Friday, November 30, 2007

CNN Didn’t Ask, Gay Activists Didn’t Tell   [Elaine Donnelly]

Now we know that Wednesday’s CNN-YouTube debate was less than the genuine vox populi event that its producers claimed it to be. It’s even worse that CNN continues to defend its vetting of several questioners who were easily exposed as activists. CNN network spokesman Sam Feist said that the network “didn’t ask their party affiliation or whether they were associated with a campaign,” and denounced the critics for “focusing on the questioners, but not really focusing on the questions.”

Nice try, but the dishonesty here involved more than the undisclosed political affiliations of selected questioners like David Cercone, who claimed to be a Log Cabin Republican but actually supports Democrat senator Barack Obama. Keith Kerr, the retired brigadier general who asked about gays in the military, is a member of Hillary Clinton’s National Military Veterans Group. The audience also should have been told that Kerr has been an honorary board member and lobbyist for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a gay activist group, since 2003. An easy search of the SLDN website reveals 33 references to his name.

This time the activists for gays in the military over-reached, and their misrepresentations were exposed. Next time they may be more careful. A future “town hall” questioner might be a visibly wounded veteran of the current war, several of whom have joined the SLDN public-relations campaign for repeal of the law. The former soldiers’ service to our country deserves respect, but their emotional arguments simply do not hold up. Take the number of military discharges due to homosexuality, which is disingenuously portrayed as a “national security” argument for repeal of the law. The number in question actually is quite small in comparison to personnel losses for other legitimate reasons.

According to Department of Defense figures provided to the General Accountability Office (GAO), between the years of 1994 and 2003, 9,501 discharges due to homosexuality amounted to about 0.37 percent of separations for all reasons (about 5% of unplanned discharges). During that same period, there were three times as many discharges (26,446) for pregnancy, three-and-half times as many (36,178) for violations of weight standards, and six times as many discharges (59,098) for drug use and other offenses.

The number of separations due to homosexuality could be reduced to near zero if the next president faithfully enforces the law, and administratively drops Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” enforcement regulations. Additional legislation would not be necessary, because “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was never approved by Congress. The catch-phrase refers to Bill Clinton’s proposal to accommodate gays in the military, as long as they don’t say they are homosexual.

Following extensive hearings, Congress recognized that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was unworkable, and members rejected Clinton’s concept. Instead, Congress approved a law codifying Defense Department regulations, in effect since 1981, which stated that “homosexuality is incompatible with military service.” That statute, Section 654, Title 10, was passed with bipartisan veto-proof majorities in both houses, and has been upheld by the courts as constitutional several times.

Problems began when President Clinton imposed his own proposal on the armed forces anyway, in the form of enforcement regulations that are different from the law. In a debate last June, Sen. Hillary Clinton admitted that this convoluted policy was intended to be a “transitional” step toward the ultimate goal, full acceptance of gays in the military. Confusion about the difference between Clinton’s policy and the law is the best advantage that the pro-gay PR campaign has.

CNN, which claimed that it wanted to discuss the issues, followed up with correspondent John Roberts’ puff-piece interview with the gay general. Roberts didn’t ask about the premise behind Keith Kerr’s question, “Why [do] you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians?” The candidates could have noted that our men and women in uniform are very professional, but they are not emotionless machines. Military people are human, and the law respects their desire for personal privacy in sexual matters.

In gender-neutral terms, the law simply states that persons who live in conditions of “forced intimacy” should not have to reveal themselves to persons who might be sexually attracted to them. The purpose of the law is to promote good order, discipline, and high morale—considerations that are more important than individual careers.

Keith Kerr said that he did not reveal his homosexuality until after he retired, but activists he is associated with are demanding far more than that. Repeal of the law would impose all elements of the homosexual agenda on the volunteer force, regardless of the consequences. This would include full housing and medical benefits for homosexuals, status comparable to heterosexual couples, equal participation in social events, and sensitivity training to promote acceptance by all personnel, including officers seeking promotion or nomination to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Questions about this agenda and the law are not difficult to answer, but all of the candidates need to be prepared. With or without media stunts, the issue is not going away.

11/30 08:22 AMShare