Don't ask, don't tell

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The comic explains the previously poor internally valid behavior

Don't ask, don't tell ( DADT , German about “Ask not, say not [s]”); shortening of “ We don't ask and you don't tell ” , “We [the military] don't ask and you say nothing ”) was a military practiceaffectingthe status of homosexuals in the United States Armed Forces . According to her, soldiers were forbidden from having same-sex relationships, romantic or sexual, in public. In addition, homosexual members of the armed forces were prohibited from disclosing their sexual orientation or talking about topics of homosexuality during their service. In return, superior soldiers were prohibited from investigating the sexual orientation of their subordinates. The guideline resulted from tensions between the current legal situation, which completely prohibited homosexuals from military service, and military law enforcement officers, which softened this ban.

In December 2010, Congress lifted the ban on the practice, specifically Title 10, Section 654 of the US Code . Until July 2011, the armed forces were involved in the legal and organizational implementation of the repeal of the law, which was finally implemented on September 20, 2011. In July 2011, a federal court banned the continued use of Don't ask, don't tell in the US military.

history

Before 1993, the defense policy decree DoD Directive 1332.14 Enlisted Administrative Separations of January 28, 1982 recorded homosexuality in military service as a reason for dismissal, and went back in various legal statements to sodomy bans from the War of Independence . However, the ban was not the subject of any law prior to the abolition efforts. In 1993 President Bill Clinton attempted to overturn this as part of his executive powers. This project was based on an election promise made by Clinton in the 1992 presidential campaign.

In response to Clinton's efforts, Congress, which was opposed by a majority , codified the prohibition through an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 , the annual defense budget, which was included in Title 10, Section 654. This Congress exercised its constitutionally guaranteed exclusive budgetary powers ( power of the purse ) use that binds the executive law. Thereupon Clinton again made use of his executive powers. By enacting Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 , Clinton complied with the bill, but ordered the armed forces to pass it through . As a result, for example, there was no questioning of potential recruits about their sexual orientation during recruitment.

Politically speaking, when it was enacted in 1993, the directive represented a compromise between the positions of the military and Congress on the one hand and President Clinton on the other. Colin Powell , chief executive officer of the senior military officers, drafted the directive.

In the primaries of the 2000 presidential election the candidate of the future promised Democrats , Al Gore and his internal party competitors Bill Bradley the legalization of homosexuality in the armed forces. The winner of the same election, George W. Bush , continued the practice unchanged during his tenure. He did not support efforts by fellow Republican party members in Congress to actively enforce the dismissal of homosexual soldiers by tightening Clinton's instructions.

Until paragraph 654 was repealed, opponents of the open admission of homosexuals argued with the fear that the presence of a homosexual soldier would undermine the combat effectiveness of a military unit, especially with regard to its cohesion and morale in combat (unit cohesion) . Indeed, homophobic incidents have occurred repeatedly in the armed forces, culminating in murders such as that of Allen R. Schindler, Jr. in 1992, the causality of which - the homosexuality of the soldiers themselves or the favor of the law - was disputed. As practice in a growing number of Allied States as well as empirical social research in the United States increasingly countered these fears, an alternative argument gained momentum within this political camp. The opponents of the open approval emphasized that the militarily enforced community of homosexual and heterosexual soldiers would represent an impermissible impairment of the privacy of heterosexual soldiers.

From 1994 to 2006 the armed forces released around 12,500 soldiers on the basis of this legal arrangement. A calculation found it cost $ 364 million to replace them with new recruits.

A non-representative survey by the Zogby International group at the end of 2006 confirmed that the practice was poorly reliable, as a quarter of the soldiers it questioned knew of at least one homosexual member of their unit despite DADT .

In United States society, the slogan “don't ask, don't tell” has found more general usage. In this case, it describes the concealment of the sexual orientation of an individual and its conscious avoidance as a topic of conversation, but without actively lying about it to those around him.

Repeal

Marty Meehan with military leaders at the first announcement of his bill
US President Barack Obama at a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in November 2010 , in which the repeal of the law was discussed

On March 2, 2005, Democratic MP Marty Meehan introduced the HR 1059 - Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2005 to repeal the DADT rule in Congress. It was delegated to a committee and had 122 supporters by the end of the 109th session of the Congress. On February 28, 2007, Meehan re-introduced the same bill under the name HR 1246 - the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2007 . He was referred to a subcommittee and initially had 119 support votes. In November 2008, 100 retired US generals and admirals signed an appeal to repeal Don't ask, don't tell , and openly admit homosexuals. The repeal of the old regulation was part of the Obama administration's agenda from the start . In early February 2010, the US Department of Defense, headed by Robert Gates, presented a bill to Congress on the open service of homosexual soldiers in the military. In March 2010, the Pentagon relaxed its dealings with DADT insofar as the dismissal of a homosexual soldier now required the approval of a general or admiral.

On May 27, 2010, both the responsible US Senate committee and the House of Representatives approved the repeal of “Don't ask, don't tell”. A defense spending bill repealing the rule was blocked in the Senate on September 21, 2010, under the leadership of John McCain .

On October 12, 2010, a Los Angeles federal court ruled that any punitive action against openly homosexual soldiers was prohibited. The US government and Defense Secretary Gates had to immediately suspend all proceedings with which soldiers were to be transferred or dismissed for their homosexuality. On October 14, 2010, the Pentagon issued a moratorium that stopped enforcement of the policy with immediate effect, but at the same time announced that it would take legal action against the verdict. On October 20, 2010, an appeals court revoked the interim injunction on worldwide suspension of October 12. An association within the Republican Party for the Representation of Gay Interests, the Log Cabin Republicans , appealed against this ruling to the United States Supreme Court. On November 12, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the interim injunction from October 12 until the actual facts were heard was void. The verdict was passed without a dissenting opinion of a single judge, but judge Elena Kagan stayed away from hearing the complaint.

Voting behavior of the senators by state. 55 of the 56 Democratic Senators and eight of the 42 Republican Senators, as well as two Independents, voted for the bill, 31 Republicans voted against and there were four abstentions (3 R, 1 D).
  • both in agreement
  • one agreeing, one abstention
  • one approving, one disapproving
  • one rejecting, one abstention
  • both rejecting
  • two abstentions

    • On December 9, 2010, the Senate failed to repeal the rule because a 60/100 majority to override the filibuster could not be achieved.

    After the House of Representatives voted on December 15, 2010 with a 250-174 majority for a stand-alone proposal to amend the law, the Senate passed the same proposal on December 18, 2010 at 65:31. President Obama signed the law.

    According to the law of July 22, 2011, the final repeal was set for September 20, 2011. The homosexuals discharged from the army under the previous regulation can apply for re-entry.

    Military service in other states

    In all countries of the European Union as well as in Canada , Australia , New Zealand , South Africa , Switzerland , Norway , Argentina , Philippines , Uruguay and Israel , military service is open to homosexual people without restrictions.

    There are countries in which homosexual acts are legal, but openly homosexual people cannot serve in the military, for example in Mexico , Brazil , Cuba and practically also in Turkey .

    See also

    Web links

    literature

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ US Code Title 10 § 654 (English)
    2. ^ Advocate: Repeal certified
    3. ↑ Washington Post : Federal court orders immediate end to 'don't ask, don't tell' policy; Pentagon plans to comply
    4. ↑ cf. Section 571 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, (Subtitle G - Other Matters), Pub.L. 103-160, 107 Stat. 1547
    5. ↑ Belkin, Aaron et al .: Privacy as a Flawed Rationale for the Exclusion of Gays and Lesbians from the US Military , International Security, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Fall 2002), p. 180.
    6. ↑ Belkin, Aaron et al .: Privacy as a Flawed Rationale for the Exclusion of Gays and Lesbians from the US Military , International Security, Vol. 27, No. 2 (case 2002)
    7. ↑ HRC: Equally Speaking  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / wjww.hrc.org  
    8. ^ 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Costs Almost Double GAO Estimate, New Study Reports. Retrieved June 19, 2020 . University of California, Santa Barbara press release dated February 13, 2006
    9. ↑ Source: Time to repeal 'don't tell' . Time to repeal , don't tell . " USA Today online March 7, 2006. Found April 22, 2007.
    10. ↑ Library of Congress: Overview of HR1059 , viewed April 30, 2007
    11. ↑ Library of Congress: Overview of HR1226 , viewed April 30, 2007
    12. ↑ Queer: US generals call for the end of the gay ban
    13. ^ Civil Rights page in the WHITE HOUSE (President Barack Obama) blog
    14. ↑ n-tv: Openly gay soldiers soon officially allowed
    15. ↑ Tagesschau: US government openly wants to allow homosexual people in the army ( Memento of February 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
    16. ↑ Queer: gay ban in the US military relaxed
    17. ↑ FoxNews: Senate Panel Votes to Lift Military Gay Ban
    18. ^ Advocate: Congress Moves to End DADT. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .
    19. ↑ Shane, Leo, III: "Don" t ask, don't tell 'reversal measure falters in Senate . Stars and Stripes . September 21, 2010. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
    20. ↑ Tagesschau: “Don't ask, don't tell” violates fundamental rights ( Memento from October 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
    21. ↑ Tagesschau: Homosexual soldiers no longer have to be silent ( Memento from October 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
    22. ↑ The Standard: Confessing gays shouldn't serve for the time being
    23. ^ Stohr, Greg: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Permitted for Now by US Supreme Court , in: Bloomberg , November 13, 2010. Accessed November 13, 2010.
    24. ^ Advocate: Senate DADT Vote Fails
    25. ↑ NZZ online on December 22, 2010: Obama signs homosexual regulation for the US Army. Retrieved December 22, 2010 .
    26. ↑ a b Queer: Argentina and the Philippines end gay bans in the military
    27. ↑ Queer: Uruguay abolishes gay ban in the military
    28. ^ Israel: Army chief pro Homos , queer.de, October 7, 2006
    29. ↑ Johanna Lühr: Then you're outside , Tagesspiegel, May 4, 2008
    30. ^ Violence against homosexuals in Turkey , Deutschlandfunk, May 29, 2008