News
2007-05-04
McCain: Gay
troops pose "intolerable risk"
McCain bashes gay
soldiers
Gay troops pose
"an intolerable risk" to national security, U.S.
Gay troops pose
"an intolerable risk" to national security, U.S.
senator and Republican presidential hopeful John McCain
wrote last month to a gay rights group seeking to
change his position on "don't ask, don't tell."
In an April 16
letter to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, McCain
said, "I believe polarization of personnel and breakdown of
unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for
well-intentioned but misguided efforts to elevate the
interests of a minority of homosexual service members
above those of their units.
"Most
importantly, the national security of the United States, not
to mention the lives of our men and women in uniform,
are put at grave risk by policies detrimental to the
good order and discipline which so distinguish
America's armed services."
McCain, who voted
in favor of "don't ask, don't tell" when it was
enacted in 1993, concluded that "I remain opposed to the
open expression of homosexuality in the U.S.
military."
As the war in
Iraq staggers through its fourth year, however, more and
more Republicans and U.S. defense experts support repeal of
the Pentagon's antigay policy.
In a March op-ed
in The Washington Post, GOP former senator Alan
Simpson of Wyoming wrote, "I believe it is critical
that we review—and overturn—the ban on gay
service members in the military. I voted for 'don't
ask, don't tell.' But much has changed since 1993....
We need every able-bodied, smart patriot to help us win
this war."
In the House of
Representatives, 123 members from both parties have
agreed to cosponsor a bill to repeal the law, which has led
to the departure or discharge of more than 11,000
service members.
"Senator McCain's
comments are out of step with the overwhelming
majority of the American people, and out of touch with the
best interests of our armed forces," said Sharra
Greer, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's
director of law and policy, in a written statement
Thursday.
"Senator McCain's
defense of this counterproductive law is disrespectful
to the more than 65,000 lesbian and gay service members on
duty today."
The group's
disclosure of the letter comes as McCain heads into the 2008
race's first GOP presidential debate, to be held Thursday at
the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley,
Calif.
A complete copy
of McCain's letter is available online at www.sldn.org. (Barbara Wilcox, The
Advocate)
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