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CNN Live Saturday
Today Marks 10th Anniversary Of Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Aired July 19, 2003 - 18:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Today marks the tenth anniversary of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy on homosexuality but it's not a very happy occasion as the policy gets reexamined.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Servicemen and women will be judged based on their conduct not their sexual orientation.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite its goal, the 1993 don't ask, don't tell policy did not protect gays from being kicked out of the military. Ten years later more than 9,000 service members have been discharged for homosexuality, but the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down state anti-sodomy laws is giving gays and lesbians new hope.
Steve Loomis had already filed suit in federal court challenging the military's ban on sodomy. A decorated Vietnam veteran and lieutenant colonel, he was discharged one week before retirement when the military learned he was gay.
STEVE LOOMIS, FORMER LT. COLONEL: I think clearly the Supreme Court was laying out that there is a right to privacy in sexual, intimate relations, and that's one of the things that we are maintaining in my case.
KOCH: There is no right to privacy in the military and the armed forces operate under their own criminal laws laid out in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. A Pentagon spokesman says for now: "It's the law and the law hasn't changed."
But in 2001, a commission reviewing the 50-year-old military law recommended that portion be revised because social morays had changed and enforcement appeared to be "arbitrary, even vindictive."
WILLIAM ESKRIDGE, YALE LAW SCHOOL: I think that it will ultimately be revoked by either the administrative military process or by the political process itself. There are now legitimate arguments to challenge the criminality of consensual sodomy.
KOCH: It's unclear whether that would also mean the end of the don't ask, don't tell policy, or the ban on gays altogether. If it did, critics maintain unit cohesiveness will be hurt and values eroded.
ANDREA LAFFERTY, TRADITIONAL VALUES COALITION: The homosexual community wants to legitimize their lifestyle and a major way of doing that is to force the military to accept them.
KOCH: Advocates insist it's enforcing don't ask, don't tell, that hurts the military.
DIXON OSBURN, LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: They're shooting themselves in the foot so we have a brain drain. We're losing people critical to our national security.
KOCH (on camera): Any major policy change will likely be made by Congress or the Supreme Court. Still, any action that could impact troop morale or readiness is considered unlikely as long as U.S. forces remain under fire in Iraq.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 19, 2003 - 18:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Today marks the tenth anniversary of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy on homosexuality but it's not a very happy occasion as the policy gets reexamined.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Servicemen and women will be judged based on their conduct not their sexual orientation.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite its goal, the 1993 don't ask, don't tell policy did not protect gays from being kicked out of the military. Ten years later more than 9,000 service members have been discharged for homosexuality, but the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down state anti-sodomy laws is giving gays and lesbians new hope.
Steve Loomis had already filed suit in federal court challenging the military's ban on sodomy. A decorated Vietnam veteran and lieutenant colonel, he was discharged one week before retirement when the military learned he was gay.
STEVE LOOMIS, FORMER LT. COLONEL: I think clearly the Supreme Court was laying out that there is a right to privacy in sexual, intimate relations, and that's one of the things that we are maintaining in my case.
KOCH: There is no right to privacy in the military and the armed forces operate under their own criminal laws laid out in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. A Pentagon spokesman says for now: "It's the law and the law hasn't changed."
But in 2001, a commission reviewing the 50-year-old military law recommended that portion be revised because social morays had changed and enforcement appeared to be "arbitrary, even vindictive."
WILLIAM ESKRIDGE, YALE LAW SCHOOL: I think that it will ultimately be revoked by either the administrative military process or by the political process itself. There are now legitimate arguments to challenge the criminality of consensual sodomy.
KOCH: It's unclear whether that would also mean the end of the don't ask, don't tell policy, or the ban on gays altogether. If it did, critics maintain unit cohesiveness will be hurt and values eroded.
ANDREA LAFFERTY, TRADITIONAL VALUES COALITION: The homosexual community wants to legitimize their lifestyle and a major way of doing that is to force the military to accept them.
KOCH: Advocates insist it's enforcing don't ask, don't tell, that hurts the military.
DIXON OSBURN, LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: They're shooting themselves in the foot so we have a brain drain. We're losing people critical to our national security.
KOCH (on camera): Any major policy change will likely be made by Congress or the Supreme Court. Still, any action that could impact troop morale or readiness is considered unlikely as long as U.S. forces remain under fire in Iraq.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
