As lesbian and gay servicemembers and military veterans are celebrating the repeal of the military’s anti-gay “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — despite delays in implementing the repeal — transgender servicemembers and veterans once again find themselves left behind in the battle for equality.

Because repealing DADT did not end the ban on service by trans people.

“The military still puts trans people in the same medical category as pedophilia. They consider it [transgenderism] to be a medical disorder,” said Monica Helms, president and co-founder of Transgender American Veterans Association.

“Trans people still have to be deep in the closet. They can’t talk to anyone about their lives, or they risk being discharged and getting something other than an honorable discharge,” Helms added. “Because the kind of discharge you get can make a huge difference in what kind of benefits you can get.”

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By Andrew Harmon

House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Bud McKeon and Rep. Joe Wilson have asked for a delay in “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal, set for September 20, because the committee has not received a summary of policy changes on benefits and other matters, they write. 

“The Department is not ready to implement the repeal because all the policies and regulations necessary for the transition are not yet final,” the two Republican congressmen wrote in a letter dated September 12. “We would ask that the senior military leaders’ memoranda immediately be made public and transmitted to the Committee on Armed Services.” (Fox News has a report and link to the letter here.) 

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that the repeal date will stand, however. 

“The repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ will occur, in accordance with the law and after a rigorous certification process, on September 20,” the Pentagon spokesman said. “Senior Department of Defense officials have advised Congress of changes to regulations and policies associated with repeal. We take that obligation seriously.”

Update: Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis issued the following statement on the letter from McKeon and Wilson:

“This is another example of the hardcore opposition attempting to delay or undo ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal. I expect they will continue to look for openings to deny gay and lesbian service members the same rights and dignity as their straight counterparts. On the substance, Mr. McKeon and Mr. Wilson are simply wrong. The statute only requires that the new regulations be prepared — not issued — before certification.”

21/07/2011 22:21

By Julian E. Barnes 

Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 
 

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)—Top defense officials plan to certify on Friday that the Pentagon is ready to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military, officials said, and a landmark moment after almost two decades of controversy.

The move closes one chapter, but opens another. The military has now to resolve critical questions such as benefits same-sex couples will receive.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)

While the military will be free to provide some services to same-sex spouses, like family support for spouses of deployed service members, it will be blocked from providing the full range of health, housing and education benefits under federal law.

Under the law passed late last year by Congress, the repeal of the 1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law will go into effect 60 days after the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that military readiness will not be harmed by the repeal of the ban.

The 9th Circuit Court of appeals has put in place an injunction preventing the military from enforcing the ban, which has halted any discharges under the policy and prevented recruiters from turning away openly gay recruits. However, until the ban is formally repealed, gay rights advocates have advised service members not to reveal their sexual identity.

With Friday’s actions the ban will formally disappear in late September.

Officials are likely to use the remainder of the summer to try and hammer out some of the unanswered questions about what military benefits same sex couples are eligible for. The military is also wrestling with other, more minor questions, like whether same sex unions can be performed in military chapels.

With the repeal in place, many senior military officials have said privately they are personally in favor of extending equal rights to same sex couples. Advocates are counting on those officers to make the case to Congress that current law should be changed.

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(Source: morningstar.co.uk)

fuckyeahlgbtmilitary:

A federal appeals court revived part of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy late Friday, ruling that the military can continue to reject openly gay enlistees but must suspend all investigations and discharges under the beleaguered 1993 law aimed at gay members of the armed forces.

In an order issued Friday night, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said a government filing Thursday gave the court information it had not previously known about the progress of a repeal process that Congress put into place for “don’t ask, don’t tell” in a statute passed last December. Just last week, the same three-judge panel said changes in the administration’s stance warranted reinstating a lower court’s ban on all enforcement of “don’t ask,” at least while the government’s appeal went forward.

The appeals court said its latest order is only temporary and it asked the Justice Department to explain why the court wasn’t told earlier that only one person has been discharged from the military under “don’t ask” since the repeal legislation was passed last year or that the military services were just weeks away from giving the green-light for a certification that can lead to repeal of “don’t ask” under last year’s law.

You can read the court’s order here.

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