as Britain and Israel
which both ended their gay bans years ago. “Our
service members are professionals who are able to work
together effectively despite differences in race, gender,
religion, and sexuality,” says the statement.
“Such collaboration reflects the strength and
the best traditions of our democracy.”
Dr. Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center at University
of California, Santa Barbara, which studies gays in
the military, said the support of such a large number
of distinguished senior military officers for an end
to the gay ban reflects a sea change in military opinion
on the issue. “2007 has been a year-long earthquake,”
said Belkin, who is also a professor of political science
at UC-Santa Barbara. He said a retired chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff has joined the call for repeal,
and that polls now show that a majority of younger enlisted
personnel also favor letting open gays serve. Back in
1993, when the current policy was formulated, some surveys
found that 97% of generals and admirals opposed lifting
the ban. “Fourteen years looks like a lifetime
when you consider how far our nation has come since
then,” said Belkin.
Many politicians, however—most recently the leading
Republican presidential candidates at last night’s
debate in St. Petersburg, Florida—continue to
claim that senior military leaders “almost unanimously”
say the policy “ought to be continued because
it’s working,” in the words of John Mccain.
Belkin said the statement by 28 retired flag officers
is “just the tip of the ice berg” because
so many active duty officers feel they cannot criticize
the policy publicly even though they oppose it privately.
The statement by the generals and admirals is to be
read at a Friday morning news conference marking the
14th anniversary of the signing of “don’t
ask, don’t tell” into law by President Bill
Clinton. Gay veterans and aid organizations will lay
twelve thousand flags on the Washington Mall as a tribute
to the nearly twelve thousand gay, lesbian and bisexual
service members who have been fired under the current
policy. The project, “12,000 Flags for 12,000
Patriots,” was created and organized by Alexander
Nicholson, who was ousted under the policy from the
Army. Nicholson is now Executive Director of Servicemembers
United, which is sponsoring the event along with the
Human Rights Campaign, Log Cabin Republicans, the Liberty
Education Forum, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
 Rhonda
Davis, a former Navy journalist who was discharged under
“don’t ask, don’t tell” in 2006,
and who will speak at the “12,000 Flags”
event, said the nation cannot afford to waste “one,
let alone 12,000,” service members at a time of
war. “We’re firing Arabic linguists, intelligence
experts, medical specialists, all because of their sexual
orientation, while we lower our standards for their
replacements and fail to fill our ranks,” she
said. “The policy is outdated and senseless, and
this event aims to encourage America to take another
look.”
###
The Palm
Center, formerly the Center for the Study of Sexual
Minorities in the Military, is a research institute
at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The
Center uses rigorous social science to inform public
discussions of controversial social issues, enabling
policy outcomes to be informed more by evidence than
by emotion. Its data-driven approach is premised on
the notion that the public makes wise choices on social
issues when high-quality information is available. For
more information, visit www.palmcenter.ucsb.edu
HRC commemorates anniversary of 'Don't Ask, Don't
Tell'
Presidential candidates respond to question of how
to overturn gay military ban
WASHINGTON | Nov 26, 12:50 PM
The fourteenth anniversary of "Don't Ask, Don't
Tell," the military's ban on openly gay personnel,
will occur on Nov. 30. This week the Human Rights Campaign,
in recognition of this event, will ask each Democratic
presidential candidate which steps he or she will take
to repeal this oppressive policy if elected.
This feature will run in conjunction with a tribute
to gay soldiers on the National Mall titled "12,000
Flags for 12,000 Patriots," which the Washington
Blade covered last week. Each flag on display represents
a soldier discharged because of his or her sexual orientation.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Liberty Education
Forum, Log Cabin Republicans and Servicemembers United
are co-sponsoring this event.
Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) is the first candidate to
have his response posted on HRC's blog, HRC Back Story,
and he will be followed by Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.),
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.),
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Gov. Bill Richardson
(D-N.M.). The candidates have all expressed their desire
to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and their
responses should reflect their repeal plan.
"This is an issue of fundamental fairness –
and our military ought to treat everyone fairly. 'Don’t
Ask Don’t Tell’ did not become wrong. It
was always wrong," Edwards' statement said.
Sen. Dodd is the second candidate to be featured. He
said Tuesday: "As President, I would call for a
meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to draw up plans
that put an end to this policy within six months."
To read these full statements, go to HRC Back Story.
Seattle appeals court ponders 'don't ask, don't tell'
policy
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER
Last updated November 5, 2007 6:04 p.m. PT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/338412_majorwitt06.html?source=rss
 The
military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy
toward gays should be struck down as unconstitutional,
a lawyer for an Air Force nurse fired for having a lesbian
relationship argued Monday.
Margaret Witt's ACLU lawyer told a federal appeals
court panel in Seattle that child molesters in the armed
forces are treated more leniently than homosexuals because
molesters don't face mandatory discharge.
Witt contends the policy-driven discharge violated
her right to be free from governmental intrusion in
her private life, and that her lawsuit against the Air
Force should be reinstated.
"Don't ask, don't tell" prohibits the military
from asking about the sexual orientation of service
members but requires discharge of those who acknowledge
being gay or engage in homosexual activity.
Witt, 42, spent more than 18 years building a stellar
reputation as a McChord Air Force Base nurse who saved
the lives of soldiers on medical evacuation missions.
Twice decorated by President Bush, her career was on
the rise until an anonymous tipster told the Air Force
in 2004 that Witt, a major, was in a longterm relationship
with a civilian woman.
Witt sued to block to discharge but lost the first
round in July 2006 when U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton
of Tacoma sided with the government.
Leighton rejected the argument that a 2003 U.S. Supreme
Court decision invalidating anti-sodomy laws in Texas
meant "don't ask, don't tell" is unconstitutional,
too.
Final notice of Witt's honorable discharge came three
weeks ago, said her pro bono lawyer, Jim Lobsenz. But
the fate of "don't ask, don't tell" is hanging
in the balance.
Witt's case, and a similar one on appeal on the East
Coast, are the first to wend their way through the courts
since the high court issued its decision in Lawrence
v. Texas.
That decision established a new "fundamental right"
to engage in adult consensual sex, Lobsenz argued Monday
before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals.
But Justice Department attorney Jonathan Cohn said
the Supreme Court didn't go that far. "The court
very clearly stops short of ... recognizing a fundamental
right."
Cohn argued that the government only has to show it
has a rational reason for implementing "don't ask,
don't tell."
Witt attended Monday's arguments wearing her uniform.
She declined to speak with reporters.
In her written argument, Witt slammed the "irrational"
contention that gays in the military are a threat to
unit morale and discipline -- and said the government's
own research can't support such a notion.
Cohn urged the appeals panel not to second-guess Congress,
which held extensive hearings and heard from about 90
witnesses on the issue of gays in the military before
putting "don't ask, don't tell" into law.
The appeals panel faces a challenge in discerning the
intent of the high court in the vaguely worded Texas
decision. Presiding Circuit Judge Susan Graber on Monday
used terms like "divining" the meaning of
the opinion and reading the "tea leaves."
A decision in the Witt appeal is expected to take several
months.
The report contains material from The Associated Press.
P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072
or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.
Military posts job openings on gay Web site
Thursday, October 18, 2007 / 02:26 PM
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2007/10/18/4
The Army, Navy and Air Force advertised for new recruits
on a gay Web site until told of their error, USA Today
reported.
The military recruiters were advertising on GLEE.com,
a Web site for gay and lesbian professionals. The Pentagon's
"don't ask, don't tell" policy prevents gay
men and lesbians from openly serving in any branch of
the U.S. armed forces.
The recruiters have since pulled the ads, USA Today
said.
Most of the military jobs posted were hard-to-fill positions
requiring advanced training, although some ads sought
to fill core combat slots at a time when the Iraq war
has challenged recruiters to meet goals.
They included thousands of Navy openings for doctors,
dentists, intelligence analysts, Arabic translators
and others; hundreds of Air Force jobs for optometrists,
social workers, physician's assistants and nurses and
nearly 1,000 Army National Guard and active Army positions,
including infantry and artillery.
The ads were placed through GLEE's parent company, New
York-based Community Connect, as part of an alliance
with jobs-listing giant Monster.com.
Steve Ralls of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network,
a gay advocacy group, savored the irony of the military's
errant recruiting pitches.
"The majority of GLEE's members would not be allowed
to be as open in the military as they are online,"
he said, adding that gays "have been drummed out
of the armed forces simply for using sites like GLEE."
Since "don't ask, don't tell" was put in effect
in 1993, 11,082 soldiers have been discharged at a huge
cost, estimated by some to be $363 million, to American
taxpayers.
10/06/07
Slain Lesbian Soldier Ciara Durkin Remembered at Massachusetts
Funeral This Weekend
The
Advocate
William Henderson
An estimated 2,000 mourners, including Senator John
Kerry and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, filled
St. John the Baptist Church in Quincy, Massachusetts,
on Saturday, October 6, for the funeral mass for out
lesbian Army Spc. Ciara Durkin, a 30-year-old Army National
Guard corporal who was found dead of a gunshot wound
to the head on September 28 at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Durkin, the first LGBT soldier to die in Afghanistan
or Iraq, was remembered as quirky, as someone you couldn't
help but love, as "Ciara with the wild red hair,"
the refrain from a poem written by her sister, Aine
Durkin, that she read, first in Gaelic and then in English.
Durkin moved from Ireland to Massachusetts with her
parents and younger brother, Pierce Durkin, who is also
gay, when she was 9. Mourners paid homage to both Durkin's
Irish roots and American citizenry, in song and in word.
The sermon, given by the Rev. Raymond Kiley, drew on
family remembrances of the fallen soldier and from Mitch
Albom, author of The Five People You Meet In Heaven.
Durkin's fiancé, Haidee Loreto, identified in
the program as Durkin's "best friend," spoke
briefly during the "Prayers of the Faithful"
part of the service, as did a few of Durkin's 18 nieces
and nephews.
Durkin's brother, Pierce, gave the eulogy, recounting
a time that he and his sister went to an Alzheimer's
clinic where she volunteered and how much her being
there meant to the patients. One woman, said Pierce,
approached Ciara and said, "I don't know who you
are, but I know I love you."
And this, he added, was the beauty of Ciara.
"When you think of her smiling face, you think
of a time when she made your day brighter. She was unselfish
to a fault, and her physical well-being didn't matter.
It was our well-being that made her happy," he
said.
A "graveside" military service followed the
religious ceremony, as Durkin's body will be cremated
and a portion of her ashes taken home to Ireland, buried
with full military honors in Arlington, Virginia, and
remain with her family in Quincy. Major General Joseph
Carter, the adjutant general of the Massachusetts National
Guard, handed Durkin's mother, Angela, several posthumous
commendations awarded Durkin, including the rank of
corporal.
After the ceremony, a gathering was held at the Quincy
Yacht Club in Hough's Neck. A motorcade of cars made
its way slowly from the church to the yacht club, passing
signs at the entrance of the town in English and in
Gaelic that thanked Durkin for her service. Outside
of the Hough's Neck Fire Department, firefighters stood
with hands clasped in front of them, and American flags
lined the streets.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has demanded
a full and thorough investigation into Durkin's death,
which remains mysterious. "Specialist Durkin's
family deserves to know what happened," said Aubrey
Sarvis, SLDN executive director, in a statement last
week. "Though we have no evidence, at the moment,
to conclude that this was a hate-motivated crime, numerous
questions demand that military leaders must search for
the answers."
The Department of Defense says its investigation into
her death, described simply as a "non-combat-related
incident," remains ongoing. It has not disclosed
whether a weapon was found near her body, leaving some
to speculate that Durkin may have killed herself. But
her family does not think that's possible.
"She was home for two weeks in September and helped
paint our sister's porch and my nephew's room and we
talked about buying a house together when she returned
home," said her brother Pierce. "She was describing
how she wanted a big bathroom and a living room. She
was in the best form and in the best mood, so I do not
think it's possible to be in such a wonderful mood and
to do a 180 like that."
Durkin was also engaged to be married to her longtime
girlfriend, Loreto, who has not yet spoken to the media.
(William Henderson, The Advocate)
Gen. Pace: Homosexual Acts Immoral
By ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press Writer
September 26, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing Wednesday
when he said he believes homosexual activity is immoral
and should not be condoned by the military.
Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to
clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he
said were misreported.
"Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be
homosexual serving in the military? Yes," he told
the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing
focused on the Pentagon's 2008 war spending request.
"We need to be very precise then, about what I
said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it,"
he added. "And that was very simply that we should
respect those who want to serve the nation, but not
through the law of the land condone activity in my upbringing
is counter to God's law."
Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the
four-star general's remarks, prompting Committee Chairman
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to abruptly adjourn the hearing
and seal off the doors.
The hearing resumed about five minutes later in which
Pace said he would be supportive of efforts to revisit
the Pentagon's policy so long as it didn't violate his
belief that sex should be restricted to a married heterosexual
couple.
"I would be very willing and able and supportive"
to changes to the policy "to continue to allow
the homosexual community to contribute to the nation
without condoning what I believe to be activity _ whether
it to be heterosexual or homosexual _ that in my upbringing
is not right," Pace said.
Pace's lengthy answer on gays was prodded by Sen. Tom
Harkin, who said he found Pace's previous remarks as
"very hurtful" and "very demoralizing"
to homosexuals serving in the military.
In March, the Chicago Tribune reported that Pace said
in a wide-ranging interview: "I do not believe
the United States is well served by a policy that says
it is OK to be immoral in any way."
Harkin, D-Iowa, said he wanted to give Pace a chance
to amend his remarks in light of his retirement.
"It's a matter of leadership, and we have to be
careful what we say," Harkin said.
Pace noted that the U.S. Military Code of Justice prohibits
homosexual activity as well as adultery. Harkin said,
"Well, maybe we should change that."
Yale Law to Allow Military Recruiters
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 19, 6:53 PM ET
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Yale Law School will end its policy
of not working with military recruiters following a
court ruling this week that jeopardized about $300 million
in federal funding, school officials said Wednesday.
Yale and other universities had objected to the Pentagon's
"don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows
gay men and women to serve in the military only if they
keep their sexual orientation to themselves. Yale Law
School had refused to assist military recruiters because
the Pentagon wouldn't sign a nondiscrimination pledge.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against
Yale on Monday, rejecting its argument that its right
to academic freedom was infringed by federal law that
says universities must give the military the same access
as other job recruiters or forfeit federal money.
"The fact is we have been forced under enormous
pressure to acquiescence in a policy that we believe
is deeply offensive and harmful to our students,"
said Robert Burt, a Yale law professor who was lead
plaintiff in the case.
The funding loss would have devastated the university's
medical research into cancer, heart disease and other
illnesses, Burt said.
Yale Law Dean Harold Koh said in a news release Wednesday
that he was disappointed by the appeals court decision,
saying the school has an obligation to "ameliorate
the impact" of discriminatory hiring practices.
"We intend to meet this obligation and will work
alongside our students to identify the best ways of
doing so, in accordance with the law," Koh said.
"We continue to look forward to the day when all
members of our community will have an equal opportunity
to serve in our nation's armed forces."
Koh did not immediately respond to calls seeking additional
comment.
Jan Conroy, a Yale Law spokeswoman, said the school
would waive the requirement that military recruiters
sign the nondiscrimination pledge. The Air Force already
has asked to participate in a job interview program
that starts Monday, she said.
The 2nd Circuit decision followed the U.S. Supreme
Court's unanimous ruling last year that the government
can force colleges to open their campuses to military
recruiters. The justices rejected a free-speech challenge
from law schools and professors who claimed they should
not have to associate with military recruiters or promote
their campus appearances.
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