The debate surrounding a case being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme
Court about banning military recruiters at universities is about
more than free speech and the need for new military recruits
““ for some, it is another battle in the struggle for gay
rights.
The case of Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional
Rights centers around FAIR, a coalition of law schools banning
military recruiters on their campuses because they view the
presence of the recruiters as an endorsement of the
military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy, which they say goes against their own antidiscrimination
policies. The military’s policy prevents openly gay or
bisexual men and women from serving. The military counters the
charge of discrimination with the argument that such individuals
are not barred for being homosexual, but for engaging in homosexual
conduct, which is harmful to the cohesiveness of units.
The 1996 Solomon Amendment, which enables the government to
withhold federal funding, including student aid, from any higher
education institution prohibiting military recruiters on campus,
forces schools to decide between federal funding and standing by
their antidiscrimination policies. The UCLA School of Law cannot
participate in the ban due to a University of California policy
that only permits campuses to exclude groups involved in illegal
actions, which does not apply to Judge Advocate General military
recruiters.
Steven Leider, student affairs officer for UCLA’s Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, said the presence of
recruiters presents a contradiction.
“The message it sends is “˜yes, the university
doesn’t believe in discrimination, except when it involves
money,'” he said.
“There’s an inordinate balance of power here, where
the schools don’t have the power to overcome this form of
discrimination and they’re blackmailed into participating in
discrimination,” Leider said.
The government argues that the military presence does not
reflect on the university because the school can have protesters to
show opposition.
Military officials have said the “don’t ask,
don’t tell” policy is one of practicality and is not in
place for the purpose of discrimination.
But many others disagree.
“They’re opening up the school to a program that
discriminates, and I think by putting school resources (into) the
recruiting, the promoting, the school becomes involved,” said
Professor Brad Sears, executive director of the Charles L. Williams
Project on Sexual Orientation and Public Policy, a nonpartisan and
independent think tank at the UCLA law school.
Leider said former LGBT students at UCLA in the military that he
spoke with disagree with the policy, of which recruiters stand as
representatives.
“Their government tells them, “˜You can go and die
for your country. You just can’t be gay while you’re
doing it.’ How stupid is that?” he said.
Ronni Sanlo, director of UCLA’s LGBT Center, said the
military policy prevents LGBT students from reaping financial
benefits from military programs that should be available to
all.
The recruiters’ presence sends a wrong message, Leider
said.
“It flies in the face of the university’s official
policy. The university has a policy of nondiscrimination against
LGBT people in hiring and retention. The university is telling its
students, faculty and staff that they have to participate in
coercion by the government against the university’s own
official policy,” he said.