For one day last week, openly gay men and women could enlist in the United States military.
One week after a district court judge overturned the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, a federal appeals court reinstated the 17-year-old statute, prompting outrage from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups at UCLA and across the country.
Peter Carley, the counselor in residence at the UCLA LGBT Resource Center, said he was disappointed by the decision to deny the judge’s injunction.
“Clearly the court did the right thing, and it felt exciting and equally disappointing when the Obama administration decided to appeal the ruling,” Carley said. “The Center is in the same building as (the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps), so it will be nice when the day comes when I can encourage students to check out ROTC if that is part of their dream.”
Earlier this month, Judge Virginia Phillips of the U.S. District Court issued a permanent injunction on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, prohibiting the Department of Defense from complying with the terms of the statute.
Phillips denied a request from the Obama administration to delay the ruling on the same day the Pentagon began issuing orders to comply with the terms of her mandate, prompting some openly gay men and women to enlist in the armed forces.
The day after the Pentagon’s orders were released, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an immediate stay on the injunction, delaying the mandates of the ruling until February 2011.
Many members of the UCLA ROTC said they understand the government’s need to delay Judge Phillips’ injunction.
Capt. Simon Kim, an associate professor of military science, said he was told not to provide a full comment on the recent ruling. Instead, Kim cited a message from Under Secretary of Defense Clifford Stanley in which Stanley said that service members who reveal their sexual orientation may still face legal consequences if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is not repealed.
Steven Sterrett, a third-year global studies and Spanish student who was a member of ROTC from 2008 to 2009, said he understands the military’s need to delay the injunction.
“Individual identity is sacrificed for the military unit,” Sterrett said. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is there because the military considers sexuality an identity, just like ethnicity or socioeconomic backgrounds.”
Sterrett added that sexual identity should not have any bearing on the unit as a whole.
Regardless of the Ninth Circuit’s February ruling, changes to military procedures will likely occur slowly, said Craig Konnoth, a legal research fellow at the Williams Institute, an organization that focuses on sexual orientation public policy at the UCLA School of Law.
“Despite very little study, many experts believe that the change (of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy) will be gradual; but at the end of the day it doesn’t only come down to law,” Konnoth said.
Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would open the doors to thousands more men and women who are otherwise qualiï¬ed to serve in the military, Konnoth said. He added that the Department of Defense always wants as many qualified people as they can get for military service.
A repeal of the policy, which could happen as early as February barring any judicial delays, would likely mean a increase in the number of applicants to ROTC at UCLA and hundreds of other universities across the country, Konnoth said.
Although the delay may temporarily hinder the reversal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, many students said they are conï¬dent the change will eventually occur.
“It will take a whole new generation to reverse the policy,” Sterrett said. “But eventually, we’ll get there.”