SUMMARY OF “DON’T ASK DON’T TELL”: Exclusive Conference Call for South Florida Residents with SLDN Executive Director, Dixon Osborne
Note: Please view a wonderful 8 minute documentary video on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. This is something you may want to see and share with your family and friends. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQDP0_Y3UmU
March 20, 2007
6:00 pm.
The following was written by Ken Ahonen-Jover of Equality Giving:
Juan Ahonen-Jover, of Equality Giving, welcomed the callers and then introduced Dixon Osburn, Esq. the Executive Director and Founder of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Equality Giving arranged a conference call with Dixon Osburn, Esq. for South Florida residents and friends of Equality Giving to update us all on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” lawsuits in place, and what we can expect in the coming months.
Freedom Democrats were on this call.
Dixon started off by saying that this has been a very busy year so far for SLDN. He mentioned that SLDN was founded in 1993 in response to the new "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) law banning gays and lesbians in the military that congress passed and President Clinton signed. SLDN provides free legal services to servicemembers hurt by the law, coordinates with other legal organizations (such as the ACLU), and has created legislation to overturn DADT.
Dixon then gave examples of how the law has affected servicemembers, who where outed various ways such as by simply holding hands for two seconds, giving a quick kiss on the cheek, having their personal diaries confiscated, or when they requested leave to attend to their dying partners back home. Discharge from the military under the DADT policy leads to loss of all retirement benefits and being labeled as a "homosexual" on official military discharge documents.
Since 1993, over 11,000 servicemembers have been discharged under the DADT law, though there was a 52% decline in discharges after 9/11, which is consistent with other drops in discharge rates during war time.
Some of the discharges include servicemembers with critical skills such as Arabic translators and physicians, and some were top graduates at military academies. Many have been discharged despite the objection of their own supervising commanders.
With regards to legal challenges, their case of Cook v Gates includes 12 plaintiffs who are simply asking for their jobs back to serve their country. Oral arguments were heard on March 7th, but a decision is not expected until the fall. This case has the potential to win while past cases had failed, since the plaintiffs are using the new, favorable Lawrence v Texas Supreme Court ruling, while past cases had lost based on the unfavorable Bowers v Hardwick ruling.
Regarding the legislative process, SLDN has put forth the "Military Readiness Enhancement Act" which currently has 115 co-sponsors, including three Republicans.
Recent polls show that American public support of repeal of DADT is about 80%. A poll of Iraq war veterans showed that 78% of them support having gay or lesbian servicemembers working beside them, and 23% knew of an openly gay or lesbian member.
Pace's recent statement that he thinks homosexuality is immoral and therefore gays and lesbians should not serve in the military has brought the issue of DADT back into the news, and several prominent GOP politicians have stated that they now support repeal of DADT though they voted for it in 1993.
While all this shows progress towards legislative repeal of DADT, Dixon emphasized that the exact timing is critical because it must come up for a vote only when it is certain to win. Otherwise a loss would be a tough setback.
Questions from the callers included asking Dixon the reason why SLDN and other LGBTQ organizations chose to call for an apology from Pace rather than a resignation. Dixon said that calling for an apology was a more respectable approach that could bring in more people to influence the desired result.
Another caller questioned what strategies to use to get the 2008 presidential candidates on board to repeal DADT. Dixon said that the key is to get them fully educated on the issue as well as the other issues pending such as ENDA and Hate Crimes.
Dixon concluded the call by saying that he is available to answer other questions from donors or give advice or assistance in any way he can. Their website is http://www.blogger.com/www.SLDN.org and his email address is cdo@sldn.org.
The call started at 5:00 pm ended at 5:30 pm EDT.
Please view a wonderful 8 minute documentary video on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. This is something you may want to see and share with your family and friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQDP0_Y3UmU
March 20, 2007
6:00 pm.
The following was written by Ken Ahonen-Jover of Equality Giving:
Juan Ahonen-Jover, of Equality Giving, welcomed the callers and then introduced Dixon Osburn, Esq. the Executive Director and Founder of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Equality Giving arranged a conference call with Dixon Osburn, Esq. for South Florida residents and friends of Equality Giving to update us all on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” lawsuits in place, and what we can expect in the coming months.
Freedom Democrats were on this call.
Dixon started off by saying that this has been a very busy year so far for SLDN. He mentioned that SLDN was founded in 1993 in response to the new "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) law banning gays and lesbians in the military that congress passed and President Clinton signed. SLDN provides free legal services to servicemembers hurt by the law, coordinates with other legal organizations (such as the ACLU), and has created legislation to overturn DADT.
Dixon then gave examples of how the law has affected servicemembers, who where outed various ways such as by simply holding hands for two seconds, giving a quick kiss on the cheek, having their personal diaries confiscated, or when they requested leave to attend to their dying partners back home. Discharge from the military under the DADT policy leads to loss of all retirement benefits and being labeled as a "homosexual" on official military discharge documents.
Since 1993, over 11,000 servicemembers have been discharged under the DADT law, though there was a 52% decline in discharges after 9/11, which is consistent with other drops in discharge rates during war time.
Some of the discharges include servicemembers with critical skills such as Arabic translators and physicians, and some were top graduates at military academies. Many have been discharged despite the objection of their own supervising commanders.
With regards to legal challenges, their case of Cook v Gates includes 12 plaintiffs who are simply asking for their jobs back to serve their country. Oral arguments were heard on March 7th, but a decision is not expected until the fall. This case has the potential to win while past cases had failed, since the plaintiffs are using the new, favorable Lawrence v Texas Supreme Court ruling, while past cases had lost based on the unfavorable Bowers v Hardwick ruling.
Regarding the legislative process, SLDN has put forth the "Military Readiness Enhancement Act" which currently has 115 co-sponsors, including three Republicans.
Recent polls show that American public support of repeal of DADT is about 80%. A poll of Iraq war veterans showed that 78% of them support having gay or lesbian servicemembers working beside them, and 23% knew of an openly gay or lesbian member.
Pace's recent statement that he thinks homosexuality is immoral and therefore gays and lesbians should not serve in the military has brought the issue of DADT back into the news, and several prominent GOP politicians have stated that they now support repeal of DADT though they voted for it in 1993.
While all this shows progress towards legislative repeal of DADT, Dixon emphasized that the exact timing is critical because it must come up for a vote only when it is certain to win. Otherwise a loss would be a tough setback.
Questions from the callers included asking Dixon the reason why SLDN and other LGBTQ organizations chose to call for an apology from Pace rather than a resignation. Dixon said that calling for an apology was a more respectable approach that could bring in more people to influence the desired result.
Another caller questioned what strategies to use to get the 2008 presidential candidates on board to repeal DADT. Dixon said that the key is to get them fully educated on the issue as well as the other issues pending such as ENDA and Hate Crimes.
Dixon concluded the call by saying that he is available to answer other questions from donors or give advice or assistance in any way he can. Their website is http://www.blogger.com/www.SLDN.org and his email address is cdo@sldn.org.
The call started at 5:00 pm ended at 5:30 pm EDT.
Please view a wonderful 8 minute documentary video on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. This is something you may want to see and share with your family and friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQDP0_Y3UmU
