by Bob Roehr
The architect of the anti-gay military policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is dead, and its political godfather is having second thoughts. Can the political obituary of the failed policy be far behind?
Charles Moskos, 74, died of cancer at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. on May 31. The sociologist was a expert on personnel issues within the military at Northwestern University prior to retiring. He became the leading academic and theoretician behind the creation of DADT in 1993, and, in fact, coined that name for the policy.
He called it a practical compromise that allowed gays to serve in the military, so long as they kept their sexual orientation hidden, and accommodated the prejudices of homophobes who feared showering with queers.
Moskos justified the policy to the Northwestern Chronicle saying, "To me, the issue comes down to privacy. Prudes have rights, too."
Critics said the policy wrote discrimination into the law and forced gays and lesbians to lie about their lives in order to serve their country.
Moskos' surveys of attitudes within the military showed that opposition to allowing gays to serve openly continued to decline dramatically over the ensuing years. That was particularly true for younger, lower-ranking soldiers who make up the bulk of the military. He became more open to the possibility of revisiting the policy.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network noted his passing and offered condolences the family. However, it also noted that the policy has resulted in more than 12,000 persons being dismissed from the armed forces and has cost the taxpayers more than $363 billion even while degrading the capacity of the military and security of the country.
Senator Sam Nunn (D-Georgia) was chairman of the Armed Services Committee who aggressively opposed then President Bill Clinton's talk of changing the regulations that restricted gays serving in the military.
He led voyeuristic "fact-finding missions" that looked at shower rooms and the cramped living conditions on submarines, with camera crews in tow. Those images helped ensure passage of DADT, which enshrined the anti-gay policy into law for the first time.
President Clinton asserted that it was a compromise that would allow gays to serve in the military. Time, however, has proved the critics right: it was no such thing.
Speaking in Atlanta on June 3, the retired Nunn said, "I think (when) 15 years go by on any personnel policy, it's appropriate to take another look at it – see how it's working, ask the hard questions, hear from the military. Start with a Pentagon study."
SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis chided Nunn for rejecting a 1993 report by the prestigious Rand Corporation that found no need to enact DADT. "(It) was bad law when Senator Nunn pushed it forward in 1993 and it is still bad law," Sarvis said. "It is still a violation of our basic civil rights."
Legislation to repeal the policy has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and has garnered 143 cosponsors.
