Wall Street Journal runs op-ed opposing lifting the military gay ban -- using the old 1993 arguments

The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed Feb. 3 by Mackubin Thomas Owens, an editor of Orbis, journal of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, “The Case Against Gays in the Military : Open homosexuality would threaten unit cohesion and military effectiveness”. The link is here. The article is by subscription. On Monday, Feb. 8, the WSJ ran a number of LTE’s, tending to disagree with Owens and support lifting the ban.

Owens seems to be resurrecting the old argument about homosociality, and the idea that “Phiia”, a social bond between members of a unit, would be corrupted by favoritism and “eros.” Of course, with women sharing responsibilities in almost all evils, one could twist his argument into something like “heterosexuality is incompatible with military service.”

We saw all these arguments back in 1993 - extending Nunn's "they have no privacy" and "when you state your status, you have described your conduct." The WSJ is known for fiscal conservatism only -- is this an aberration? (Remember, Foster Winans -- "Trading Secrets" (St. Martins, 1989) worked there.)

So buy the WSJ subscription (online $109 a year) to read it. Seriously, more newspapers are going to start to require subscription to see a lot of their content. Reader beware, decide if it is worth it.

CBS rejects gay dating ad for Super Bowl, however ....

The Advocate has reported that CBS rejected a $2.5 million spot ad from gay dating service called Mancrunch. The story is here. CBS is indicating that the denial was related to payment issues and not to content. CBS did accept a Focus on the Family ad. There was a great gayish (Pepsi or Coke?) spot with a “cute” man on safari, attracting the admiration of wild animals, including a hyena.

LGBT viewers will probably find the 30 second commercial funny rather than “erotic.” It is not explicit enough to violate FCC network standards. The price tag shows how expensive super bowl ads are. It also relates speculation on how much money online dating services claim to make.



As for the game, New Orleans turned it into a late rout, 31-17, over the Colts, with the help of an unusual onside kick and later a catastrophic interception. Oddly, the Saints just barely got past the Redskins 33-30 during the season.

Picture: My own trip to N.O., late Feb., 2006

Media covers subteties of Senate Armed Services Committee debate on DADT; LCR claims credit

The New York Times has a lot of coverage today about the military gay ban hearings Tuesday (I’m glad they haven’t started their 2011 charging policy yet), with an op-ed column by Maureen Dowd, “Defending the Long Gay Line” (perturbing the name of a 1955 movie “The Long Gray Line” about West Point and the introduction of the forward pass in football). The link for the column is here.

Ezra Klein takes up John McCain’s recalcitrance here in the Washington Post in his blog. Ironically, Log Cabin Republicans are taking credit for putting a lot of public pressure on Congress and the administration, with the only active court case right now, in its Feb. 1 statement, here.

The major news stories have covered other aspects of lifting the ban, such as the possibility of same-sex partner benefits in states that recognize same-sex marriage. There is also a proposal from Carl Levin (D-MI) to order suspension of discharges under the law, with a rider on this year’s Defense Authorization Bill. There is also the likelihood that Gates can order suspension of discharges based only on unsolicited information from third parties or found by happenstance, as on the Internet. Gates has expressed interest in reviewing the detailed recommendations in the 1993 Rand Study ordered by the Clinton Administration, but not implemented. Some supporters of DADT point to the "findings" in the 1993 law and claim that these have not changed.

The Washington Times, as usual, has its ice water jug, in its begrudging story by Sara Carter, “Gates to Hill: Pentagon to Ease Gay Ban: Both sides unhappy with plan,” link here.

Colin Powell, who has supported DADT and in 1993 made a meager threat to resign of Clinton's first plan to lift the ban, came out (no pun) today in favor of ending DADT.

JCS Chief stuns Senate Armed Services Committee: repeal don't ask don't tell

The hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee, the JCS chief Mike Mullen said it is time to scrap don’t ask don’t tell. “Men and women lie about who they are to defend their fellow citizens,” and seemed to suggest that the need to repeal the ban is the “worst kept secret in the military.” Gates said it could take two years to make the change. He said he had served with gays in 1968 (when I was in Basic). John McCain accused Gates of playing politics. 69% of the public agrees that gays and lesbians should be able to serve.

NBC Nightly News made a comparison to Truman's integrating the military in 1948 (covered in the HBO film "Truman" in 1996 with Gary Sinese).

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Larry King Live will report on the DADT hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 9 PM EST Tuesday Feb 2 on CNN.

Washington Post: Congress should repeal "don't ask don't tell" and do it now!

The Washington Post has an important editorial Monday Feb. 1, “Repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’: President Obama wants it done; now it’s up to Congress to follow through”, link.

To quote the president from the State of the Union speech:

"This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It's the right thing to do." The Post adds, “The ball is now in Congress's court.”

Patrick Murphy has 187 sponsors in the House. He needs 218 votes for passage.

The Washington Times, as usual, threw cold water on lifting the ban with its Monday morning headline (of its $1.00 international paper) "Tough fight set for gays in military; Obama wants ban repealed, but House and Senate not sure", link here, detailed story by Rowan Scarborough. By the way, you can tell by looking at the names of story writers at the Washington Times who survived their 40% job cuts recently during their "restructuring."

Picture: from Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg PA

Senate Armed Service Committee to hold brief hearing on military gay ban Feb 2; CMR "don't ask don't tell" is a misnomer

On Tuesday February 2 the Senate Armed Service Committee with testimony from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen on the possible repeal of “don’t ask don’t tell”. Defense Secretary Robert Gates may also appear.

The column Politics edited by Marc Ambinder on the Atlantic Wire has this story.

I received an email on AOL from “newsissuetalent” quoting the Center for Military Readiness as saying “ As CMR has been predicting for months, the Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled a hearing on the issue of gays in the military—mislabeled with the catch-phrase “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” on Tuesday, February 2. The only witnesses will be Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Given the very public arm-twisting from President Barack Obama in his State of the Union Speech last week, we do not expect either witness to defend current law, Section 654, Title 10, which states that homosexuals are not eligible to serve in the military. They are duty bound, however, to provide honest answers if their personal opinions are asked.”

I could not find this statement on its website yet. Here is the closest reference.
The closest I could find there was two links with archives of articles: “Problems with Gays in the Military”, here and “Homosexuals in the Military” here.

My gut reaction is that, if you are disqualified from participating in common defense for essentially a “private choice”, then you are a second class citizen, and other rights could be expropriated later. Ironically, that’s part of the story of my own life (amd I am 66 now). That’s why CMR’s belligerence disturbs me.

CMR’s president is Elaine Donnelly.

CNN has featured some interviews on "don't ask don't tell" over the weekend, with Don Lemmon interviewing Ed Rollins and former defense secretary William Cohen. This morning NBC Meet the Press interviewed Rep John Boehner from Ohio, who opposed changing the policy in the middle of "two wars".

Pentagon to start moving on recommendations on how to end "don't ask don't tell"

With a definite change in tone from earlier stories (as in the Washington Times), Craig Whitlock and Ed O’Keefe report in The Washington Post today (Jan 29) that the Pentagon will present recommendations for graduated and incremental steps in reversing “don’t ask don’t tell” to Congress. The link for the story is (web URL) here.

The recommendations would be likely to deal with subtle problems such as Internet profiles, as well as enforcing rules against fraternization.

The hackneyed problem has always been modesty of “privacy” in the barracks, back to Sam Nunn’s speeches back in 1993. But in practice this is rarely an issue. The problems are more subtle: among men, sometimes a man who seems less conforming and displays little heterosexual interest is perceived as an indirect or “existential” threat to the heterosexual capability of others because of layers of meaning.

In his 1992 book “Honor Bound”, Joseph Steffan reported spending his pre-senior summer cruise on a submarine with no hint of discomfort at all despite the close quarters and hot bunking; there were plenty of chess games.

The New York Times has an editorial today Jan. 29, "Ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell':, link here. The Times writes "The 1993 law was always pointless and cruel, but today, when numerous polls show that a solid majority of Americans oppose it, “don’t ask, don’t tell” feels ever more like the relic of a bygone era. There is evidence that the attitude of military officers is shifting. All that is lacking is political will."