Repeal military policy on gays, defense officials tell Congress

February 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s time to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and allow gay troops to serve openly for the first time in history, the nation’s top defense officials declared Tuesday, with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff proclaiming that service members should not be forced to “lie about who they are.”

However, both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen asked for a year to study the impact before Congress would lift the controversial policy.

Reversing the Pentagon’s 17-year-old policy toward gays “comes down to integrity,” for the military as an institution as well as the service members themselves, Mullen told a Senate hearing. Not persuaded, several Republican senators said they would oppose any congressional effort to repeal the policy.

The Pentagon announced an 11-month review of how the ban could be lifted, as President Barack Obama has said he will work to do. But there is no deadline for ending the policy that dates to President Bill Clinton’s tenure and that gay-rights advocates are pressing to overturn.

In the meantime, Gates announced plans to loosen enforcement rules for the policy, which says, in essence, that gays may serve so long as they keep their sexuality private.

Obama has called for repeal but has done little in his first year in office to advance that goal. If he succeeds, it would mark the biggest shake-up to military personnel policies since President Harry S. Truman’s 1948 executive order integrating the services.

Homosexuality has never been openly tolerated in the American military, and the 1993 policy was intended to be a compromise that let gay men and women serve so long as they stayed silent about their sexuality. Clinton had wanted to repeal the ban entirely, but the military and many in Congress argued that doing so would dangerously disrupt order.

Repealing the ban would take an act of Congress, something that does not appear close to happening.

Since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was established, much has changed. Five states and the District of Columbia have adopted laws permitting marriage of gay couples, and nine other states have granted similar rights to gay domestic partners.

The public’s attitude toward gays and lesbians also has undergone a significant shift. A Pew poll last year indicated that 59 percent of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, up from 52 percent in 1994.

On Tuesday, several Democratic senators praised Mullen and Gates for what they said was a courageous stance, but a number of Republicans spoke strongly against the idea of a repeal.

Gates drew unusually pointed criticism from Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee for saying the review would examine how, not whether, to repeal the ban. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the panel, icily told Gates he was disappointed in his position and suggested the Pentagon was usurping Congress’ job.

“Has this policy been ideal? No, it has not,” McCain said. “But it has been effective.”

Mullen looked pained when Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., suggested that the Joint Chiefs chairman had preordained the outcome of any study by signaling his own opposition to the ban.

“This is about leadership, and I take that very, very seriously,” Mullen replied, tight-lipped.

Tuesday’s session gave Obama high-level cover on a divisive social issue complicated by the strains on an all-volunteer military force fighting two wars.

Gates, who says he is a Republican, is the only member of former President George W. Bush’s Cabinet whom Obama asked to stay on. He has gained a reputation for both candor and caution. Mullen’s words were a forceful endorsement from a careful man, and his very appearance, starched uniform and four stars on view, made a statement as well.

Gates said change was inevitable and called for a yearlong internal study into how it would occur.

He told the senators he understood that any change in the law was up to them. But he made it clear he believes it is time to do away with the 1993 policy and, by implication, the outright ban on gay service that preceded it. Alongside Mullen, that put the Pentagon’s top leadership at odds with uniformed leaders a rung or two below, as well as with senior members of Congress.