Report: Antigay harassment a low priority for military (12696)

Despite official Pentagon assertions that the military takes antigay harassment as seriously as other forms of abuse, such as harassment against women and racial minorities, the military's policies and practices tell a different story, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Senior Pentagon officials repeatedly have insisted that the military seeks to deter and punish all forms of abuse. Former assistant secretary of Defense Kenneth Bacon, for example, noted in 1999 that "there's no room for harassment in the military. And this applies to harassment based on race, harassment based on sex, and harassment based on sexual orientation.... Just as racial harassment is inappropriate, harassment based on sexual orientation is inappropriate."

But Sharon Terman, author of the new 39-page report, said the Pentagon's policies and practices regarding training and education, reporting, processing of complaints, antiretaliation, and accountability all demonstrate far more meaningful efforts on the part of the military to prevent racial and sexual harassment than antigay harassment. Terman's report, titled "The Practical and Conceptual Problems With Regulating Harassment in a Discriminatory Institution," shows that regardless of military leaders' intentions, the gay ban itself prevents the armed forces from deterring antigay abuse.

According to Tobias Barrington Wolff, assistant professor at the University of California, Davis, Law School and visiting professor at Stanford Law School, "Terman's findings are disturbing but not surprising. Harassment is a form of discrimination, and the military continues to pursue an official policy of discrimination toward soldiers who are gay or lesbian. We won't eliminate the harassment until we eliminate the inequality." The report is posted at www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu.