Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels

The Gay Agenda Battles the Military (GA, 1996: 298-311)
The largest employer in the United States is the military, providing people, particularly
individuals from poor communities, with jobs, education and other benefits. This avenue for
employment has been challenged or denied to gays and lesbians in the United States. Although
the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy does not allow them to serve openly, more than
36,000 gays and lesbians serve actively in the military. Gay men and lesbians are estimated to
represent 2.5 percent of active duty personnel (Urban Institute, 2009).
American military law outlining punishment for homosexual soldiers took effect in 1917
when The Articles of War included “assault with the intent to commit sodomy” as a capital
crime. In 1942, The Armed Forces instructed military psychiatrists that “Those who “habitually
or occasionally engaged in homosexual or other perverse sexual practices” are “unsuitable for
military service”. Between 1941 and 1945 nearly ten thousand homosexuals received
dishonorable discharges from military service. Since 1945 over 100,000 gay men and lesbians
have been dishonorably discharged. In 1957 a Navy report, called the Crittenden Report for the
man who headed the committee, concluded that there was ”no sound reason for the charge
that homosexuals in the military pose a security risk”. However, the Pentagon ignored the
report for 20 years. During the 60’s, gays and lesbians staged demonstrations challenging their
treatment by the military. However, the Vietnam War era saw draft resistors feigning
homosexuality to avoid being drafted.
During the Carter administration, gay discharges increased dramatically. In 1981, during
the last week of Carter’s administration, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Graham Claytor issued a
policy stating that “homosexuality is incompatible with military service…The presence of such
members adversely affects the ability of the armed forces to maintain discipline;… to facilitate
assignment and worldwide deployment of service members who frequently must live and work
in close conditions affording minimal privacy: to recruit and retain members of the armed
forces: to maintain the public acceptability of military service: and to prevent breaches of
security” This policy was implemented by the Reagan administration.
When Bill Clinton took office as President, he sought to overturn the 1981 ban. However,
Congress strongly opposed. In September of 1993 the vote to continue the ban against gays in
the military passed in the Senate by votes of 63 to 33, and in the House by 301 to 135. Clinton
was forced to accept “Don’t ask, don’t tell” as a compromise. This represented a continuation
of the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military, with two stipulations. Subordinates and
Over the Rainbow: The Gay Battle for Social Reorganization of America. 2010
Dr. M. L. Coppock
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