New changes to the military's `don't ask, don't tell' policy are expected to protect as many as one in five of the service members who are kicked out because they are gay.
BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF
McClatchy News Service
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Defense on Thursday announced stricter guidelines for discharging gay and lesbian service members under the ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy, raising the standards for charging that someone is gay and allowing only generals to approve discharges.
It is the biggest change to the policy since Congress passed it and President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1993.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the changes at a briefing Thursday morning.
Someone who charges that a serviceman or woman is gay now must testify under oath. Previously, anyone could make such charges, even against a superior officer. Now, only an officer can launch an investigation, lead one and dismiss a service member.
While the Pentagon's old guidelines defined homosexual conduct as demonstrating ``a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts,'' the new guidelines define it as marriage, attempted marriage or ``engaging in, attempting to engage in or soliciting another to engage in a homosexual act or acts,'' or a statement by a service member that he or she is gay.
Military officers still are not supposed to ask service members about their sexual orientation or seek to learn it, and service members are to keep it to themselves.
The changes are expected to protect as many as one in five of the servicemen and servicewomen who are kicked out now because of their sexual orientation. The remaining 80 percent come forward and say that they are gay, according to Pentagon statistics.
The changes go into effect immediately and apply to all open cases, but the department would not say how many cases are open.
Since ``don't ask, don't tell'' went into effect, about 13,000 servicemen and women have left the military because of the rule, reaching a peak of 1,273 in 2001. Last year, 428 service members were expelled under the law.
``I believe these changes represent an important improvement in the way the current law is put into practice -- above all, by providing a greater measure of common sense and common decency to a process for handling what are difficult and complex issues for all involved,'' Gates said.
Gates, however, stressed that he does not support repealing the law until the Pentagon finishes a review of how to implement the change.
It is the biggest change to the policy since Congress passed it and President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1993.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the changes at a briefing Thursday morning.
Someone who charges that a serviceman or woman is gay now must testify under oath. Previously, anyone could make such charges, even against a superior officer. Now, only an officer can launch an investigation, lead one and dismiss a service member.
While the Pentagon's old guidelines defined homosexual conduct as demonstrating ``a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts,'' the new guidelines define it as marriage, attempted marriage or ``engaging in, attempting to engage in or soliciting another to engage in a homosexual act or acts,'' or a statement by a service member that he or she is gay.
Military officers still are not supposed to ask service members about their sexual orientation or seek to learn it, and service members are to keep it to themselves.
The changes are expected to protect as many as one in five of the servicemen and servicewomen who are kicked out now because of their sexual orientation. The remaining 80 percent come forward and say that they are gay, according to Pentagon statistics.
The changes go into effect immediately and apply to all open cases, but the department would not say how many cases are open.
Since ``don't ask, don't tell'' went into effect, about 13,000 servicemen and women have left the military because of the rule, reaching a peak of 1,273 in 2001. Last year, 428 service members were expelled under the law.
``I believe these changes represent an important improvement in the way the current law is put into practice -- above all, by providing a greater measure of common sense and common decency to a process for handling what are difficult and complex issues for all involved,'' Gates said.
Gates, however, stressed that he does not support repealing the law until the Pentagon finishes a review of how to implement the change.
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