Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
30th June, 2010
With the recent developments regarding the United States’ military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, which effectively bans openly gay and lesbian citizens from serving in the military, it is an appropriate time to examine where the policy came from, where it currently stands, and the possibilities for its future.
Leading up to his 1992 presidential election victory, Bill Clinton promised to end the ban on gays and lesbians in the US military. However, once in office President Clinton encountered fierce resistance from Congress. During the Congressional debates, Dr. Gregory Herek, a respected social psychologist with over 15 years of research in topics of sexual orientation, spoke on the potential consequences of lifting the ban on gays and lesibans in the military. His ultimate conclusion was that “the research data show that there is nothing about lesbians and gay men that makes them inherently unfit for military service, and there is nothing about heterosexuals that makes them inherently unable to work and live with gay people in close quarters.” Despite these affirmations, President Clinton was unable to persuade congress, and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was formed as a compromise. This was, at any rate, progress, because it allowed gay and lesbian troops to serve in the military, as long as they kept their sexual orientation a secret.
Every year, a bill is used to decide the budget of the US Department of Defense, and the 2010 version includes an amendment that would eliminate the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law. This was voted on by the House of Representatives on May 27, and it passed on a 234-194 vote. The Senate Armed Forces Committee also voted on the bill, and it passed there with a 16-12 vote.
The biggest argument against passing the bill is that its potential effects on the military are unknown. The Pentagon is currently undergoing a review that was commissioned after President Obama’s State of the Union Address, where he discussed his desire to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The goal of the review is to determine whether or not the repeal would affect the “military’s standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruitment and retention,” and to offer strategies on how to implement the law if it was passed. The results of this review are not due until December, so many Representatives who were not in favor of repeal said that they were reluctant to agree to the bill without first knowing the results of the Pentagon review.
What is known about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is there are many negative consequences. Apart from its obvious discriminatory nature, which can alienate troops and force them to lie, it is very expensive. A 2006 study showed that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has cost the US over $363 million dollars in investigations and training replacements. Over 13,000 people have been kicked out of the military since 1993 due to their sexual orientation, which includes troops with critical skills such as Arabic linguists, fighter pilots and doctors, whose skills are invaluable during a time in which the US is involved in two wars. There are over thirty countries that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, including Israel, England, Canada, Australia, and Spain.
There are still many obstacles in the way before the repealing of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell can be passed. The next step is that the Senate must vote on the bill, which could occur this summer. If it were to pass in the Senate, the president, the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff all must sign off on it as well. This might be a very significant obstacle because President Obama has threatened to veto the bill because it contains money for defense projects he deems wasteful.
Despite these obstacles, there is more hope than ever that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law will finally be eliminated. As Dr. Herek mentioned, there is absolutely nothing that prevents gays and lesbians from serving as well as heterosexuals. And with numerous examples of countries successfully embracing gays and lesbians into their militaries, isn’t it time that the United States, a self-professed powerful force for good in the world, did so as well? As someone close to me always says, there have always been gay and lesbian troops in the military, and I believe that it is long past due to finally allow them to serve their country openly and freely.
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Join Citizens Project & Join the Conversation!
19th April, 2010
Please join Citizens Project at a community gathering and join the conversation!
Come meet your neighbors for informal discussions about how we can work together to make our community a better place. Citizens Project invites you to join us in creating a louder voice for inclusion, diversity and equal rights. We want to hear your stories and create conversations that lead to bridging cultural divides in our community.
Community Conversations 
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
5:30 – 6:30 pm
Panera Bread, 7344 North Academy Shops, 80920 (map)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
10:00 – 11:00 am
Panera Bread, 3120 New Center Point, 80922 (map)
Thursday, May 13, 2010
5:30 – 6:30 pm
Panera Bread, 1832 Southgate Road, 80906 (map)
Please join us at one or all of these community conversations, and invite your friends and colleagues!
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Creating Community Breakfast
6th April, 2010
| June 3, 2010 | ||
| 7:30 am | to | 8:30 am |
Save the date and join Citizens Project at the 6th annual Creating Community Breakfast! This fun and free fundraising breakfast will feature speakers, musical entertainment and a few surprises.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
7:30 – 8:30am (check-in begins at 7:00am)
Bigg City Event Center, 5825 Mark Dabling Blvd (south entrance
Learn more about the work Citizens Project is doing in the Pikes Peak region to promote equal rights, diversity, religious freedom through separation of church and state and civic engagement, and learn how you can help!
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Create Isolation? Not us!
26th March, 2010
Tell us your story and join the conversation!
It’s been revealed: Citizens Project is the agency behind the subversive ads you may have seen around town. The Gazette ran a nice story about it, and what these crazy messages really represent is our community without Citizens Project:
Now we invite you to join us to make our community a better place. We are creating a louder voice for inclusion, diversity and equal rights by collecting stories, creating conversations, and telling a new, powerful story of Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region.
Today, we want to hear more about you.
Tell us your story. Tell us about your personal experiences of diversity, discrimination, inclusion, or isolation. Tell us about a time you felt unwelcome or devalued in our community, and tell us about a time you felt included and respected. Tell us what you wish for Colorado Springs and our region, and how you think Citizens Project can help residents make a difference.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Citizens Project in the news!
25th March, 2010
You’ve seen the billboards, the print ads, the bus sides and the websites. Church Equals State, Freedom From Expression, Create Isolation, Celebrate Conformity. And now you know that Citizens Project was the organization behind this provocative campaign.
Learn more about what the campaign is all about by checking out Citizens Project’s recent media coverage and stay tuned to learn how you can join the conversation!
- Check out the Gazette article by Mark Barna: Springs nonprofit hopes billboards spark diversity dialogue
- Read a story by Anthony Lane on the Colorado Springs Independent blog: Church equals state? Huh?
- Also, watch for Citizens Project on KRDO Channel 13 news this evening, when Executive Director Barb Van Hoy talks about the awareness campaign
If you haven’t already, please join our email list for opportunities to get involved!
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Walmart store sells Black Barbie for $3, White Barbie for $5.93
24th March, 2010
(http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/224187/Wal+Mart+Fail/)
Thanks to Diversity Consultant Jody Alyn and her student for this piece in her newsletter:
Is this a race-based business practice? A race-based buying practice? Or a sign of something else?
Check out the news story about Walmart and watch a video about one news program’s effort to recreate Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s famous research on doll preference and racial identity.
Reprinted with permission.
The linked news story on ABC’s web site is very thoughtful.
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Religious Right Offensive on Public Education in Texas
15th February, 2010
Citizens Project has been following the dangerous extremism on the Texas Board of Education over the last several months. It exploded in the national press yesterday with this cover story in The New York Times Magazine.
The injection of partisan politics into education went so far that at one point another Republican board member burst out in seemingly embarrassed exasperation, “Guys, you’re rewriting history now!”
Citizens Project will keep monitoring local schools to prevent this from happening here. Please let us know if you hear of any inappropriate politicizing we should be aware of.
Thanks to our friends at the Texas Freedom Network for fighting the Texas takeover.
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A Celebration of History
28th December, 2009
| January 18, 2010 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 1:30 pm |
A Celebration of History: Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day & Barack Obama’s Inauguration
January 18, 2010
Colorado Technical University, 4435 N. Chestnut St., Colorado Springs, CO
Meet & Greet: 11:00 – 11:30am
African American Resources: 11:30am – 12:30pm
Lunch: 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Cost: $25 per person
Please RSVP by January 15, 2010 to Dr. James Tucker @ 719-528-1954
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Take Action: Vote for Plus One in Colorado Springs!
18th December, 2009
Our Plus One city employee health benefits proposal is in the news again today and the Gazette has posted an online
poll about it. A strong showing of support in the poll and on the letters page of the Gazette could make the difference in showing City Council that there is enough public support to pass the plan. PLEASE ACT NOW!
- Vote for Plus One in the Gazette’s online poll (click here and scroll down, in the right-hand column).
- Forward this and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same.
- Write to the City Council and ask them to pass Plus One. Click here for a list of City Council Members and contact information. You can also email all council members at allcouncil@springsgov.com.
- Write a letter to the editor and post on online comment voicing your support for the plan. Send to opinion@gazette.com.
City Council members pay attention to these, so your letters and vote MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Read the story and take the poll here: http://www.gazette.com/articles/city-90978-employees-href.html
You can find some talking points in Barb Van Hoy’s comment posted in the Gazette’s online comment section, reprinted here:
“The “Plus One” policy being proposed by Citizens Project would allow all city employees to buy into the city’s employee health insurance plan for one family member, if they are not already eligible for benefits for a spouse or dependent children. It is not really accurate to call this a “same-sex benefits” plan because that is only one of several types of qualifying family members. Employees could add an adult dependent child, a dependent parent, a domestic partner, or dependent grandparent. The employee would pay the full premium, rather than be subsidized by the city as current family members are (and as the 2003 policy did for same-sex couples that cost the cit $6,000). That’s one reason it is budget-neutral (the premium covers the full per-participant cost in the health plan.) The other reason it is cost-neutral is that the demographic population as a whole that is projected to buy in is not expected to increase the overall costs (based on the analyses of benefits experts).
Now is the time for Colorado Springs to begin catching up to the private sector, as well as the most successful cities across the country by adopting better, more inclusive employment practices. Whatever your personal opinion on same-sex couples, or single mothers or 35 year-old kids living with mom & dad, the fact is that our society includes a huge diversity of families. Competitive employers do right by their employees by adopting more inclusive plans, and our city should to. Attracting the best employees will get the best use out of our limited tax dollars. In addition, it is not government’s role to enforce a religious view of relationships on its employees, so arguments labeling some people’s families as “immoral” are moot. Government should treat all citizens equally. The Plus One plan doesn’t get all the way there, but it is an improvement, expands access to health care, treats all employees more equally, makes the city a more competitive employer, and won’t cost taxpayers a dime. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.”
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The December Dilemma – Inclusive Holiday Practices for Public Schools
5th December, 2009
Every year Citizens Project sends The December Dilemma to local public schools. It is a primer on inclusive holiday practices for public schools produced by the Anti-Defamation League.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects religious freedom by not only guaranteeing “the free exercise thereof”, but also by prohibiting our government from endorsing religion (“respecting an establishment of religion”). The December Dilemma provides expert guidance to schools on how the courts have interpreted religious liberty protections for students and staff, to ensure school holiday activities are not only legal, but inclusive and respectful of the great diversity of our country.
Download a PDF of The December Dilemma here.
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