Memorial Day is the 70th year of anti-gay discrimination officially embedded in military policy, despite the false belief that DADT has been repealed.

Today marks Memorial Day, a somber day in American life when we honor the service of those who gave their lives, the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the people of the United States of America. This Memorial Day also bitterly marks the 70th year in American history in which government-sanctioned discrimination continues to be enforced against gays and lesbians serving in military. Contrary to what too many believe, the policy and practice of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) remains in place until the repeal is fully implemented.

Memorial Day also reminds that today is the 159th day since President Barack Obama signed the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law, which forces gay and lesbian service members to remain in the military closet, stripped of their right to speak freely about their lives, or face a punitive discharge from the military because of their sexual orientation.

Since 1941 millions of gay and lesbian Americans have served, despite various incantations of the same gay ban—“homosexuality is incompatible with military service”–policy which remained in place during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Grenada and Panama actions, Desert Storm, and through the Kosovo humanitarian intervention.

President Bill Clinton called DADT “an honorable compromise,” in 1993, when we lost the effort to repeal the gay ban. Thus, this Memorial Day also marks the 18th year of DADT as the policy of our government. That fact infuriates me.

We are now entering the sixth month since President Obama proclaimed the somewhat misleading words “It is done!” which he uttered when he ceremoniously signed the repeal bill, witnessed by 500 veterans activists and members of Congress who had worked years for its repeal. It feels as if we witnessed a bizarre version of  “Kabuki” theater, myself having attended the signing ceremony of the repeal of DADT to such pomp and circumstance.

 

We should take nothing for granted and hold President Obama and Congress accountable for complete and final repeal. Let us continue the fight and truly honor Memorial Day by establishing a state of equality that enables us to pay tribute to our dead, openly, knowing we are all free to say “I am gay” without fear and retribution.

 

We were reminded in April by the White House (and should have not be lulled into thinking that anything had changed–at least not yet,) when Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) and Dr. Jill Biden launched “Joining Forces” a campaign for military families, explicitly excluding gay families, for the time being, until, well, the DADT policy was repealed.

When the White House was questioned if the initiative would include gay families, FLOTUS spokesperson Kristen Schake  threw cold water on that notion by saying in a statement to the MetroWeekly, “The President has been crystal clear that the Administration is moving forward with the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ quickly and efficiently. However, it still remains the law. The White House, including the First Lady and Dr. Biden, look forward to working with the families of gay and lesbian service members after certification occurs and repeal goes into effect.”

Adding insult to injury to this deliberative and painstakingly-slow implementation process were the actions of the Republican-led House of Representatives last week which passed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that contained three anti-gay, anti-DADT repeal amendments.

Easily carried in a 322-96 majority vote and supported by a number of Democrats, one new hurdle has been added to an already onerous process, as the stridently anti-gay Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) sponsored the required formal concurrence of the service chiefs, along with the already required signatures of the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs. Other amendments include a restatement of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and a specific prohibition use of military facilities or personnel for same-sex marriage ceremonies.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-MjLWkDNqY&fs=1&hl=en_US]

In fact, complete repeal of DADT is far from done, despite the president’s misleading words. Obama had negotiated an agreement with the Department of Defense (DOD) leadership that provided for a deliberative and unnecessarily-long process that must culminate in a signed notification to Congress by the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs.

DADT remains very much in place, as a policy, while the military implements the recommendations of the Department of Defense Comprehensive Working Group report that includes DOD-wide training program, carried out by each service of how straight servicemembers are expected to treat gay and lesbian colleagues and to become well versed on the standards of conduct.

Will this be the last Memorial Day that discrimination remains the DOD standard mode of operation? Will July 4th mark the last day of independence in which the government of the United States continues to discriminate against those who are gay and lesbian and serve in the ranks?

I hope so.  The White House issued a statement rejecting the House’s actions. But I do not take anything for granted and neither should members of  the LGBT community. The Republicans have made clear they are not going down without a fight and drag out the final steps for complete repeal of DADT as long as they can. Coupled with the national Tea Party antics, as evidenced in the Walker takeover in Wisconsin, their efforts have made clear, rule of law be damned—are cautionary tales.

President Obama said it best at the signing ceremony when he stated America “is not a country of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” As a child growing up in the 1960s I always thought America was the country of “can do”–we were taught to believe that Americans can do anything, as long as we put our minds to a task and work hard.

And yet, today, despite the president’s soaring rhetoric,  I am not counting down the days to repeal because there is no line of demarcation that moves us to a date of destiny, free of discrimination. The process negotiated beween the president and the Pentagon was left to be a dangerously open-ended, one that has been pounced upon by Republican opponents.

READ: DADT: For Memorial Day Jewish Women Demand Congress End Repeal Opposition

Instead, all of us should stay on top of this legislation and ride herd on it all the way to Obama’s desk for his final, final signature. Are you convinced the Democrats are going to stand behind the plan?

I am not, despite national polling data that just keeps getting better and better for the LGBT community.

A recent Gallup poll recorded in excess of 50 percent support by respondents in a national survey on gay marriage is maddening irrelevant to cautious politicians–the poll numbers on gays in the military have enjoyed some of the highest numbers in support of gay rights in the history of poll-taking on gay issues. But poll numbers don’t matter to legislators who have feet made of clay or who simply view gays not worthy of equal citizenship.

So, we should take nothing for granted and hold President Obama and Congress accountable for complete and final repeal. Let us continue the fight and truly honor Memorial Day by establishing a state of equality that enables us to pay tribute to our dead, openly, knowing we are all free to say “I am gay” without fear and retribution. This liberty is the most honorable tribute we can bestow on America’s mostly unsung and unknown LGBT heroes of the past 235 years.

(image: dbking, “12,000 Flags for 12,000 Patriots”, 2007)

Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a Harriman Institute affiliated faculty member. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender issues, sex trafficking, and media freedom.

Read Tanya Domi’s most-recent previous article at The New Civil Rights Movement, “DADT: For Memorial Day Jewish Women Demand Congress End Repeal Opposition.”