Moving Swiftly to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

By Dawn Lim

Democratic lawmakers managed to get Congress to vote to overturn the ban on gays serving openly in the military last week, clearing the path for the Pentagon to end its "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Now that the policy's days are numbered, foreign military officers who've gone through a similar process say the Pentagon should move swiftly to end it and move on.

According to the Brookings Institution, overseas military officers and experts at a conference that it co-hosted with the University of California Santa Barbara's Palm Center last month said a quick shift would be the most painless.

"I would recommend that the key decision is whether or not you're going to go that way and the rest of it is just support to it," said Maj. Gen. Simon Willis of the Australian Defense Forces. "And if you can get the support wrapped up in it more quickly, I think it's much better."

Willis added that for all the heated debate, the actual implementation would likely be pretty routine.

The "lifting of the homosexual ban in the ADF was a bit like the Y2K issue," he said. "There [was] a lot of bluster and screaming and yelling and plans, and everyone had an opinion about it. But it came and went, and that was it. Nothing more was heard about it. It was a non-event and it continues to be a non-event in Australia."

Retired officers said that the coming out process for members of the military probably would proceed without much fanfare.

"There were concerns in the late '90s of gay men walking across the gangplank in feather boas and high heels," said retired Lt. Cmdr. Craig Jones of the British Royal Navy. "That just did not happen."