A new class of UCLA ROTC cadets completes its first week of training today ““ the first of a new generation of the military that is not required to follow the policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
The policy banning openly gay service members was formally repealed on Sept. 20.
Since the announcement of the repeal in December, the military has been preparing service members for the transition, which included updating regulations and offering training sessions.
At UCLA, the official repeal has not changed much about the ROTC program in the week since school has started, said Captain Karensa Foxx.
If anything, the contract signed by cadets no longer includes information about DADT, she said.
“If someone is homosexual or bisexual, we don’t ask for that personal information,” Foxx said. “They are treated like anyone else.”
The program’s recruiter also dropped off business cards to the UCLA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Resource Center on Wednesday, letting it know that students who participate in the center are welcome in the army, she said.
While Foxx said the cadets have not expressed much reaction to the change so far, she said cadets also do not often discuss personal relationships with their military professors, regardless of their sexuality. She said the impact would be seen more prominently in their interactions among peers.
One cadet, fourth-year political science student Laura James, said she has not seen much change. No cadets have come out since the program started, but it would not be an issue if it they did, James said.
She said relationships are rarely discussed in the training environment.
“For us, sexual orientation has nothing to do with performance or if you can complete a mission,” James said.
Opening up a conversation
Raja Bhattar, director of the LGBT Campus Resource Center, said he has not yet had any students approach him with questions about joining the ROTC program as an LGBT student. Then again, the school year has only just started, he said.
On a national scale, Bhattar said the repeal is a progressive step.
“One of the most traditional organizations in the country is now open to all of the community,” he said.
But the topic is still a sensitive one among the LGBT community, Bhattar said. The military’s policy on the inclusion of transgender service members remains unclear even after the repeal, he said.
Bhattar said he is nevertheless excited to talk with people about what the policy change means for the LGBT community. He said he is planning forums and panels at UCLA to discuss the effects of the repeal.
“It will engage us in a healthy conversation about how to … put aside differences and serve the country together, if you decide to do so,” he said.
Two sides
Critics of the repeal have cited its potential to hurt work cohesiveness among military units.
In the Republican presidential primary debate last week, former Senator Rick Santorum said he would reinstate the policy if he was elected because it was “detrimental” to all service members, including gay members.
A recent study from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, however, found there are positive effects to knowing a co-worker’s sexuality.
Over a six-month period, the study tested the performance of male UCLA undergraduate students on tasks, such as taking a math test or playing a video game, when working alongside a partner who had disclosed their sexual orientation.
Students who knew the sexuality of their co-worker on the task performed better than students who did not, said Benjamin Everly, a researcher on the study and a doctoral candidate.
He attributes the difference in performance to possible questions that could arise from not knowing a co-worker is gay, which then may distract students from their task.
“When their partner disclosed sexual orientation, the participant didn’t need to wonder about the partner’s sexual orientation,” Everly said. “Those thoughts could be distracting, causing people to perform worse because they are not focusing all of their efforts on the task at hand.”