Welch weighs in on DADT policy

Author: Tom Brant

A betting man might wager that a discussion between a drag queen and a U.S. Congressman moderated by a college president has never or would never take place. However, the betting man would have lost on April 29, when a drag queen, a college president and a Congressman did in fact convene in Dana Auditorium to discuss the U.S. military's official policy towards gay servicemen and women. What is more, they all agreed that not allowing openly gay Americans to serve is not only unfair discrimination, but also is reducing the effectiveness of the military.

During the discussion moderated by President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz, Vermont Representative Peter Welch outlined his support for the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, which allows gays to serve in the military only if they hide their sexual orientation.

"This 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, in addition to being a basic violation of what I think is the spirit of our constitution, is very impractical," Welch said. "It's having very negative impacts on the military, on our defense, on getting the job done."

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy does have negative consequences for the military's special capabilities, such as Arabic translation. According to a Government Accountability Office report, about 800 specialists with critical skills have been discharged from the service under the policy, including 55 linguists who specialized in Arabic. The total number of people discharged under the policy, implemented in 1993, is around 11,000.

"The military just does not have those folks available," Welch said. "The idea that you're taking somebody who's qualified, has a good record, is liked by his or her colleagues and you're firing that person for this hypocritical policy has negative consequences."

But it's not just a question of military effectiveness. Welch also opposes the don't ask don't tell policy because of its unfairness to gay and lesbian Americans who want to serve.

"It's really an issue of basic civil rights, and it's not a negotiable item," Welch said.

The other panelist, Michael Glidden, a Dining Services employee and drag queen with the Vermont-based performance group House of LeMay, agreed with Welch. Glidden likened the don't ask don't tell policy to the injustices that African Americans fought to overcome during the 1960s.

"'We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,'" he said, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Glidden explained that he believes his son's step brother, who was killed in Iraq, might have survived if Glidden's friend and Arabic specialist had been allowed to continue to serve in the military despite his homosexuality. Troops are dying, according to Glidden, because the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy deprives the military of specialists with crucial skills. Today, his son wears a black wrist band engraved with the name of his dead step brother.

"I have to ask myself, were don't ask don't tell not an issue, perhaps Stephen K. Benjamin, an Arabic linguist specialist, would have continued to serve on the front lines of Iraq, providing intelligence and information to our troops, [and he] might have prevented my son from sporting a black wrist band," Glidden said.

Glidden's emotional testimony struck a chord with some audience members, including Hiedi Schruger, who said she served as an active-duty Marine in Iraq at the beginning of the U.S. invasion. Schruger read a prepared statement during the question-and-answer period in which she told of fellow Marines who were discharged against their will because of their sexual orientation, and others who were allowed to continue serving.

"There is an uneven application of this law," Schruger said. "Some commanding officers turn a blind eye."

One thing that was missing from the discussion was an opposing viewpoint. The three men on stage as well as the audience seemed to be in agreement that don't ask don't tell needed to be repealed. Liebowitz, who refrained from discussing his personal views, said afterward that it the discussion would have benefited from someone who supported the policy. Middlebury Open Queer Alliance co-president Ryan Tauriainen '08 agreed.

"I feel like it would have been a more interesting debate and would have had more audience participation if there had been opposing viewpoints," Tauriainen said.

Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) was scheduled to attend the discussion but was unable to participate do to illness. Glidden and Welch had no trouble arriving at the conclusion by themselves, however.

"Does this policy help or does it hinder?" asked Welch. "The evidence is overwhelming that it hinders."