Yesterday, September 20, 2011, marked the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and we at FCC Santa Cruz marked the day with a special event. What follows are my opening statements.
Welcome. We are here tonight to mark an historic day. Today, nine months after being signed into law, the repeal of the military’s so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was put into effect. This means that for the first time in the United States’ history, Gays and lesbians can serve openly in the military. Well before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was introduced in 1993, homosexuality was grounds for immediate discharge from the United States Military. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into law…a policy that was supposedly written to try to protect gay and lesbian service members from harassment, but which simply upheld a culture of lies and secrets, requiring military personnel to lie about their lives in order to serve.
In the 18 years since DADT was put into effect, over 14,000 service members have been discharged from the military for being gay or lesbian. That averages out to just over two people every day for 18 years… Two people discharged each day who wanted to serve, who served honorably, who had skills and commitment that benefitted our military. There are today an estimated 60,000 gay and lesbian Americans in active duty, and these soldiers have lived and worked in an environment of secrecy and lies, living in fear of their truth being discovered. The military depends on trust between soldiers—often a matter of life and death—and yet has required many people to lie about their relationships and who they are, even with their closest colleagues.
So today, incredibly, there is at least a legal end to this particular form of institutionalized discrimination and culture of dishonesty. Starting today, gay and lesbian service members will be allowed to come out of the closet, to speak the truth about who they are, and to serve their country openly. We here at FCC wanted to mark this day and this victory, but we also wanted to acknowledge that for many veterans, this policy change is too little, too late. Many vets still hold anger, sadness and a sense of betrayal about the ways they were treated because of their sexual orientations, and we wanted to stand up as a community to say that it was wrong. That we are sorry, and that we recognize their service and the sacrifices they have made.
So tonight we come together, veterans and civilians, people from military families and people with no personal ties to the military, peace activists and active service members…we come together to hear some of the stories, to serve as witnesses to the injustices of the past, and to express hope for a new future. Thank you for coming.
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