Top Defense Department officials told the Senate Tuesday that it was time to allow gay men and women to serve openly in the military, rather than continuing the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that has forced thousands of them out.
The hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee was a response to President Obama's call during his Jan. 27 State of the Union address to end discrimination against gays in the military.
"No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,"
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified at the Senate hearing. He said that "allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do."
The U.S. military is beginning a year-long review of its 16-year policy to figure out the best way to tolerate gays in the armed services.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates agreed in his testimony that it was time to change the policy that says gays who openly proclaim their sexual orientation, or display it through their behavior, can be forced out of the military.
He said the military needs more time to study a new policy, which would require approval from Congress. He also predicted some members of the military would be upset if gays are allowed to serve openly.
Gates warned against Congress acting too swiftly on its own policy change.
"Keep the impact it will have on our forces firmly in mind," Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Even within Congress, opposition to a more liberal policy is strong.
Among the opponents is Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former Navy pilot who was imprisoned in Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
"Don't ask, don't tell has been an imperfect but effective policy," McCain said during the Senate hearing.
He said military personnel sometimes are forced to live under "spartan conditions" that include "forced intimacy."
They must expect restrictions on their personal conduct to maintain order and cohesion within their units, McCain said.
He held up a petition signed by more than 1,000 military generals and other top officers opposing openly gay personnel in the military.
He called the policy dispute "an extremely difficult issue."
McCain faces what appears to be a change of heart among the American public.
In 1993, popular opinion polls showed a majority of Americans opposed the idea of gays in the military. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "In the latest Gallup poll, the American public overwhelmingly supports allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Sixty-nine percent of Americans are recorded as supporting their right to serve, and many are in fact serving."
In some cases, discrimination against gays has hurt the military, he said.
In one example, dozens of Arabic and Farsi linguists were forced out of the military recently for what appeared to be gay lifestyles at a time their services were critical to U.S. Army efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Levin said.
Advocacy groups have joined the dispute over gays in the military with their own heated arguments.
"Fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is difficult and dangerous already," said Andrea Lafferty, director of the Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative group. "We don't need someone sitting in a foxhole concerned about whether or not the night will turn into a date night for someone serving beside him."
The civil liberties advocacy group Human Rights Watch has been outspoken in opposing the don't ask, don't tell policy.
"It sends a message that this country doesn't consider some people worthy to defend it," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program for Human Rights Watch. "It also deprives people of their rights to free speech - to say, and be, who they are. It undermines the very freedoms our military says it defends."
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